How to predict the future of an IT- innovation? – Examining Pre-adoption of the e-newspaper

In this study we investigate the perceptions of potential adopters in a pre-adoption phase of a new mobile innovation, i.e. the e-newspaper, a newspaper service published on epaper technology, by applying Rogers’ (1995) Innovation-Decision Process and perceived attributes of innovations. We have conducted a study in two stages, in 2005 and 2006, with user evaluations of e-newspaper prototypes and early version of an e-newspaper, including tests, questionnaires and interviews. The overall research question is: What attributes are central from a user adoption perspective to launch a successful enewspaper innovation? The paper contributes to existing adoption and m-commerce research by a) exploring the applicability of Rogers' framework in a pre-adoption phase in two stages, comparing the results regarding perceived attributes and intention to adopt, and b) presenting detailed descriptions of factors that enhance or inhibit an e-newspaper introduction, compared to other publication channels. The identified factors influencing the intention to adopt besides price are; mobility, interactivity, readability, format and size, functionality, usability and navigation.