The Potentially Profound Implications of Kindle

April 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Amazon’s remarkable second version of their Kindle book reader has some profound implications for all of us.  Here’s a “glowing” review and some speculative thoughts on what this device might just mean for a number of industries.   

First things first. I love the Kindle2 and the entire experience that it provides.  Over the past month, it has become an increasingly indispensible part of my existence, and in many respects its presence has compelled me to read more and write less.  Perhaps a few you of are saying “thank goodness” on the write-less part.

And for those of you who love the feel, smell and experience of a book and cannot imagine reading one on a device, I’m right there with you.  Or at least I was.  True to the promo copy, the Kindle device literally disappears as you become engrossed in reading a good book or an interesting newspaper article.  

And speaking of newspapers, the true test for me was whether this could hold up to one of my other true passions, reading the Wall Street Journal.  I signed up for the free 14-day trial expecting fully to bail out after seeing how clunky the experience would be when trying to replace the venerable print format.

I’ve cancelled my print subscription.  

I’m actually spending more time with my eyeballs on the Journal as I move serially through certain sections or as I navigate between sections to my favorite features.  I didn’t expect to love this as much.  I backed up my own informal experiment by giving it to my Dad who became so enamored with the device and engrossed in reading with it, that I kept my eyes on him as he was leaving my house, just to make certain the device hadn’t accidentally remained in his hands.

Oh, and the ease and speed of browsing, sampling and buying books is scary powerful.  I may have to call Amazon and place a house limit on my Kindle book account.  Samples in seconds and books in under a minute direct to the device.  Wow! 

Great marketing…a cool device, total portability for my library, an outstanding user experience and a remarkable variety of content immediately at my fingertips, without being tethered to a computer. 

A Few Speculative Thoughts: Implications and Opportunities of the Kindle

The combination of Kindle and Amazon is not dissimilar to the iPod-iTunes strategy (device: platform) that Apple used to rewrite the rules for the music industry.  Perhaps based on the music industry experience and the well-established Amazon model, the publishing industry has a game-plan to leverage this technology and its distribution platform and still make money.  If not, watch out.  

If you are a Bricks and Mortar bookstore, beware.  If you are in the book printing industry, beware as well.

Is Kindle the lifeline for the newspaper industry? I’ve got news for you doubters out there, if my sixty-nine year old father can learn to use and like reading the WSJ on this device in under 4 minutes, it’s real.

In a fascinating post in the Silicon Valley Insider, Nicholas Carson offers up some math that suggests that the NY Times could give every reader a Kindle for the price of printing and delivering the paper for a year.  After year one, it’s pure savings.  And while there’s that little detail about ad revenues and making money, this is a real scenario. 

The newspapers of the future might just not include any newsprint.  If I’m in this business, I’m looking long and hard at how to make money without having the huge costs and infrastructure needed to print and deliver. 

Magazine publishers, see also the material above. 

Others:

Amazon, what’s your open source model for allowing authors to publish directly to Kindle?  The ultimate disruptive self-publishing model?  Take it a step further… I wonder what an App store for Kindle might generate? Hmmm. 

Implications for libraries?  Schools?  Students?  Another hmmm.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

So many times the allure of new, cool devices wears off and they offer no sustainable value beyond the initial infatuation with bells and whistles.  The Kindle seems different.  It offers access, portability, a quality reading experience and yeah, a bit of novelty.  My crystal ball is as foggy as everyone else’s, but if you are in a business that is around the core being impacted by Kindle, you need a good strategy.  Otherwise, that noise you are about to hear might just be your paradigm shifting along with your profit model. 

One last comment.  The name Kindle is brilliant.  The New Oxford dictionary on the Kindle device offers up: v: light or set on fire, special usage: arouse or inspire an emotion or feeling. 

This just might be the spark that transforms whole industries and a good part of our daily lives.  

What’s the Kindle equivalent for your industry? 

