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Innovation. It’s a tricky thing.
Do it right, and you can make billions. Do it wrong, and you’ll end up in bankruptcy court. Either way, you’ll be called both a fool and a genius, and no one will know which is true, least of all you.
Amazon’s new Kindle is a classic example. Everyone is talking about it, and I did my best to avoid chiming in, but it’s just too good of a topic for me to resist.
Rather than telling you whether I like it or hate it though, why don’t we talk about what it can teach us about innovation? Because I think there’s a lot to learn.
Here are my top 10 lessons that we can learn from the Kindle. Feel free to chime in with your own in the comments.
1. Innovation Doesn’t Mean Evolution
Too many times, a company will develop a “next generation” product and stop selling the old one. They expect their customers to evolve, failing to realize that not all customers want to change. They like things the way they were, and they get upset when you take it away.
Amazon didn’t make this mistake. A portion of their customers will never be happy with anything but holding a book in their hands. And that’s fine. They can ignore the Kindle and keep buying books the way they always did. Either way, Amazon keeps their business and continues making money.
2. Skepticism Is Still Press
When the media, industry analysts, and your existing customers are all calling your product stupid, it’s easy to start believing no one will buy it. But don’t be so sure. The buzz leading up to the launch of Kindle was highly skeptical, if not downright negative, but they still sold out during the first few days.
The saying, “All press is good press” is usually true, but it goes beyond that. If you try to develop a product that pleases everyone, then you’re probably going to end up with something mediocre. It’s better to polarize people, building a product that some people love and some people hate. The bickering between them will catch everyone else’s attention.
3. A Powerful Brand Can Help a Risky Idea
It’s clear: the Kindle is a risky idea. Amazon is trying to popularize an idea (the e-book) that never quite made it. You could argue that the only reason anyone is paying attention to it is because a huge company like Amazon is the one pushing it. If a college student tried to launch the exact same product with venture capital, would we pay attention?
Probably not. Sometimes, the best incubator for innovation is not a hot new startup but an established company that can afford to take a calculated risk. If you have a similar idea and are thinking of starting a company to bring the product to market, you might stop consider if you would be better off selling it to the dominant player for a cut of the profits. You could end up better off.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Sacrifice Your Cash Cow
Once a company gets to a certain size, it has the tendency to stop innovating. To get the green light, cutting-edge ideas have to go through too many levels of approval. It’s also easier to just keep improving your product line and raking in the cash from your existing customer base.
Amazon proves it doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of pushing yet another incremental improvement on us, they attack one of the foundations of their own company. If it grows in popularity like the iPod, the Kindle could redefine the way we think about distributing information, solidifying Amazon’s market dominance for another decade or so.
5. Make Old Ideas New Again
E-books are nothing new. They’ve been around for a decade or longer, and almost everyone knows what they are. But Amazon is making us look at them in a new way. By taking the book off of the computer and putting it on a mobile device, they remind us of what attracted us to e-books in the first place: convenience.
This is a tried and true business strategy. Take an old idea or product, figure out what attracted people to it, and then recapture the benefits in a powerful way. Apple did it with music. EBay did it with auctions. Amazon is doing it with books. If you’re creative enough, you can do it in your industry too.
6. You Can Be Pretty Later
The Kindle is ugly. It’s nothing like the iPhone, where people bought it just to show off the slick interface to their friends. Instead, Amazon focused on creating a product that does exactly what it’s supposed to do: give you nationwide access to over 80,000 books in the palm of your hand. They can make it pretty later.
When you’re inventing a new product category, you should follow Amazon’s lead. Aesthetics only become a differentiating factor when there are lots of competitors that offer the same basic functionality. That’s not to say you should intentionally make an ugly product. Just put your attention where it belongs: bringing value to the customer.
7. Know What Your Business Is about
Amazon isn’t in the business of selling books. It’s in the business of selling access. Their goal is to make millions of products available to you with one click of your mouse. The Kindle isn’t just another new gizmo; it’s about giving you instant access to the world’s information from wherever you are, and doing it better than everything else, including laptops and PDAs.
Regardless of whether you’re an engineer, manager, or salesperson, never make the mistake of believing that you are developing or selling products. “Customers don’t buy products. They buy solutions,” is a cliché, but only because it’s true. Sometimes, that means abandoning development of your existing product lines and offering your customers a whole new approach to solving their problems.
8. Take Baby Steps
Amazon isn’t trying to revolutionize the publishing industry overnight. They are taking baby steps. As people start using the Kindle and getting comfortable with it, rumor has it that they’ll dramatically increase the available titles and even rollout interactive books, where authors update the book and you immediately see the changes, rather than having to buy a new edition.
It’s not sexy, but it works. If you’re trying something different, give people a chance to get used to it before turning their world upside down. Otherwise, they’ll resist you, and your good idea could flop either because no one “gets it” or key players refuse to cooperate. The best businesses understand exactly how far they can push an industry and how fast.
9. Launch at the Right Time
The Kindle makes a perfect Christmas gift. If I was a parent with a kid in school, I would have one of these bad boys under the Christmas tree right now. The easier you can make it for them to learn, the better. Plus, it’s a new toy that no one has yet, making it a great gift for people who seem to have everything.
