Transitional technologies sometimes get the short end of the stick. Sometimes we technologists are the ones ignoring the potential of transitional technologies. They aren’t sexy, but they get the job done.

What is a transitional technology?

I consider a “transitional technology” to be a technology that helps the overall population transition from older to newer technologies. I am an early adopter, and we early adopters are a particular group that like to jump over transitional technologies. We jump right from an old technology to the latest thing. This may be why we sometimes don’t pay a lot of attention to transitional technologies – they aren’t usually “sexy”. But, there are opportunities in the market for transitional tech, because there are a lot of people that need an intermediate step between technologies.

One example is Presto. Presto is a service that prints out email, and that’s just about all it does. But, for some, that is all they may really need.

Basically, you buy their special “printer” (it is designed similar to a fax), and for a monthly fee- you get a presto email address. The email sent to a presto email address will come out of the printer at predetermined times throughout the day. It has an online control panel so that the printer is somewhat configurable.

Positives:

• It is really simple, the printer plugs into an electrical outlet, and a phone line.
• It just works
• It does have a web-based control panel, for some customize-ability
• For many with elderly parents, it may be the only way for the parent to get email

Negatives

• You cannot send email from the device (only receive)
• It may be considered a little cost for some (approx $150 for the printer, then $10/month) (But, it is less than a computer or a broadband line)
• All the paper and ink costs can add up

I know that this is quite quaint, for those of us like myself who are running servers, have a laptop, and run wireless at home with a SAN with RAID, etc, etc…. But, it is simple, and it works. Sometimes that meets an actual need in the market. I can see people with elderly parents using it to allow their parents to receive pictures and email. This allows, for a relatively small cost, for some to participate partially in the Internet, without a computer or Internet connection.

This is one example of a transitional technology, and there are other opportunities out there. It is not always the most dazzling tech, but it is just what is needed for some situations- and sometimes that is pretty cool.