 

Filed Under: Product Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Last Yard: AT&T’s Failure to Fully Satisfy in Spite of A Competition Killing Product

December 28, 2008 By 2 Comments

I suspect from the crowd at the Crystal Lake, IL AT&T store on the day after Christmas, that I was not the only person in America that had decided to surprise someone in their family with a new Apple 3G iPhone.  While I cannot be certain what it was like at the Verizon store where they do not carry the iPhone, the AT&T location was filled with people seeking to port their numbers and accounts over to this exclusive provider for the iPhone.

Before I get too far, my issue and our learning opportunities come from AT&T’s System for on-boarding new customers with the iPhone.  The store team on the ground in Crystal Lake was great throughout the entire process.

My issue is more with AT&T’s seemingly incomplete and poor system (not the store’s) for helping customers ramp up on this season’s ultimate killer product.

Here’s a quick synopsis of what it took.

  • I started the process of acquiring a new iPhone for my college-age son a few weeks ago.  I use AT&T in my business, but the family was with the other guys.  I needed to find out how I could add a phone and deal with the texting, internet and voice needs of a serial texter.  I called AT&T and spoke with 2 reps who were completely incapable of confidently telling me what my options were and what the final costs would be to add a second line, switch to family talk and meet my son’s specs for usage.  Time investment…approximately one hour and no satisfaction whatsoever.
  • I tried the website.  Same result…no luck.  I defy anyone to pull off this simple transaction using their website.  Also, on this prime shopping day during prime daytime hours, the site was down for quite awhile undergoing maintenance.  Hmmm.  I wonder who scheduled that event?
  • I went to the store in Crystal Lake, IL and 45 minutes later I walked out with a new iPhone and Brett’s assurance that I could bring it back after Christmas to port my son’s Verizon number and move all of his contacts.  I also had the 800 number for the AT&T porting service in case I wanted to try that on my own.  Outstanding!  Score one for dealing with real live people face to face.
  • Christmas Day…the iPhone was a huge hit and a total surprise.  My wife and I had resorted to a little bit of Christmas present cruelty by just mumbling and groaning something about contracts every time my son raised the question of whether there was an iPhone in his future.  OK, it was mean, but the kid is tough, the world is not always kind, and it sure heightened his surprise!
  • Christmas Day again.  I wondered whether AT&T was aggressive enough to have people standing by to help their many, many new customers activate their freshly unwrapped products and start the meter running for billing purposes.  No such luck.  The recorded message indicated that they were closed for the day.  (OK, I feel a bit Scrooge-like here, but if I have a killer product like the iPhone and my success is a function of getting people smiling and dialing or texting as quickly as possible, I might have taken a different path on the holiday.)
  • December 26.  I power-dialed the 800 number at AT&T, put the speakerphone on and wrote a blog post, answered e-mail and reviewed the latest draft of a presentation.  After one hour and twenty minutes of being on-hold, I gave up. The next step was the store.
  • We were early, and got right up to the counter.  Another helpful Rep efficiently ported over my son’s 245 contacts from the Verizon phone (big score!) and then started the phone number port process.  The dedicated line for store reps must have been slammed.  He was on hold for 34 minutes before anyone answered.  During this time, the store filled, the line grew and everyone was after the same thing.  The family next to us had a shopping bag filled with iPhones needing numbers.  Before long, every rep in the store was on the phone and customer service ground to a halt.
  • Truth be told, once our rep was connected with someone on the AT&T side, the port was carried out smoothly and we were quickly on our way.  Probably not a moment too soon, as the people in line were getting a little feisty as the reps continued to be stuck on hold waiting for help.

My Points:

Again, this is not one of those 8 hours on the tarmac with no food or water and the toilets clogged, stories that the airlines are so good at creating.  And yet from this experience, I can’t help but think that AT&T doesn’t get it.

