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: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Technical Writer Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 12:03 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] 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: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected]> From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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)> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > (primary email)> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (secondary email) > _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook - together at last. Get it now. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL100626971033_______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jim.pinkham%40voith.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
