First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs)

[Pinkham, Jim]

What about the business strategy of Sony? Admittedly, I see some loyalists, but I see many consumers who are inclined to wait for the price to inevitably come down when a new Sony product hits the market -- or who head for alternatives that don't involve annoyingly proprietary formats such as the Memory Stick.

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+jim.pinkham=voith.com at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+jim.pinkham=voith.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Technical Writer
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 12:03 PM
To: john at hedtke.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs)


 
Many, especially in business, would argue the opposite; the first mover advantage is huge. Case in point, the business strategy of Sony. 
 
The philosophy of "lifers"--build a widget, establish a broad base of loyal, satisfied customers, grow the organization organically is about as obsolete as "Live long and prosper." Ask any small business owner in a location adjacent to Wal-Mart about customer loyalty and branding. Or ask anyone who worked in the Oldsmobile division of GM.
 
 
> Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:30:49 -0700> To: gflato at nanometrics.com; 
> tekwrytr at hotmail.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com> From: 
> john at hedtke.com> Subject: First on market (was RE: radical revamping 
> of techpubs)> > Despite the incredible pressure that people feel to be 
> the first on > the market with the latest release, I think history 
> shows that it is > almost NEVER the first product to market that has 
> long-term success, > at least in high-tech. The IBM PC was not the 
> first to market by a > number of years. Microsoft hasn't ever gotten 
> there first with > anything that comes to mind. VisiCalc. WordStar. 
> Doc-to-Help was, > I think, on the market before Robohelp, yet they 
> got outmarketed > ultimately. VHS vs. Beta: Beta was, and is, a better 
> overall format > but VHS outmarketed Beta and >poof< no more Beta. And 
> so on. It > could be argued that what tends to work is the products 
> that watched > what the first product did and then didn't make the 
> same mistakes or > at least capitalized on marketing. There are 
> exceptions to > this--Visio comes to mind--where something is so truly 
> innovative as > to be unique, but these are rare and stellar examples. 
> For the most > part, the first product to cross the finish line is 
> guaranteed to > ~not~ survive the test of time.> > Even on a 
> short-term basis, pushing a product out the door to meet an > 
> arbitrary schedule gets you what you deserve. Who here is fool > 
> enough to install the .0 version of anything from, say, Microsoft or > 
> Adobe? And who, having done that, got away with it with their > 
> computing skin intact? Robert Cringely was nice enough to quote me > 
> in his column a couple months ago: "At Microsoft, quality is job > 
> SP1," but this is an aphorism you could apply to a lot of companies, > 
> not just the folks in Redmond. They all feel the same pressures and > 
> make the same mistakes.> > If I knew that a company was actively 
> taking a few extra months to > plan things and deliver me a bug-free 
> product, I'd be very impressed > and would consider that heavily when 
> shopping for something.> > > Yours truly,> > John Hedtke> 
> Author/Consultant/Contract Writer> www.hedtke.com <-- website> 
> 541-685-5000 (office landline)> 541-554-2189 (cell)> john at hedtke.com 
> (primary email)> johnhedtke at aol.com (secondary email) >
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