  • Any opportunity to capture a competitor’s subscribers must be a huge opportunity for the phone companies.  There has to be a natural motivation to create happy new customers.  All of those Verizon converts are viable prospects for internet, cable and any of the other products that they come up with to slowly bleed consumers dry.  The iPhone is the killer-app for converting customers, and its star power may not last forever.
  • The iPhone is a resonator…(Tuned In).  It is truly a remarkable device that practically sells itself.   And while the device offers a remarkable experience (not necessarily for the phone portion), AT&T missed the chapter on creating remarkable customer experiences.
  • If you are AT&T, what chucklehead decided that it was OK to staff the call center with a Rep level that had customers waiting for hours on the phone or almost an hour in-store to get their new products up and running? Someone somewhere focused on costs, kept the staff lean and forgot that they were in the business of creating great customer experiences.  And oh yeah, I would have had people working on Christmas Day to help satisfy their overwhelming urge to use this great new product.

The Bottom-Line:

Thanks to the team in Crystal Lake for helping us out so effectively, and thanks to Apple for such a great product.  As for you AT&T, I can think of other industries and companies that are disappearing because they failed to execute on the last yard.  Any leader or any company that is arrogant and complacent about taking care of customers is likely not a good long-term bet.  Perhaps they will figure out the “system” to satisfy customers with the next killer product that comes along once in a lifetime.

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In Search of the High Performance Team

November 11, 2008 By 2 Comments

A special note: today is Veterans Day

While we may struggle in business to consistently produce high-performance teams, our soldiers in service of our country live this on a regular basis.  Thanks to those who have served, those who are serving and to all who have sacrificed.  Our gratitude has no end.

In Search of the High Performance Team

I regularly poll my seminar participants and MBA students on their team-focused experiences in the workplace and I am consistently surprised when very few report ever being part of something that they would classify as a “high performance” team.

The results of my unscientific polling are all the more surprising given that we live during a time when involvement in short-term projects with individuals across functions is a part of the regular work experience of most professionals.

The business literature is filled with articles and interviews from leaders and pundits on topics tied to innovation, business execution and team heroics.  Of course, the same companies tend to be the focal point of these articles.  It seems like we cannot get enough of the stories of heroics pulled off in companies like Apple, Ideo Google and the few others that seem to make the short-list for the popular business press.  It’s curious that those companies got the memo on creating high-performance teams and the rest of us are relegated to reading about their successes.

When I ask about involvement on high-performance teams, there is invariably someone in the audience sharp enough to ask me what I mean. Admittedly, my definition is one of those kind of squishy, you’ll know it when you experience it answers.  It’s also a multi-part answer that goes something like this:

  • A high-performance team is a group of people that have figured out how to work together to knock down and succeed in pursuit of audacious goals.  They’ve learned to leverage their respective strengths, compensate for weaknesses and tap into the power that a group of people uniquely focused on a goal are able to generate.
  • High-performance teams thrive on challenges, revel only momentarily in successes and mostly seek the next big challenge.  They tend to be paranoid about becoming overconfident and in general, they don’t seek significant public recognition.
  • The working environment on this team is comfortable for collaboration, encouraging of disparate opinions and singularly focused on turning ideas into actions. High-performance teams are
    self-policing.  Values and accountabilities are clear and there is an explicit expectation that membership requires honoring the values. Membership on this team is a true privilege.
  • The leader on a high-performance team recognizes that his or her role is teach, to knock down obstacles and to constantly focus on creating the environment that allows others to succeed at high-levels. This leader may be tough, but this leader tends to be quiet, letting actions talk.  You generally won’t find this leader to be loud and boisterous, although they may be a great cheerleader as well as a stern disciplinarian behind team walls.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Effective leadership is a pre-requisite for the creation of a high-performance team.  Perhaps if more leaders focused on their responsibility to empower others, I would see some more hands raised when I ask about whether your employees have been part of a high-performance team.  It’s not too late to start working on this.

Filed Under: Leadership, Performance Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Did Anyone Get the Memo on How to Act During a Slowdown?

June 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

You don't have to look hard to learn about the impact of rising fuel costs, including layoffs, plant closings, cutbacks, service reductions, fare hikes and new user fees.  These headlines and many more just like them blare from the tv and radio or jump out at us from the front pages of our morning newspapers.  However, what really amazes me is how hard you have to work to find examples of companies and leaders that received and read the memo on surviving, improving and even prospering during periods of economic difficulty.

