the Dialectics of lead...

The Law of the handicap of a head start (original Dutch: Wet van de remmende voorsprong) or dialectics of lead is a phenomenon by Dutchman Jan Romein in 1937 is described in his essay "The dialectic of progress"

One of the examples Romein cites in its original publication, is about the street of London . The author wonders why a city with such a reputation is still lit by gas lamps , while other cities have electric street lighting. In retrospect the explanation is obvious: London was one of the first cities to have gas street lighting. 


When electricity got the upper hand and was introduced in other cities, London did not feel the need to adapt. existing, well functioning but outdated infrastructure.

A nice example is the fable of The Tortoise and the Hare. The hare is so confident of its speed, and so happy with its progress, that it squanders its lead by wasting time and ignoring the tortoise it is racing against. Eventually, despite the hare's enormous head start, the tortoise wins the race.

And we can ask ourselves if Apple is now suffering the same fate ?