Membranophonist’s Ramblings

A product that doesn’t have desirability designed into it might address a robust market need, but any success it enjoys will be the success of the dancing bear. The single greatest weakness of dancing bearware is that it never generates customer loyalty. Without the long-term brand loyalty of satisfied customers, your entire company is highly vulnerable to competition.

Alan Cooper’s “The Inmates are Running the Asylum“, page 74.

This makes me think of Microsoft. Does anyone desire their products? How many customers will abandon them once a product that can meet their needs and fulfill their desires is available?

Two passages made me think of the portable audio player market:

After a vendor has claimed a market by being the first to offer needed functionality, there is little advantage to hurrying to market with something equivalent. You have already lost the time-to-market race, so no amount of raw speed can ever gain that position for you. However, it is quite possible to take leadership from the market pioneer with better design. Design makes your product desirable and that will make your customers actively seek out your product instead of the competitor’s, regardless of who got there first.

Cooper, “Inmates”, page 77.

Apple wasn’t the first to market a portable audio player, but the iPod was the first one worth a damn.

Being first to add extra features, however, is not the same thing [as good design]. Features do not benefit users the way that primary problem-solving abilities do and adding features won’t have the same beneficial effect that primary problem-solving abilities will. In a marketplace of equally poorly designed products, added features will not influence a broad segment of the market.

Cooper, “Inmates”, page 78.

But our player can record! Receive radio! Play 101 encoding formats! Trim your nasal hair! Most people don’t care. They want to listen to their music!