Failures of technology marketing

Michael Gartenberg | February 10, 2005, 01:39 AM

Reflecting a little bit while I endure the personal purgatory that is air travel. This was a great, if grueling trip (ten hour sessions with client take their toll just a bit). Had some great dialogue going back and forth and a huge flow of ideas. Thanks to my hosts for setting this up. One of the themes I keep coming back to is the failure of tech companies to market well to mainstream audiences. There's been a loss of the ability to appeal to both passengers and sailors. Some folks are doing this well and reaping success. Don't believe me? How many flash based MP3 players are folks willing to wait 4-8 weeks to purchase? How many TiVos (or any DVR for that matter) were sold over the last seven years? (our research says it's about a 4% install base) See my point?

If Apple believed that consumers are interested in consuming digital content (as opposed to creating movies and music) other than music (and they are), I believe they could be dominant. Not strong. Not a player amongst many. Dominant. It's a good thing for Microsoft and others that Steve Jobs doesn't believe in a 10' UI for PCs, or that consumers are interested in recording TV shows or movies on a personal computer (for TV playback) or in mobile video.