I’m constantly surprised when I come across a terrific consumer electronics device that is unknown in the mainstream.

I shouldn’t be, because the procession of excellent products that nobody knows about is endless.

Good engineers are by almost by definition poor marketers.

Which means they must find and surround themselves with top-notch branding and communications talent.

Of course, by the time most products get onto my radar, there is a company — sometimes a very large company — making and communicating about them.

Which can only mean one thing: If you have an excellent product that people don’t know about, you must immediately improve your consumer communication. Train your people. Get them educated. If they don’t want to change bring in new ones.

In our business, product life-cycles are so short, your devices become outdated so fast, that I would argue that excellent communications must be in place before excellent products.

Consumer awareness is the rate-determining step.