It seems obvious, but not all businesses consider the timing of their launch You should always factor in when your customers will be in the right frame of mind to buy. Granted, you can’t always launch when you want to, but if you’re doing something innovative, timing can have a huge influence over the success of your product.
10. It’s Still One Big Crapshoot
Will the Kindle make it? Nobody knows for sure, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.
Sure, Amazon is putting a lot of support behind the Kindle, but they’re nowhere close to betting the farm. If it fails, a lot of people will say, “I told you so,” and their stock might take a dip, but they’ll still be one of the most influential companies in the world. And they’ll have lots more chances to get it right.
You should approach innovation the same way. Realize that the odds are against you and plan for it. It’s not cynicism; it’s smart business. If you know that you have a 20% chance of success, then you’ll set aside enough money to survive five dud ideas until you hit the one that works.
Entrepreneurs that risk everything and win are great stories, but most of the time, innovation isn’t nearly so glorious. It’s more about survival than victory. You do something, see how it works, and then do something else. The key is having the persistence and resources to keep trying until you get it right.
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November 25th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Fair enough Jon, but I think Amazon made a HUGE mistake with Kindle. They didn’t think customers 1st. They are selling a tool that only works with books we buy from them. hmmm. If, instead, they had given away lets say 400 books with the device, Kindle would be a GUARANTEED success. 400 authors would have been thrilled to get free publicity.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:12 am
Great post Jon. Another one
For a version 1 product I think this is a good release. I can see a good portion of media being read on devices like this. Not this one, but this kind of idea. If you think of what people are carrying around, such as iPods, the iPhone, other smartphones, there is no reason why people can’t be reading books this way already. In my mind Amazon want to sell the service but didn’t see a mass market device taking hold (despite there already being competitors before this launch) so to sell the service had to create a device.
Let’s see what version 3 or 4 is like before we decide its fate. The early adopters have bought this, but it is still a way off crossing the chasm.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I agree with Chris, to a large extent. It is very good for a first generation product, although I think that the lack of PDF support was a huge oversight by Amazon.
I’m also not a huge fan of the idea of DRM on books.
Still, the 2nd or 3rd generation could prove to be great, especially if PDF support is added to later models (and I suspect that it probably will be).
November 26th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Great post! My favorite part was your first point, “Innovation Doesn’t Mean Evolution”. We just developed a new piece of sharpening equipment in my company, but not at the expense of the old trusted machine. Too many people like it!
This whole post is filled with GREAT marketing advice! I hope all the readers see past the product and get to the point behind it. Well done!!!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
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November 28th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Aesthetics and functionality aren’t mutually exclusive, nor should you plan one without the other since they affect each other. And to say that people would shell out $300-600 just to show something off to their friends is just plain nuts. I really don’t think you get it …
November 28th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
*Design* matters, not “looks.” The difference matters.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs
November 28th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
“They can make it pretty later.”
Uh- no, you only get one chance to make a first impression and my first impression was Yuck,
I’m willing to overlook some of it’s bad design if it functions well but why should I have too?
November 28th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I don’t know if the Kindle would really qualify as an innovation in my books. It was definitely something that could have been great (a completely autonomous unit is nothing to sneeze at), but they missed the mark with it so badly. For something to appeal to the mass market I think they’d need to lose the keypad and go with a touchscreen UI, give up on the idea that a two-tone screen is acceptable in an age of LCD screens, and give it PDF support. Then adding features like a well-executed mp3 player would only sweeten the deal, an a new design wouldn’t hurt.
IMHO though, the iPhone and iPod are going to see success as e-readers before the Kindle does; the smartphone capabilities of both of them are going to make it hard for dedicated devices like the Kindle to really compete.
– Dan
November 28th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
It’s a good gift for a child? I wouldn’t give Kindle to my worst enemy. It locks you into a system of overpriced DRM-restricted, amazon-only content. It will read neither PDF’s nor the thousands of free and low-cost public domain e-books that are already out there. Better to get your kid a library card.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Seems like this is a huge misconception widely spread among technology people - design is about pretty looks.
Let me tell you how a teacher I once had showed us what deisgn is. He had a cup made out of birch wood, with a handle. This is a tool used by the Sami, the indigenous people of Scandinavia. It was a beautifully made cup, but the beauty was in its simplicity - and then he filled water in it and placed it on a rock, and it balanced perfectly and needn’t support. When it was empty, it rested on the handle.
That is design. The beauty comes out of its form which is determined by its functionality. It is not some decoration one adds afterwards, like so many thinks.
Seems like Apple is one of the few technological industries which has understood this.
Design= when form meets function and they are in belance.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Just to clear up some misconceptions — Kindle will read Microsoft Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files, and there is experimental .PDF support. Says Amazon “Due to PDF’s fixed layout format, some complex PDF files might not format correctly on your Kindle.”
So it should be pretty easy, and free, to get non-DRM files of all sorts onto the thing.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
You are talking about this thing as though it was an innovative design.
I don’t see that it does anything that other equally hopeless e-reader whatsits have done.
