Information and Communication Technology Innovations: Radical & Disruptive? Vague Concepts – Delicate Choices – Conflicting Results

ICT innovations are considered to be of central importance to social and economic developments. Various innovation theories offer classifications to predict and assess their impact. This paper reviews the usefulness of selected approaches and their application in the convergent communications sector. It focuses on the notion of disruption, the comparatively new distinction in disruptive and sustaining innovations, and it examines how it is related to other innovation-theoretical typologies. According to the literature, there is a high frequency of disruptive changes in the field of IPbased innovations in combination with wireless technology. A closer analysis reveals that these classifications and assessments not only differ in detail but are even contradictory. The paper explains these differences by highlighting delicate choices that have to be taken by analysts applying the disruption concept. It argues that its applicability is comparatively low in the convergent communications sector and generalisations of single-firm assessments are hardly valid.