Common sense isn’t so common in consumer technology. The year in review:
- The bigget book publishers decided together to raise prices on e-books, which, ridiculously, dramatically reduces their profits on each book, angers retailers AND consumers, and has drawn a government investigation from the European Union and, possibly, the United States.
- Research in Motion distracted itself from making smart phones (its strength) to make tablets (an obvious weakness). The results have been brutal and telling.
- HP stopped selling computers, then started again. Netflix spun off its DVD business, then spun it back in. Cisco killed one of the most popular products in consumer electronics history, the Flip video camera.
My point is this: it’s pretty easy to stand out from the crowd in consumer electronics. Make good products. Gather insights from your customers. Market simply and constantly. And try to avoid unforced errors like the ones above. If in doubt, go simple.
I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season.
Special Offer: Free Access to my 2012 Teleconference Series
I am offering all of you — the readers of this newsletter — free participation in my 2012 teleconference series. These are monthly, hour-long, live sessions with me from March to December. This is a $400 value. Many of you have already signed up, but many of you have not. Please email me by year’s end if you would like to take advantage of this.You must let me know so I can register you as there is limited space for each call, and I won’t be able to make exceptions later. Please reply to this email if you’d like to participate, and I will sign you up.
Please note:
* My new book, Evangelist Marketing, launches January 3. There are a slew of resources, including excerpts and a hot new infographic here.
* My new Web address is http://www.EvangelistMktg.com
Sign up to receive The Evangelist Marketing Minute newsletter for free.