I wrote about this topic a number of months ago (How Good Leaders Approach a Recession) suggesting that the best leaders take advantage of business cycle slowdowns to improve their organizations and set the stage for growth as conditions improve.  While I don't recall for certain, I suspect that I might have even suggested that it is possible for truly enlightened organizations to take advantage of the situation by flogging their competitors who are acting as if a slowdown means going out of business.  If I didn't mention it previously, consider it said: You can grow and advance during a recession.

The Airline Industry: How Not to Act:

The airline industry is generating a fair amount (bad pun intended) of the air time (another bad pun, sorry!) on bad news.  Rapidly rising fuel costs are further devastating the already not-for-profit U.S. airline industry, driving the companies to cut flights, cut employees, cut planes, reduce services, hike fares, add all sorts of new user fees in an attempt to survive.  While I never begrudge anyone the right steps to deal with costs, it seems that the net impact of most of the actions is to take one of the most miserable experiences that a human can go through (next to prison) and make it worse.  In the words of one of my favorite people on the planet…"We have a plan, it's not going to work, but we're going to do it anyway."

Hey airline industry, what about taking some steps to try and do something radical like offer something that encourages people to fly.  You've proven that punishing us with horrible service, uncomfortable equipment and extra fees for luxuries like checked baggage or rescheduling our flights don't work.  Why not Tune In to your buyers and offer us opportunities and experiences that surprise and delight?  Imagine,  trying to lure customers with something positive.  Radical.

Rumor has it one of the major carriers is working on rolling out a host of incentives that focus on providing consumers with good reasons to happily fill their planes.  Southwest figured this formula out a long time ago, and in my opinion, their current commercials mocking the fees of the other airlines by showing passengers inserting quarters for things like reclining a seat, accessing the restroom or opening the overhead luggage compartment, are brilliant.   Just like Apple has single-handedly rebranded Microsoft as a clumsy, lumbering, out-of-touch company with the "I'm a Mac" commercials, Southwest is showcasing how asinine the rest of the industry is acting.

Bottom Line: Other Thoughts on Prospering During a Slowdown in Any Industry

I didn't mean to make this a rant on the airline industry, but with 1 million air miles, most on United, I've earned the right to vent just a little.  Some other thoughts for leaders, managers and concerned corporate citizens everywhere:

  • Thump your competitors if they'll let you. If your competitors are responding to a slowdown by acting like they are preparing to shrink, launch a frontal assault and seek to grab customers while the grabbing is good.
  • Give us reasons to buy, not avoid your product or service. Offer positive encouragement. If you own airplanes you want butts in seats and if you make cars, you want the same.  Help us solve our problems and offer us some good reasons to take that vacation or consider you when we need a new car.
  • Be positive.  Manage the flow of noise from your organization to ensure that it is weighted in the right direction.
  • Create experiences for your customers that "surprise and delight." 
  • Monitor what's happening in places where your customers come to buy.  (Home Depot, you lost my lawn tractor purchase last week, because no one in your store would take the time to talk to someone clearly ready to buy.)
  • Topgrade your team.  The right people make you great.  The wrong people have you punishing your customers and sewing the seeds of your own demise. 
  • Plan and act to prepare for improving conditions.  Prune your project portfolio to those that are most strategic and support them to the hilt!

My next assignment is to seek out examples of companies actually doing some of these things.  If you've got some examples, let us know.  I have to stop typing  now, I've finally reached the ticket counter and I need to pull out my credit card to pay for: the baggage fee, my flight change and my fuel surcharge.  Uh oh, the ticket agent looks angry. And oh yeah, I need a few singles for the bag of peanuts on the flight. 

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sirius and XM: Does Satellite Radio Resonate?

