Question

Q: Briefly describe different phases of Technology Lifecycle. Give examples of products in each phase.

Answer 1

Technology lifecycle

Like there is product life cycle, describing the life cycle of any product, similarly there is technology life cycle which describes the changes in the technology over the period of time. It tells the time and cost involved in developing the technology, the time taken to recover such costs and ways to generate profits using technology.

There are mainly four phases in technology life cycle:

• The research & development phase: the first phase, also called bleeding phase where the income generation is negative and the chances to fail in the market are really high. The example of a product in this phase is the "controlling computers using brain wires". The product is being researched upon and the income generation is negative for this product. And it might fail in market in the near future.
• The ascent phase: here the technology begins to rise and become strong in the market. This is the leading phase where technology is growing, also called the leading edge. The example of products in this phase is the "cloud computing and 3D video". These products are facing rise in market and technology is being liked by people.
• The maturity phase: here the gain is high and stability in technology is maintained. The technology now have matured and can anytime go into the decline phase. The profits earned in this phase are high. The example of products in this phase is "outsourcing and e books". This technology is now in the market for long and reached maturity phase where its profit generation will be stable and always high.
• The decline phase: the last stage where the use of technology have declined totally and other rivals in the market have started to gain importance. The example of products in this phase are the desktop computers and Windows XP. This technology have totally declined and other rivals have gained edge.

These phases of technology lifecycle describe where the technology stands and how much more efforts need to be done in order to make sure that the product is working well in the market.