Next come the early and late majority, and the last group to eventually adopt a product are called "laggards."

By introducing the system to certain early adopters (Rogers, 1995) the late majority would be able to get to know the system.

Rogers classified individuals into five groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

"We're targeting the 'late majority' - the population segment that's newest to the Net," said PlanetPortal's founder and chief executive, Brent Kleinheksel.

Crossing the Chasm is closely related to the technology adoption lifecycle where five main segments are recognized: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

Next, it passes to the "early majority" (people who see cool people across the street), followed by the "late majority" (people who see cool people on MTV).

People can fall into different categories for different innovations-a farmer might be an early adopter of mechanical innovations, but a late majority adopter of biological innovations or VCRs.

If not, then Dolan - the latest majority holder of the Knicks' and Rangers' purse strings - will be in the position of sinking the cable-revenue battleship Steinbrenner started nine years ago with the help of whichever corporation was then running the MSG Network.