Product life cycle - which technologies will soon be declining into the scrap heap?

Rapid technological change is a key factor in determining the shape and length of a life cycle for many consumer goods. No sooner have the early adopters encouraged the rest of us to buy a gadget or service, and a technological improvement seems to make our purchase seem very, well, “yesterday”. So which technologies that we consider to be leading-edge today will soon be displaced?

An article in The Independent considers this issue. It looks at a range of technologies which it suggests are poised to be overtaken by technological change, including:

- Laptops
- Voicemail
- DVDs
- Digital printers
- Telephone lines

Quite thought-provoking material, and a good starting point for a lesson where students might identify one or more products or services which they currently use, and which might some become obsolete.