Monthly Archives: November 2010
Microsoft just posted a really good quarter and has been openly criticized for its lack of strategy in the tablet market and other consumer market. This software giant has failed to innovate in many fronts despite massive resources and strong talent based. The company has also failed to create any buzz on their product launches; you wonder what is not working with this company. It is not lack of money for sure, and not about lack of talent either. The iPad has only been on the market for half a year, the buzz has quiet down but adoption is high and broad unlike previous products. This is an instant success and looks like no one us close to being a threat. Though Samsung, LG, HTC, Dell, HP and Lenovo, and others are unveiling their own tablets, no on has the advantage of full software and hardware integration. Apple’s complete integration … Continue reading
It is difficult to find good cases on how smaller companies have engaged with open innovation. It is also difficult to give strong advice on how such companies should engage with open innovation. I have reflected much on this and I am approaching a conclusion that is slightly provocative: Open innovation is for big companies; not small companies. Let me provide some reasons for this: Small companies are most often based on one product, service, technology or platform. They are bound to find partners around this in order to prosper let alone survive. This is, however, not open innovation in my mind. This is simply entrepreneurship. Small companies are not big enough to engage with open innovation, which I view as more of a mindset in which they innovate across many types of innovation and business functions. They just don’t have the organizational infrastructure – and need – to engage … Continue reading
In the early days of the Apple App Store, there were free apps and there were paid apps. With the release last year of the iPhone 3.0 software, Apple began to support “in-app purchases”, and there were great expectations (and a little trepidation) that it would help developers make more money off of their apps by offering them for free, and then charging for various things like new levels, hints, or virtual goods within the apps. Apparently this simple pricing innovation is indeed reaping big rewards. According to a GigaOM article, 34 of the top 100 grossing apps on the iPhone are free, and make their money from in-app purchases. While the model wouldn’t work with every type of app (a calculator app where you pay for every 10 calculations probably wouldn’t fly), it makes sense for a lot of apps, including just about every type of game. The …
There is something seriously wrong with the way we rent meeting space. Does anyone else notice it? Problem No. 1 – We don’t care where we meet. Standard practice for an off-site meeting is to pick a city then ask the admin or specialist to ring up a few hotels to book rooms for the team and then book a meeting space. This is conveniently handled in one call, as most hotels have a conference rooms. However, these spaces – some large with ballrooms, others smaller with themed names – all have something in common. That they are common. There’s nothing special about them. They’re designed to be generic, and tan, and multipurpose. A tan shell. To be filled this weekend with a wedding reception, tomorrow your meeting, and next week a Bat Mitzvah. Why aren’t we asking the admin or specialist to first find the best place in the … Continue reading
Engineers make magic. We are the only ones who create things from nothing: cars, televisions, bridges, buildings, machine tools, molecules, software… (You get the idea.) Politicians can’t do it, lawyers can’t do it, MBAs can’t do it. Only engineers. And the stuff we create is the foundation of sustainable economies. We create things, our companies sell them for a profit, and that profit creates wealth and fuels our economies – a tight causal chain. Said another way: no engineers, no products, no profits, no wealth, no economy. The end. Engineers used to be valued for our magic. In medieval times we were given high status for our art, for making stuff that mattered: swords, trebuchets, armor, castles… (You get the idea.) And the best of us were given a special title (wizard) and special consideration (if not reverence) for our work. These folks were given …
Recently I found myself at the W Hotel in Hoboken, accidentally (no really!) listening to an interesting story on one of the many breakfast shows on at that time. On that show, author James Fowler was describing research he had done that showed how social networks surrounding us can impact each of our lives in a much deeper way than most people realize. To make his point, (and the news presumably) he used as an example that divorce can be “contagious” amongst friends – mentioning that having a close friend experience divorce, increases the chance of your own divorce by 147%. Needless to say shock and horror ensued from the hosts and other assorted pundits on the show who naturally dislike the idea of someone asserting such high correlation to such a dreadful outcome. Yet when I thought about it, I don’t think I was really surprised. After all, it … Continue reading
