lead users are defined as membersof a user population having two distinguishing characteristics: (1) They areat the leading edge of an important market trend(s), and so are currentlyexperiencing needs that will later be experienced by many users in thatmarket. (2) They anticipate relatively high benefits from obtaining a solu-tion to their needs, and so may innovate.

However, experience in fields where toolkits have been deployedshows that customers tend to prefer designing their own custom productswith the aid of a toolkit over traditional manufacturer-centric developmentpractices.