Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 14:47:01 -0600
From: Steve Dropkin <steve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [OM] Re: Olympus and The Voice of the Customer
tOM Trottier wrote:
> It's good to listen to the customer, their complaints, their dreams.
> But you also have to innovate and arouse new dreams - and new
> complaints. What member of the public demanded the internet?
> Or the nuclear bomb? Or the cellphone? But these things
> transformed the world. Even the OM-1 led to diets for all
> cameras.
>BTW, tOM, I agree with you 100%. The biggest successes frequently have
>been the products people didn't know they wanted. The Mustang? The
>mini-van? Post-It Notes? Overnight delivery? All brand new. All
>successes. None of them the results of marketing surveys.
>Steve
No disagreement with any comments here about the need for innovation
from companies. It's crucial for companies to be innovative. While
many innovative products have been sucessful, many others have not.
The Apple Newton, Sony BetaMax, the Yamaha Vision motorcycle, that
DVD-like format that Microsoft (DIVX?) developed, Polaroid Instant
movie film, are examples of very innovative products that no one
wanted.
But the subject was not innovation, it was what happens to companies
when they don't listen to thier customers. Oly has lost Wayne and
Moose with it's product offerings. There's no question that their are
innovative aspects about the new Oly D-SLRs....truly representative
of Oly's history of innovation. But, the bottom line is, they don't
sell very well. At the end of the day, if they are innovative, then
why is no one buying them? Because the bottom line is that despite
how innovative something is, products must still meet the needs of
customers at some level. Despite lots of reviews, complaints,
customer input about the fact their cameras have poor noise and AF
performance, and no IS, Oly continues to put out products that do not
address the major concerns of their customers.
-Stephen.
--
2001 CBR600F4i - Fantastic!
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