June 6, 2008 By Leave a Comment

With thanks to the team of Phil Myers, Craig Stull (Pragmatic Marketing) and David Meerman Scott (Web Ink Now), I'm looking for "Resonators" everywhere I go.  And no, "Resonators" are not some new cool gadget, but rather, as defined by the aforementioned authors in their soon to be released book, Tuned In, they are products or services that so perfectly solve problems for buyers that they practically sell themselves. (Full disclosure,  I've had a sneak peek at some of the concepts in this great new book, and I am presenting my take on what their book means for leaders in a webinar, entitled: Tuned In Leadership, next Friday, June 13.)

An article in the Wall Street Journal last week entitled "Slowdown Generates Static for XM, Sirius," outlined the challenges that these two (planning to be one) satellite radio companies are having in generating the much needed growth in subscriptions, given a slowing economy and especially, slowing automobile production and purchases (a key source of new subscriptions for both).  Now that the companies appear to be moving towards gaining the final OK to merge, they are running into their next hurdle, trying to solve the riddle of profitability by delivering premium content and commercial free music to customers willing to pay.  Both organizations have purportedly invested heavily in adding celebrities (e.g. Howard Stern) and major sporting events (NFL, MLB, NASCAR etc.) in an attempt to lure enough subscribers and advertisers and eventually generate profits.

According to the article in the Wall Street Journal, the combined subscriber count for both companies is in the neighborhood of 17.9 million…adding a net total of 3.7 million last year.  The article contrasts this with 21 million Ipods sold last year and the fact that 54 million people tune in to internet radio every week.  Of course, many more people tune into traditional terrestrial radio—in spite of the mundane and redundant programming and the mindless and endless commercials (this author's opinion).

I have been a subscriber to satellite radio almost since its inception…first XM and now Sirius.  I have a subscription in my car, and I have a portable unit that I use in other cars, on my boat or in a boom box when I'm working in the yard.  I drive a fair amount, and I love the constant access to CNBC, other news channels and some great talk shows.  I also appreciate the opportunity to tune in to commercial free jazz content on the ride home after a day training, teaching or working with a client.   I am almost as passionate about my satellite radio as I am about my family's growing number of Apple computers and related products, but I worry a lot about the survival chances for this incredible medium.

I reviewed the afore-mentioned article in a management class of working professionals last week, and the discussion and key points might be germane to the teams at XM/Sirius.  In this northwest suburban Chicago class of 15, I was the only subscriber, and while several had heard the names of the companies, there was little perception of  what satellite radio is all about.  Overall, the class struggled to describe why anyone would pay for radio, although most agreed that the commercial free aspect was nice.  After discussing the features and benefits (and pricing model), a few offered that they might pay for Howard Stern or some sports, but overall didn't find the concept of satellite radio solving any real problem or didn't find it exciting and unique enough to place it into the "must have" category.  Truthfully, I even let some of my passion for the offering filter through and in spite of this, the reaction to the concept of paying for radio (even premium and commercial free radio) was that it is not doing anything to solve a problem that anyone could identify, although it sounded like a nice luxury.   Clearly, satellite radio was not a Resonator with this audience.

The bottom-line for now:

As stated, I'm a big fan.  I would be sad to lose my Sirius radio.  (It's playing in my office right now as I'm typing this.)  However, I've long suspected that this medium has bigger problems than the scrutiny they are receiving over the prospect of merging.  The companies (in my opinion) have failed to do what other companies and products like Apple and the Ipod do so well…to create something that is so compelling, that solves such vexing problems or creates such an incredible experience, that large number of buyers cannot live without it.  Sirius's new Stiletto 2 combines the best of a portable, Ipod-like device with the ability to play MP3 files, but still total subscriber numbers remain low.

If I'm XM/Sirius, I would be losing more sleep over why people aren't knocking down the proverbial doors to take advantage of their quality offerings.  I hope they make it, but if my class is representative of a large part of the potential subscriber base, satellite radio either doesn't resonate, or the companies have failed to communicate the value in a way that resonates.  I hope that the management teams are Tuning In.

Filed Under: Marketing, Strategy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,