There's something to be said for a first-mover advantage, but I'm increasingly less inclined to believe that it's "huge." For some companies and some products, it might be worth as little as 90 days. For many, perhaps a year. But companies that focus on widespread utility, pay heed to excellence in customer service, and are sensitive to both upfront price and total cost of ownership compete very well in today's marketplace.
________________________________ From: Technical Writer [mailto:tekwr...@hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 6:17 PM To: Pinkham, Jim; framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs) Yes. Because Sony's stategy is based on first mover advantage and the high prices innovators are willing to pay. They are much less interested in the price competion and flood of imitations that inevitably follow a successful innovation. http://www.tekwrytrs.com/ Specializing in the Design, Development, and Production of: Technical Documentation - Online Content - Enterprise Websites > Subject: RE: First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs) > Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:25:54 -0500 > From: Jim.Pinkham at voith.com > To: tekwrytr at hotmail.com; john at hedtke.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com > > 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) > > _________________________________________________________________ > Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook - together at last. Get it now. > http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL1006 26971033_______________________________________________ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as jim.pinkham at voith.com. > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jim.pinkham%40voith. com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook - together at last. Get it now! <http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL100 626971033>
