by Steve Hoyt on September 30, 2011
I just heard a story on NPR about how Amazon is trying to capture market share in the tablet market from Apple with the release of the Kindle Fire, but the Fire doesn’t have many of the features of the iPad like a camera, 3G connectivity, and Bluetooth so it remains doubtful as to whether or not consumers will adopt the new product. This kind of shallow analysis pops up every time there’s a major product launch and it drives me f#cking crazy.When people shop, they don’t think about markets or technologies, they think about what the product allows them to do. They aren’t just shopping for tablets, they are considering ultraportable laptops, and perhaps even personal media players. In short, they aren’t looking for a tablet, they are looking for a way to meet their needs.
Industry analysts would do well to compare products by looking more at the needs they serve, not just the underlying technologies. The Kindle only meet a subset of the needs that the iPad does. Amazon has chosen to double down on media consumption while forgoing content creation. They cut out many features to make a more focused, and more affordable product. Yes both products are tablets, but it’s the needs they meet that matter far more to people that the technologies.
by Steve Hoyt on September 17, 2011
As the Director of Strategy at Drywell Art (the title is tongue in cheek, Alyson really runs the show), I’ve had the good fortune to be able to attend many craft shows. A market like this is a great way to see hundreds of similar businesses side-by-side. It’s not something that you really have the opportunity to do anywhere else. One thing that becomes abundantly clear after going to several of them is that most of it starts to blur together after a while. As I walk up and down the aisles, I remember very little of what I saw. Concert posters, brass jewelry, fake moustaches, everything starts to look the same.
In competitive markets like this, there is an almost magnetic pull to the status quo. The less successful look to their more successful peers and try to be more like them. Artists start to emulate other artists. Jewelers emulate other Jewelers. Moustachemakers emulate other moustachemakers. The differences between booth owners becomes more and more minuscule as people start to forgo their own point of view in favor of someone else’s. Maybe it’s a successful strategy, if success is just measured in dollars. But it can’t be fulfilling to try to be like someone else. The vendors that really stand out at these shows are the ones who have found their own point of view, and have built it into everything they do. They don’t have a hodgepodge of designs, they have a focus. Those are the ones you remember among the hundreds you saw.
I just heard a story on NPR about how Amazon is trying to capture market share in the tablet market from Apple with the release of the Kindle Fire, but the Fire doesn’t have many of the features of the iPad like a camera, 3G connectivity, and Bluetooth so it remains doubtful as to whether or not consumers will adopt the new product. This kind of shallow analysis pops up every time there’s a major product launch and it drives me f#cking crazy.When people shop, they don’t think about markets or technologies, they think about what the product allows them to do. They aren’t just shopping for tablets, they are considering ultraportable laptops, and perhaps even personal media players. In short, they aren’t looking for a tablet, they are looking for a way to meet their needs.
