{"id":23679,"date":"2011-02-05T23:53:17","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T23:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=23679"},"modified":"2011-02-08T04:21:14","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T04:21:14","slug":"productservice-acceptance-success-beyond-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/productservice-acceptance-success-beyond-statistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Product\/Service Acceptance, Success Beyond Statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                            google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm', 'Marken Communications']);\" ><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">Marken Communications<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the <strong>opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> \u2013Mark Poppin,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23681\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=376%2C283\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=376%2C283 376w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.<\/em> <strong>\u2013 Albert Einstein<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We recently read that contrary to recent Android claims\/statistics, the iPhone was way ahead of Android smartphones.<\/p>\n<p>According to the author \u2013 editor-in-chief of MacNewsWorld \u2013 it was obvious that the latest reports were over-spun, over-hyped, slanted.<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019da guessed?<\/p>\n<p>Even though we\u2019re rotten at math, there\u2019s nothing wrong with the \u201ccomplaint\u201d or probably the statistics the Android team used.<\/p>\n<p>Take a few statistics we grabbed recently by industry experts:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 digital sales for single-track <a href=\"http:\/\/webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com\/articles\/viewarticle.jsp?id=1212894\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com\/articles\/viewarticle.jsp?id=1212894', 'downloads']);\" target=\"undefined\">downloads<\/a> were flat in the U.S. market\u2026 overall digital music sales were up over 5 percent in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 29% of all tweets produced a reaction \u2013 a reply or a retweet<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blu-ray household penetration tops 17%<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 12% of mobile consumers prefer paying a fixed amount for mobile data quota<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 75% of all U.S. consumers did not connect to or download multimedia content including games, music, video, or eBooks<\/p>\n<p>As Gregg Easterbrook said, \u201cTorture numbers and they&#8217;ll confess to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t believe it?\u00a0\u00a0 We recently received the following from an Aussie friend\u2026<br \/>\n<strong>They say that 20% of all accidents are caused by drunken drivers,<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Therefore 80% involve sober drivers.<\/strong> <strong><br \/>\nCan sober drivers get off the road so that we (drinkers) can get home safely?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23682\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=366%2C319\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=366%2C319 366w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-2-300x261.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 366px) 100vw, 366px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Thank you. This message has been sent in the interests of safe driving<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The statistics, the numbers, are correct but\u2026<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the way the PC\/CE\/communications industry \u2013 including you and us &#8212; works.<\/p>\n<p>We jump from one hot, sexy product\/category to another before folks have really gotten into understanding and using the product.<\/p>\n<p>We hand-pick the numbers that work for the point we\u2019re trying to make\u2026we already know the conclusion, we just need to figure out how to get there.<\/p>\n<p>As Mark Twain said<em>, \u201c<\/em><em>There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t believe him or us?\u00a0 Check the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) chart below.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23683\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-3.jpg?resize=450%2C307\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-3.jpg?resize=450%2C307 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-3-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you think many industry analysts, editors, reporters, bloggers got excited about any of the products after the category had achieved 25% + market penetration?<\/p>\n<p>Hardly!<\/p>\n<p>Heck, we\u2019ll bet even the Twits went quiet\u2026<\/p>\n<p>We get bored long before that and want to know what\u2019s new, what\u2019s exciting, what\u2019s around the corner.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23684\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-4.jpg?resize=272%2C218\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We \u2013 the thought leaders, experts \u2013 want to know what\u2019s going to happen  as the next big thing, the next important turn in the road.<\/p>\n<p>Geoffrey Moore pinned a name and some graphics to the issue back in the early 1990s when he wrote a book \u2013 <strong><em>Crossing the Chasm \u2013<\/em><\/strong> and formed his company to help companies take their products beyond the 10-15% of consumer acceptance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23686\" title=\"Untitled-5\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-5.jpg?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The challenge for every company, every product idea, is to leap from the early market segment to the mainstream markets.