Category Strategy

Entries 49 Total

Feature Quality vs. Feature Quantity

Apr 3, ’11 9:37 AM

It used to be that a product’s success depended upon how well it differentiated itself on the basis of what it was able to do. In the world of software, that generally meant the more features something had, the better off it was deemed. For the hundreds of features Microsoft Office has, it turns out that the vast majority of customers only used 10% of the total features, leaving 90% to a very small, very long tail of users.

Reductionism took hold in recent years, with Apple’s approach to music players. While competitors took the tack of adding FM tuners, video codec support and other ancillary features, Apple focused on simplicity of operation and music acquisition. The rest is history.

As the software market evolves and integrates social media and mobile expectations, we’re seeing a similar phenomenon where the best apps are those that focus on feature quality rather than feature quantity. One of the hot new apps is Instagr.am, the mobile photo sharing network. Combining funky photo filters (like Hipstamatic) and enabling sharing and discovery, the developers have created an overnight sensation with now over 3 million users in just 6 months. The experience couldn’t be simpler. The bare-bones functionality forces users to get creative in its application, just as Twitter’s 140-character limit encouraged brevity and efficiency. Just as Twitter is known for microblogging current trends, Instagr.am has now become known for photo storytelling. Whereas most photo apps focused on the image transformation aspect, Instagr.am made images look great, made them instantly shareable and made it fast. They never set out to do so, but by focusing on doing a handful of key elements well, founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have managed to create not just an app, but an personal experience that defines their brand.

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Infographic: Smartphone Market Share

Mar 4, ’11 5:29 PM

This is a fantastic breakdown of smartphone market share in the U.S. from Nielsen.The first thing that jumps out at me are the large blocks covered by Apple and RIM, which collectively have 54%. We also see long, tall columns for HP/webOS and Symbian (which despite its weak showing in N.America, is quite strong in other regions).

Where things get interesting is how Android and Windows Mobile split out between vendors. HTC made smart bets and leads Android. Motorola has made a comeback of sorts, carving out a healthy 10% of the market and Samsung has also made clear its future is with Android. Whether or not either of these companies will try to expand share by adopting Windows Phone remains to be seen. From what I’ve read, Motorola is betting on Android, though Samsung may adopt WP7 in the near future.

The last piece is whether or not HP has the clout to make webOS a real contender. I’ve always felt that their deep experience in the healthcare and imaging space would be a great place to dominate, and it seems ripe with opportunity. Imagine a complete vertical vendor for health care professionals from back office to medical imaging and communication.

I’d love to see this same graphic a year from now, as each of the players stakes their positions. Moreover, once the tablet wars begin in earnest, I imagine this landscape could start to make some interesting shifts.

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iPad 2: Consumption to Creation

Mar 4, ’11 12:01 AM


When Apple introduced the iPad a year ago, industry reaction was mixed at best. It was called an oversized iPod touch that didn’t have much going for it. But because of the much larger screen size, horsepower and battery life they gave it, along with the SDK, it became a fertile playground for creativity.

Fast forward a year to yesterday’s iPad 2 introduction. As I watched the keynote, you could easily get sucked into the blazing fast dual-core A5 chip, the thinner & lighter body or cameras. If it wasn’t the hardware, maybe it was the forthcoming iOS 4.3 software, the new iMovie or GarageBand releases. If you read between the lines, these were significant but tactical executions of a greater strategy at play.

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Innovation & Collaboration

Feb 28, ’11 12:52 AM

I’ve been spending some time investigating different digital agency models and in particular, how they need to adapt to increasing client demands and industry upstarts. It used to be that customer collaboration was a one-off tactical execution to be checked-off on marketers’ list of accomplishments. The real significant shifts will happen in companies that integrate co-creation as part of their offerings.

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Inspiration as Future Agency Model

Feb 21, ’11 12:35 PM


(Interview by Ideas will travel)

Successful agencies and consultancies align closely with clients to stay abreast of trends and industry threats. In recent years, the explosion of digital trends and the significantly lowered barrier to entry has created an environment where there is a new client expectation that new innovations can get to the market quickly. This results in a small number of useful concepts in an otherwise unnavigable sea of noise.

Enter PSFK, a new breed of consultancy that specializes in mining opportunities. Unlike traditional research that either uses data sets too broad to create specific solutions or generic sources that don’t lead to differentiation, their approach is to be the de-facto source for creativity. They uses a lot of data points – to support their 2-pronged approach:

  • Spotting ideas and change: finding the inspiration and new opportunities
  • Understanding patterns in the data: determining why the opportunities emerge

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