I think you are right when it comes to a product like Google docs - it's complicated enough that a consumer would look to the early adopters. However, this Helpouts product is simple enough for a consumer to understand that they dont need to ask their technically minded friends whether they should use it. All Google has to do to bring the users in is include a link to it on the search results page. "Were you looking advice on yoga? Click here to talk to a real person."
If Google is sensible then it'll exclude "us" from being early adopters.
In the early days of Google+ trying to find anyone on the newly formed social network that wasn't part of the tech community was impossible.
If we become the early adopters then all this will be good for is advice for setting up a VPS and debugging javascript. I doubt they're trying to create the world's largest IT support system.
Spot on analogy with Google+. Wasn't it true for Wave as well? The top comment is comparing the service to a friendlier Stack Exchange / IRC...yours is a good counter argument.