<\/p>\n<p>An even bigger challenge is to keep company management \u201cinterested\u201d enough to focus marketing\/sales attention on promoting the products as aggressively as possible to move products as quickly as possible from the early majority to the late majority.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone is hot about grabbing the early markets.\u00a0 They\u2019ll throw bodies and money at the effort to get these people reviewing, talking about, extolling, blogging, tweeting about the giant leap forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u201d is talking about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u201d is buying\/using it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u201d knows a winner when they see one and\u2026this is it!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23687\" title=\"Untitled-6\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-6.jpg?resize=245%2C274\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When \u2013 if \u2013 the groundswell of enthusiasm\/excitement is achieved, marketers deem their work a success.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, it\u2019s on the left side of the chasm where companies are able to ramp up manufacturing, reduce the cost of production, achieve realistic profits.<\/p>\n<p>Getting the team interested in taking the product to the next level is a tough sell for folks because management will tell you:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone knows about XYZ<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s old technology<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s 2+\/- years old no one wants the old stuff anymore<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s time to kill the old product and get people to upgrade to the next generation of product\/service<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0 truth is:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0the industry experts and companies are tired of talking about the product\/service<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0you\u2019re tired of hearing about it taking over the marketplace\u2026soon<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the other guy\u2019s new product, service looks fantastic compared\u00a0 to the stuff you are offering\/promoting<\/p>\n<p>So, management \u00a0(and engineers\/designers) wants to move on to something new, fun, exciting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23688\" title=\"Untitled-7\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-7.jpg?resize=450%2C311\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-7.jpg?resize=450%2C311 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-7-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>About a year ago, The Gartner Group refined the issue, combining pieces of Moore\u2019s work and Chris Anderson\u2019s <strong><em>Long Tail<\/em><\/strong> concept with their development\/refinement of <strong><em>The Technology Hype Cycle.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The products that strike a chord with the innovators and then with the early adopters get all of the positive hype.<\/p>\n<p>When a product doesn\u2019t immediately\u00a0 leap over the chasm and enjoy strong sales in the mainstream markets, they start getting the negative coverage<\/p>\n<p>They weren\u2019t \u201cbad,\u201d just not good enough to stay at the peak of the hype wave.<\/p>\n<p>Acceptance\/understanding\/usage never caught up with our over-inflated idea of the \u00a0greatness the product\/service could\/should achieve.<\/p>\n<p>Some managers ignore the negative stuff and just keep plugging along \u2013 tweaking, tuning the product\/service, their messages.<\/p>\n<p>In many instances, some of these products, services, programs\u00a0 do survive and enjoy decent\/profitable sales for a long time, but with little or no follow-on hype.<\/p>\n<p>Most, however, wither and die under the weight of the negative coverage; or worse yet, complete neglect.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Pity!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem is , there\u2019s not much glory attached to the job of getting your product\/service over the chasm and producing mainstream market success.<\/p>\n<p>As Moore has pointed out; it is frankly, a heckofa\u2019 lot of work\u2026hard work.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge for a company is to keep just the right balance between working on bleeding edge products\/technology and moving the more mature products further along the adoption cycle.<\/p>\n<p>You have to remind yourself \u2013 constantly \u2013 that the more people you get to understand, buy and use mature products\/services; the more you have to invest in the technology leaps \u2013 and stumbles \u2013 of tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>The thing that you have to remember is that just because you eat, sleep, dream technology\/industry statistics;\u00a0 it may be healthy but it just isn\u2019t \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After all, as an unknown author said, <em>\u201c98% of all statistics are made up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23685\" title=\"Untitled-8\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Untitled-8.jpg?resize=179%2C187\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Even Albert understood that statistics don\u2019t buy products, services, things\u2026people do.<\/p>\n<p>It takes time for them to catch up with your statistics.<\/p>\n<p># # #<\/p>\n<p><strong>by:   G.A. &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> President<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> Marken Communications Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a 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A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of Marken Communications Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":23688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,6,7],"tags":[4443,4441,4442],"class_list":["post-23679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-news","category-technology","tag-hype-cycle","tag-statistics","tag-technology-life-cycle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}