Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

 (Note: I wrote this in Jan, much of it except for some minor tweaks is from back then: might explain some discrepancies you may come across)

I've heard the phrase "first mover advantage" time and again. Like most phrases/idioms, looking at the exact opposite also makes sense many-a-time. Maybe even more than the original one. Anyhow, these contrary phrases sure are sensational in nature. Case-in-point:"Count your chicken before they hatch". (Or the title which contributed in a way to getting you this far into this mire. Yeah, when it comes to luring people to my blog, I am nothing but just another Arindham Chaudhari and the blog is not different from those full page IIPM ads. I wear black colored thick-rimmed glasses, too. Ponytail is work in progress. Will add a picture of me sporting a wide grin to my blog when the pony is ready to go. To cantor, gallop. Won't be long, hold your horses.) I am sure there must be many, many more management books piggybacking on this theme (can you?). These idioms and phrases, they have the tendency to generalise, due to which it is so very easy to pick holes in the argument they are putting forth. For example, I once came across this: If actions speak louder than words, then why is the pen mightier than the sword. Then, an idle mind is a devil's workshop. Well, the best breeding ground for an outrageously creative idea may be an idle mind. Not a mind that is highly preoccupied by, say, business development presentations. Or client meetings. I am sure you can think up a couple yourself, and then please yourself by creating  an argument for the counter. To warm-up, let me throw one at you: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Scroll down for the correct answer. If you have other phrase-contrary phrase pairs, please get back to us, and we have attractive prizes lined up for you. Or maybe not, for after all, "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it".

So coming to first-mover-advantage, yeah, you know where I am going. There is always going to be a huge first-mover-disadvantage before ever getting to the point when you start realizing the first-mover-advantage. In the long run the first-mover-advantage may play out, but in the short term one has to acknowledge the first-mover-disadvantage too, and give it some standing in the highly competitive and dynamic world of corporate jargon. After all, nothing is easier than Copy-pasting, that's what the second-mover can do. On that line, even more attractive is the third-mover advantage. That's a series of management books which could be penned by somebody, let's  say Mr. Arindham Chaudari as he is already pottering about in this post. First Mover Disadvantage. Sequel: Second mover Advantage. Then, Third Mover Advantage. Ad infinitum/nauseam. 

After all the beating around the bush, let me come to the point: how I have seen the first mover disadvantage play out in my life. 

1. Couple of years back I bought my Nokia N95 for a bomb, and contributing to the hefty price tag was the  HSDPA (3.5G) capability: my research told me the 3G launch was imminent. There was a cheaper SonyEricsson UTMS (3G) option available but then the HSDPA tilted the scales in N95's favor (despite the wad of notes on the pan containing the SE). Of course, there were so many more cheaper phones, which those not keyed in to FMA were happy with. Two years hence, where is 3G in Mumbai? Not yet around! (This reminds me of an article I read in Hindu about whether we are missing the technology bus in India in a big way: 3G was launched in Japan 10 years ago.) So, among all phone-buyers at that time, I wanted to be the first to move into 3.5G phone ownership so I could reap the benefits of FMA by browsing away to glory while others less aware peer sideways in envy: on the bus, in the train etc. But it was not to be. I discarded my phone in Nov-2010, before 3G services saw the light of day. (And the slew of exciting 3G ads hit the air. Vodafone's 3G super hero, the Abhishek Bachans triplets...)

2. After much research and undertaking much logistical trouble, I bought the Barnes and Nobel Nook e-book reader for $259 in Jun-2010. I first bought the Sony reader for $189, found it crappy, went to a store and got it exchanged for a Nook. FMA: let me buy a Nook and enjoy reading digital content for years before others adopt it. And save some dough in the process: get those pdfs online. Well, a week after I bought it, Amazon slashes the rate of the Kindle, launches a non-3G wi-fi only version (which is what I would have wanted) for $129. There, FMA sure did save me some dough.

Anyhow, in one more attempt to finally exercise the FMA, I have now bought the HTC Desire Z. It is not yet available in any E-Zone/Chroma and I did some hard work: procured it from the HTC dealer in Mumbai (that's some first-moving, baby). Android 3.2, mega-screen, slide out QWERTY, all that jazz. And now, when finally 3G arrives in Mumbai, I hope to stylishly slide out my keyboard and type " I hereby finally exercise the first mover advantage". Or something like that.

Anyhow, moral of this long-winding oft-digressing tale: take quotations, maxims, aphorisms, with a pinch of salt. Invert them and see if that does that makes more sense.

Solution: A stitch in time saves nine.