Every so often, a technology change comes along that disrupts life as we know it. Sometimes, adopting the change costs so much that individuals cannot really capitalize on it without already having huge sums of wealth at their disposal. Take the first computers, for example. These giant monstrosities filled rooms and were substantially less powerful than today's mobile phones, but were so expensive that only governments and high end research facilities really had the funds to utilize them. Over time, though, additional technological developments made them ready to mass market, and the technology that allowed the personal computer to exist spawned several companies ready to take advantage of that breakthrough, such as Microsoft and Apple.
