Digital Disruption: Examples of Innovative Disruptors

Digital Disruption 1
Introduction
Digital disruption refers to the advent of any new technology or business process that impact the
value proposition of existing goods and services. Digital disruptions have entered in every
leading industry and changed consumer preferences, buying behavior as well as the market
analytics. Various digital disruptions have proven to be highly effective and have been accepted
across the globe. There is a rapid increase in the usage of mobile phones, the advent of
technology and the increasing acceptance of this technology has led to the consumerization of
IT. This refers to the process of blending IT for personal as well as professional use. This rapid
growth of technology and the advent of internet of things has led to digital disruptions. A few of
these disruptions have been so highly innovative that they have changed the shape of the industry
altogether. This report highlights upon various examples of digital disruptions that have been
introduced recently. It is essential to note that all digital introductions are not disruptive and all
disruptions are not innovative. However, at this stage, we can witness various such digital
disruptions that are innovative and have led to the growth of industries and economies across the
globe.
Amazon Kindle
Electronic books are not an entirely new introduction to the market. They have existed since
1971 but since then they have only occupied a small niche in the book industry until Amazon
launched its Kindle in 2007 (Gilbert, 2015). Kindle offers a comfortable reading experience and
allows users to download their favorite books and read them in a 7 inch device. The product has
been widely accepted and sold over 20 million products in 2013 (Forbes, 2014). The number has
only grown since then. The Ecommerce giant agrees to sell tens of millions of Kindle annually.
Digital disruptors ideally use technology to enter different markets and shake up the competitive
landscape (McQuivey, 2013). This is exactly what Amazon has achieved with the help of Kindle.
Digital disruptions occur when digital disruptors are able to change the nature of demand or
supply or both. This can be done by creating new markets, reimagining the business system,
creating value propositions, addressing unmet demand, uncovering latent supply or facing new
competitors (Dawson et. al, 2017).

Digital Disruption 2
Amazon’s Kindle is a perfect example of a giant business hyper-scaling platforms, facing
competitors and leveraging customer relationships. Amazon had a massive customer base even
back then. Corporations of such a hyper scale relish a gigantic operational influence owing to
their automated processes, networks and algorithms which have been created by the interaction
of over many millions and billions of users. Amazon’s objective behind launching Kindle was to
primarily sell books and amazon prime subscriptions. This is what allowed Amazon some
flexibility in making pricing decisions as opposed to Sony whose entire focus was on generating
E-reader revenues. Amazon was able to adopt a freemium pricing strategy wherein organizations
provide basic services to customer for free but they are asked to pay for upgraded services
(Krämer & Kalka, 2017). There are various reasons behind the success of Kindle and its
worldwide acceptance. The timing for the launch was perfect as the acceptance towards
technology was very high. The hyper scale of the brand was effectively leveraged to reach out to
customers and this colossal network of customers created the required potential for growth.
Lastly, the pricing strategy adopted by the branded added the needed cherry on the cake and led
to a significant growth of Kindle throughout the globe.