Be it Betamax or EVs, early adoption doesn’t always pay off

News Snapshot:

A steady stream of economical electric vehicles flowing into the Canadian market appears unlikely I am experiencing déja vu lately about an earlier lesson on technology, markets and consumer behaviour rolled into one. It brings me back to the late 1970s, when I emptied my bank account to buy a Sony Betamax video cassette recorder. The extraordinary device could record my television set for up to two whole hours, skip commercials and play movies. Still, a Betamax competitor had just launched: JVC’s Video Home System (VHS). Their videotapes didn’t possess the same technical quality, so I just assumed they would...