VoIP Telephony Technology A Focused Look at the Innovation and Diffusion of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or Internet telephony has emerged as an important new field of phone service. It is distinguished from the conventional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by its innovative focus on using the PUBLIC Internet as a shared resource. VoIP allows users to make phone calls by way of a “computer network”. The technology uses a digital phone adapter first, to convert the analog voice signal from the user’s telephone into a digital signal that is transmitted as IP packets over the Internet; then, converts the signal back to analog on the other end so that calls can be made to anyone with a regular phone or what is generally referred to as a land line. The objective of this paper will be to examine the importance of the role of the Early Adopter as a “Lead User” in the diffusion of (VoIP) technology to the mass market. My research will focus specifically on the role of the Early Adopter and how they compare to von Hippel’s definition of Lead Users and Geoffrey Moore’s Tech Visionaries