Instead of grappling with unfamiliar (and, sometimes, underdeveloped) technologies as soon as they appear on the scene, the late adopter lets more-eager gadget fans work out the kinks until simpler versions reach the market.
Moses Finley was the chief proponent of the primitivist view that the Roman economy was "underdeveloped and underachieving," characterized by subsistence agriculture; urban centres that consumed more than they produced in terms of trade and industry; low-status artisans; slowly developing technology; and a "lack of economic rationality".
Only in recent years have large numbers of technology companies and their workers based themselves in urban San Francisco instead of the suburban Silicon Valley, and the resulting conflicts between the long-term bohemian population and these wealthy new arrivals have exposed its real, underdeveloped technological state.
A decade after being developed, and four years after the emergence of Skype, VoIP telephony remains an underdeveloped niche technology, industry experts said, one that is struggling to compete against the market clout of large phone companies, a labyrinth of new technical standards and consumer indifference.
For example, in most underdeveloped economies, the technology used to carry out agricultural activities is backward.
"One explanation is that when institutions and technology are underdeveloped, honesty is important as a substitute for formal contract enforcement.
The economy is narrow and excessively dependent on natural resource wealth, while many sectors — including agriculture and high technology — are underdeveloped.
The cartoon was condemned in India and by academics in Australia, with one branding the cartoon "unequivocally racist" for misleadingly showing the country as underdeveloped and ignorant of technology.
ITU's work extends to the introduction of ICT technology in underdeveloped regions around the world.
