Would you like to invest in a product that serves a singular purpose? Why worry about devices that can do thousands of things when you can have a larger device that just does one?
Then I have an amazing opportunity for you:
Three products have come out in the last couple of years that fill this "niche" in the market: The Kindle, The Nook and The Peek.
Seriously?
Now some people will tell me that there is a market for these products and that one can even be leveraged effectively through ad networks. True, these products could potentially serve as a massive ad platform but they won't. Why? You can have the functionality of each of these AND call people with the current generation of smart phones.
The business model behind these products seems to be this: "I hope none of them know about the Iphone yet." That isn't a business model, it's a prayer.
The first two products were designed to compete with a book. Unfortunately for them, they've been preempted by a tsunami of superior products that fill the "good enough" mold that has revolutionized how businesses create products via crowdsourcing and social media.
The Peek doesn't really justify a full conversation. It has been covered in enough detail here: "However, the new TwitterPeek seems...well...sort of crazy, to be honest. Who's so addicted to Twitter that they're going to purchase this device instead of using Twitter's SMS service or just breaking down and buying a device capable of running apps or surfing the web? We know Twitter is a lot of fun, but is it really so essential that we need a standalone device?"
This all comes back to utility. Your product, campaign or call to action needs to provide value to the customer. It also has to maintain said value for a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise you run into the classic ice cutting problem (Escalation of techniques to do do one thing being eclipsed by a game changer called refrigeration.) and your technology will become obsolete before it has a chance to catch on.
Simplicity, utility and clear need. That's how you can create an effective product. What's your take?
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tagged as #peekfail, communicating utility, creative utility, good enough philosophy, ice cutting social media, kindle, marketing utility, nook, obsolete peek, peek, peek fail
