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If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

paulbuchheit.blogspot.com

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Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#41

Post by fudged71 »

Retric wrote: post #8
ChadNauseam wrote: post #5

Apple messed up one thing about the iPad, which made me never use mine and eventually give it away. Basically, my iPad would die in a couple days if left unplugged. Because I only want to use it about once a week, that means I have to leave it plugged in all the time. Of course I or someone else inevitably wants to plug something else into that charger, so the iPad gets unplugged and forgotten about. Then, in a week…

They boot reasonably quickly, just turn it off. While on they are constantly listening for a “find my” signal so it’s easy to locate. For the overwhelming majority of people it’s a good tradeoff.

Latest iPhones have Find My when they are turned off, do iPads?

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#42

Post by lwhi »

If the barrier to adding that new feature is removed, what happens?

If the cost is reduced — and becomes closer to zero — there's probably more chance the feature will be added ..

.. in which case, the product is less likely to be great.

--

So perhaps, the key superpower in the age of LLM developed software is the ability to say no.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#43

Post by casey2 »

It's less any technical breakthrough and more a concerted advertising campaign and collective hypnosis AKA a fad. People just decided there were all going to buy iphones. That's why the biggest threat to iphones is the trend of people buying dumb phones.

Having a "Great" product in this terms makes you subject to the whims of the crowd. As soon as they realize that your product is negative value, and/or they run out of disposable income, they will stop using it.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#44

Post by lukan »

jonplackett wrote: post #3

Read something similar the other day about the original Walkman. The engineers wanted to add recording function, thinking it would help with sales and to only cost a negligible amount to add. Someone cleverer said no, because if you add that feature now people will be confused what it is for. If they don’t want to record audio, they’ll think the product isn’t for them.

I disagree here. That would be a marketing problem and I would have market it as for audio on the walk. With the focus on listening and the record option as a bonus.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#45

Post by lukan »

sph wrote: post #40
jonplackett wrote: post #3

Read something similar the other day about the original Walkman. The engineers wanted to add recording function, thinking it would help with sales and to only cost a negligible amount to add. Someone cleverer said no, because if you add that feature now people will be confused what it is for. If they don’t want to record audio, they’ll think the product isn’t for them.

I have been thinking deeply about this problem. I bought a great, silent fan from Rowenta, with beautiful housing and does what it says on the tin with no fancy accessories. 3 speed + 1 very silent mode for sleep. Hey, it’s a European product, not some Chinese knockoff. At some point during design, one person must have said “you know, why not add a brilliant white light that turns on in silent mode? Wouldn’t that be…

That bright LED's became so cheap to allow putting them everywhere certainly had downsides. There are many devices now where I have to tape over to enjoy a dark sleeping place.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#46

Post by boomlinde »

lukan wrote: post #44
jonplackett wrote: post #3

Read something similar the other day about the original Walkman. The engineers wanted to add recording function, thinking it would help with sales and to only cost a negligible amount to add. Someone cleverer said no, because if you add that feature now people will be confused what it is for. If they don’t want to record audio, they’ll think the product isn’t for them.

I disagree here. That would be a marketing problem and I would have market it as for audio on the walk. With the focus on listening and the record option as a bonus.

Deciding on a product design that's easily marketable is also a marketing problem.

You suggest adding it as a "bonus", but for whom? Recording what on the walk? How would you advertise that along the main feature people actually buy the thing for? If not, what purpose does it serve? It's a few cents, but that's still a few cents too much if that's not what you're convincing people to buy.

Try to think of someone who didn't buy a walkman because it lacked a recording feature. What's their story? Can that easily be represented in the marketing material?

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#47

Post by moffkalast »

sph wrote: post #40
jonplackett wrote: post #3

Read something similar the other day about the original Walkman. The engineers wanted to add recording function, thinking it would help with sales and to only cost a negligible amount to add. Someone cleverer said no, because if you add that feature now people will be confused what it is for. If they don’t want to record audio, they’ll think the product isn’t for them.

I have been thinking deeply about this problem. I bought a great, silent fan from Rowenta, with beautiful housing and does what it says on the tin with no fancy accessories. 3 speed + 1 very silent mode for sleep. Hey, it’s a European product, not some Chinese knockoff. At some point during design, one person must have said “you know, why not add a brilliant white light that turns on in silent mode? Wouldn’t that be…

There are many problems in life that a brush and some black acrylic brush-on primer can fix. This is one of those problems :)

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#48

Post by moring »

sph wrote: post #40
jonplackett wrote: post #3

Read something similar the other day about the original Walkman. The engineers wanted to add recording function, thinking it would help with sales and to only cost a negligible amount to add. Someone cleverer said no, because if you add that feature now people will be confused what it is for. If they don’t want to record audio, they’ll think the product isn’t for them.

I have been thinking deeply about this problem. I bought a great, silent fan from Rowenta, with beautiful housing and does what it says on the tin with no fancy accessories. 3 speed + 1 very silent mode for sleep. Hey, it’s a European product, not some Chinese knockoff. At some point during design, one person must have said “you know, why not add a brilliant white light that turns on in silent mode? Wouldn’t that be…

And yet, you did buy the fan despite the bright LED (because you didn't know it was there when you bought it). Rowenta got your money, so from their perspective, they did everything right.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#49

Post by moffkalast »

ChadNauseam wrote: post #5

Apple messed up one thing about the iPad, which made me never use mine and eventually give it away. Basically, my iPad would die in a couple days if left unplugged. Because I only want to use it about once a week, that means I have to leave it plugged in all the time. Of course I or someone else inevitably wants to plug something else into that charger, so the iPad gets unplugged and forgotten about. Then, in a week…

I've got the same problem with a Samsung tablet I got. I use it maybe once every two weeks, so naturally I turn it off for the duration... but it somehow manages to empty its battery while completely off?! And it takes like a million years to boot, half of it only after you unlock it for some damn reason, it's such tedium.

Re: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good (2010)

#50

Post by kristjank »

> My iPhone is ready to use in under 1/2 second, while my laptop always takes at least a few seconds to wake up, and then there's a bunch of stuff going on that distracts me. The iPhone is a simple appliance that I use without a second thought, but my laptop feels like a complex machine that causes me to pause and consider if it's worth the effort right now.

Funny how it's become completely the opposite nowadays.

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