The work aims to develop an understanding of how decisions taken during the commercialisation and market launch of new high-tech products can affect their market success. By drawing into diffusion of innovation theories, innovation management and marketing research, the work presents the cases of 16 consumer innovations and 10 industrial new products and discusses the reasons underlying superior customer acceptance. The emerging theory developed in this work illustrates the key role played by the early adopters of the innovation for their market success, as well as the impact that market interconnectedness has on diffusion processes. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed at length in the work.