The Osborne effect is a social phenomenon of customers canceling or deferring orders for the current but soon-to-be-obsolete product. This happens as an unexpected drawback of a company's announcing a future product prematurely. It is an example of cannibalization. The term originates from the bankruptcy of Osborne Computer Corporation. It was caused when the company announced the more performant successors for their current product Osborne 1 much in advance. It led customers and dealers to cancel orders their Osborne 1 orders.