Nov 4th, 2009
Is Innovation Really a Sure Way to Success?
No, it’s definitely not. While innovation tends to be rewarded over the long term by the marketplace, coming out with something new is not always innovation.
Take the odd case of the Blackberry Storm, for instance. Where RIM’s long entrenched smartphones with physical keyboards have carved out a large presence in the market, to compete with the iPhone, RIM and Verizon came out with this intriguing phone with a touch screen that also gave tactile feedback to someone typing on it.
The end result: a phone which was not met with warm receptions by either the press or consumers. Yes, it was a new idea, but it wasn’t done well enough to make a serious dent in the marketplace, and there was a lot of question as to whether or not Blackberry owners even wanted a product like it.
Just being innovative is not a key to success. For years, the Apple Macintosh (and before it, the Apple Lisa) has lagged behind Microsoft’s Windows operating systems in market share despite being first to market with innovations–including the whole concept of the mouse driven interface–over and over again.
There has to be more than innovation to achieve market success.
Hi
This is very true. It is often better to be the second to market since iy gives the opportunity to sort out any problems that the first product/service has encountered.