Redbean - I recently spent way too much time in camera stores across the USA discussing features and functions of digital cameras. I was looking for the Flip camera and as I told the store staff how I was attracted by its simplicity and capability to do one thing well - take a video and get it on to my computer and online - they either stared, laughed or threw me out. But not before they had told me why any camera with only ONE BIG RED BUTTON on the back could never outsell their multifunction, benefit-laden, engineering marvels from the likes of Sony, Canon, Panasonic etc.
Well they were wrong. Recent estimates have put the Flip market share at 20-25% of the camcorder market. And that is why Cisco bought the company for US$590M in March.
http://www.theflip.com/
What’s going on here? First the iPhone with a single button and now a camera. And people are loving it. People that is other than the (mainly male) geeks and gadget heads who love to back you into a corner at parties and spray tech specs at you all night.
Real humans who only give a minor damn about specs but a major one about functionality are buying these ’simple’, sexy devices in droves.
Last week at an art gallery I saw the famous ad that launched the Kodak camera in 1887. It stated “You press the button, we do the rest”. So it has taken about 120 years to go full circle and build what George Eastman described as ” The only camera that anybody can use without instructions.”
It is so difficult for these monolithic manufacturers of cars, cameras and washing machines to compete in a manner other than feature wars. It takes an upstart to come along and show them the way, confirming once more Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive technology that he set out in “The Innovator’s Dilemma”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology
The same can be applied to software. Look at Google’s One Button and here is a Sydney startup example. http://pickmylunch.com.au/
Read why that same entrepreneur went from feature-laden to a single button here -
http://www.technation.com.au/2009/06/03/success-in-failure-episode-1-7-lessons-learnt-from-letting-donttellcomau-expire/
So if you are designing the next big thing try thinking simple instead of saturated and you may just design a winner.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Paul,
Thanks for the link love! I really appreciate it.
One of the issues we’re hitting now is, how do we expand our functionality but keep the simplicity? We have a few things in mind, but it is an interesting challenge.
Cheers,
Scott