The only thing that has been accomplished well is the buzz, the hype surrounding this ugly lump of plastic.
I disagree with almost every point you make.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I wonder what people were saying when the 1G iPod came out? Oh yeah, the same stuff they are saying about the Kindle.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
“It will read neither PDF’s nor the thousands of free and low-cost public domain e-books that are already out there”
There’s a USB port and a flash slot which you can use to access files that you didn’t buy through Amazon.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
The operative question is not ‘Will it work?’ The market is littered with the corpses of products that ‘worked’ in the sense of performing their designed function.
The true question is ‘Does it work *well enough* that I want to use it?’ It’s a much harder question to answer, because it’s not a simple yes/no, but involves multiple factors that people will interpret in different ways. But that’s precisely why it’s the valuable question.
It’s not enough to ask ‘Will it read e-books?’ - other products have done that. Does it feel good to hold in the hand? Are the controls comfortable and positioned well, or do they get in my way? (And are they likely to get triggered accidentally if I hold the reader a different way?) Is the screen not just legible, but actually pleasant to read? Is the on-screen interface intuitive, or do I have to struggle to figure it out? Do I care about the use of DRM? Do I care about Amazon having a record of everything I’ve purchased and all the bookmarks I’ve made? (Given how touchy some privacy advocates are, I’m surprised no one else has brought this one up yet.) And, *yes*, do I like the way it looks? (I’m going to be staring at this thing a lot if it’s going to fulfill its function, it darn well better *not* make me think ‘yech, that’s ugly’ every time I look at it.)
Finally, the factor that trumps everything else: Do I value the function of the device enough to put up with the flaws? I think this is where a lot of the split between glowing technophile reviews and poor mass market acceptance occurs; tech lovers will often value functionality enough to put up with interface and ergonomic flaws that ordinary users won’t.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Others have already said it, but I’ll add my voice to the choir: Design is about much more than a device’s appearance.
I’ve handled the latest Sony Reader (competing eBook with same screen technology), and I like it well enough to buy it — but as a Mac user, the Windows-only software is a dealbreaker. (Sorry, Sony!)
Amazon’s business model for the Kindle is actually compelling enough for me to give this a try ($10 books, nearly-instant downloads over wireless, computer-independent). But I won’t be buying one, because the entire device just seems … awkward.
Many people consider books to be beautiful things, but most people would consider the Kindle to be ugly. Or, at best, very dated. (It looks like it’s from the 1980s.)
It also looks awkward to use. Awkward to hold, and awkward to change pages. I haven’t seen the UI or the on-screen menus, but my guess is … they’re awkward too.
That shouldn’t be too shocking, because as far as I can tell, this is Amazon’s first attempt at building hardware.
I’m certain that Kindle 2.0 will be a much better device as they learn their mistakes from this one — but at that point, how many people will be willing to give it a second chance? A lot of people remember Microsoft’s Zune, and how ridiculed it was, but not many people care to take another look now that they’ve improved it with Version 2.0.
Design should not be an afterthought. It involves much more than color.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
It seems the author, Jon, has demonstrated the REAL LESSON here.
“No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” — H. L. Mencken (?)
November 29th, 2007 at 5:00 am
DRM, having to pay again for books I already own, and having to pay a fee (a lousy dime per file) to transfer my own content onto it, will all keep the Kindle from kindling any desire to buy in me.
Also, if I understand correctly, if my wife and I each have a Kindle and I finish reading a purchased book and want to let her read it, we’d have to trade Kindles or buy another copy of the book. What happened to fair use?
P.S. It was P.T. Barnum who said, “You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
November 29th, 2007 at 6:07 am
The real problem is that when people see some sizzle, they assume there isn’t any steak. Which is why for the longest time companies like Apple couldn’t catch a break.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:19 am
eckenheimer wrote: “to pay a fee (a lousy dime per file) to transfer my own content onto it”
Wrong. There’s a USB connector and a Flash card slot you can use to put content onto it.
The dime only applies if you email a file to Amazon for conversion and wireless uploading to the kindle.
You can also email a file to Amazon for conversion and have them email it back to you, so you can upload it via USB or flash. That’s free.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:22 am
” was, but not many people care to take another look now that they’ve improved it with Version 2.0.”
The first MP3 players were pretty dreadful, but that didn’t stop the iPod.
The Zune is different because there are better alternatives on the market. If the kindle 1.0 has too many flaws, the alternatives have more flaws, so interested people turned off by the flaws will still be open to an improved kindle 2.0.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Yes, some people will be open to an improved Kindle 2.0. But do you think it’ll generate the same level of hype (mainstream media attention) as this one did? I doubt it.
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December 4th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
You hit it bang on the head (the nail), with those words. I personally think that Kindle is a revolution. Of course, with so many critics betting against it, Amazon now has the ability to put a little bit more thought before the next version of this!
I also wanted to point out the significance of your words from the software industry. With the advent of the next gen OSs from Microsoft and Apple, there is a lot of flak from the customer base that they have gone way ahead with revolutionizing the interface, so much so that it’s at a cost of usability. Worse, there’s no way to exchange the “innovation” for “tradition”.
Good point!
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