Don't Spare The Cow

In 1975, a brilliant engineer at Kodak invented the first digital camera. In an effort to protect its film business, the management team at Kodak hid the invention. Almost four decades later, this pioneer of the photography industry has filed for bankruptcy.

In 2002, Apple invented the iPod. It quickly conquered the music player industry, and by 2007 almost 50% of Apple's revenues came from the iPod. That year a new phone was released, one that would cannibalize iPod sales and eventually dominate both the mobile phone and mobile media markets. A mere five years later, the iPod has been relegated to a minuscule 3% of Apple revenues.

At face value, the paths of these two innovative companies seem to have taken a turn for the worst with the introduction of newer, better technologies. But there is a conspicuous difference, that changes the picture (no pun intended) entirely. The device that killed the Apple iPod was the Apple iPhone. What's even more remarkable is that Apple deliberately set out to create a device, that would destroy their wildly successful music player.

Apple knew that the iPod would not be forever successful. They recognized the potential for smartphones to kill their cash cow. They also recognized massive room for improvement in the user experience offered by mobile phones. They decided to effect a paradigm shift, a change that would make mobile phones better to use, and also the ultimate media device.

Apple bet their iPod revenues on the success of the iPhone. The results of this gamble paid off. Five years later, with consistent and steady growth, Apple is the largest company in the world, and it's $100,000,000,000 in the bank is more money than even the US government has in its coffers. A stark contrast to the bankrupt Kodak.

Kodak died because their management lacked vision. They should have known better, as their founder  twice before gave up profitable business models to move to disruptive new technologies. The well timed moves from dry plate to film, and then from black and white to colour kept Kodak at the helm of the photography industry for decades. 

Kodak completely missed the digital photography revolution, when they could have been it's vanguard. And as irony would have it, ultimately it wasn't the digital camera which killed Kodak. It was the popularity of the mobile phone, with the iPhone leading the pack. While Kodak was desperately trying to compete in the digital camera market, that market's death knell sounded every time a camera equipped cell phone faked a shutter sound.

Kodak and Apple were two very different companies, in unrelated industries, taking unrelated decisions. Their industries were brought together by fate, culminating in the death of one, and the dominance of another. Had Kodak maintained the vision of its founder, it could have dominated the digital photography industry, perhaps offering advanced digital technology to the likes of Apple and other mobile phone makers.

Apple killed their cash cow and birthed an even bigger one. Kodak watched their cow wither and die. To enjoy continued, unrivaled success, companies should realize that protecting their cash cow may require that they sacrifice it on the altar of progress.

RIM Needs a Hat Trick

Research In Motion (RIM) dominated the smartphone market at the turn of the century. Their BlackBerry smartphones gained a foothold in the business world, with corporations and individual business users. Pretty soon consumers also discovered the usefulness of their devices. And then Apple happened. Apple's iPhone showed the world that every other phone was broken.

Having been czar of the smartphone realm, it is arguable that RIM lost the most when Apple invaded. The company attempted to stem the tide of losses with overhauls to its devices, it's operating system, and by introducing a tablet. While decidedly losing relevance in markets such as the US, UK and even their home country Canada, they maintain a foothold in developing regions where they are still considerably more affordable than other smartphones. The BlackBerry Messenger platform also keeps some people loyal, many owning the device solely because of the ubiquity of the messaging service.

RIM is not dead yet, but I'm hardpressed to name a technology company, besides Apple, who staged a successful comeback after losing relevance. Palm, Yahoo, Nokia, Netscape, Gateway, and America Online all failed and never returned. And that was certainly not an exhaustive list. If RIM is to avoid relegation, they will have to accomplish something that the records say is impossible. In this arena they can perhaps take a play from the books of Spain's national football team. They will have to change how the game is played, take bold risks, and stick to their guns. The question is, do they have the gusto to pull it off?

Changing the game isn't easy, and it may not pay off right away. When Spain decided to do away with the forward position, many called it suicide. When Apple decided to eliminate buttons from the phone, leaving just one, people thought it extreme. Spain and Apple suceeded by doing things which went against conventional wisdom. For RIM to stage a comeback, they too will need to make things remarkably better, in ways that are obvious only after it's done.

It is also important for RIM to build on the experience and expertise they have accumulated. Heralding from the days of their two way pagers, the BlackBerry keyboard has captured the fingers of many a user. However, their first foray into the touchscreen arena failed to take the market by storm. The BlackBerry Storm was clunky and unresponsive. It's 'click screen' was more annoying than innovative. Even diehard BlackBerry fans won't defend that black sheep of a device.

RIM also failed to make the jump into the tablet segment. The Playbook didn't play to their strengths. It was initially missing a native email client, and did not appeal to business users. Lacking BlackBerry Messeger, it also failed to capture the consumer market. They were caught on the backfoot, being forced to respond to their competitors, instead of playing forward in a game they were in control of.

RIM seems to have learned from the Storm debacle, having since released hybrid phones with both keyboards and touchscreens. While not the first to experiment with such a combination, RIM has done a commendable job in making the combination work. If a Playbook 2 ever sees the light of day, they will need to show the world something that Samsung, Asus, Amazon and others haven't discovered as yet. RIM will need to think way outside of the box, if they are to have a future in the new mobile marketplace.

When the pager market died, RIM transitioned to smartphones. Smartphones have evolved, and are less phones, and more mobile computing devices that happen to make calls. If RIM is to pull off a hat trick and succeed with a third generation of mobile devices, they will need to avoid further false starts. Had consumers been as unforgiving as the IAAF, they would have long been disqualified. With their stocks taking a beating, and their market share on the decline, they better act quickly. Their loyal fan base won't be enough to save them when the numbers stop adding up.

The Easy Button

There is value in making something simple. And where there is value, there is the potential to make money. Therefore, simplifying a process is an excellent start for a business idea. Airplanes simplified travel. Coffee makers simplified getting a caffeine fix. Google simplified finding things, in the catacombs that is the Internet.

Like Google, Facebook has also made a name for themselves online. What have they simplified? They simplified finding and connecting with people online. While their stocks have been taking a beating, they remain popular amount the social networking crowd, and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Twitter simplified sharing things online. They make it easy to tell the world what you had for breakfast, to give others an opportunity to read that interesting article that inspired you, to get traction on your newest blog post, and even to share the latest fake celebrity death.

I don't know any celebrities, but I regularly write on my blog (which you should read sometime). And I recently found a new use for Twitter. I linked my Twitter account to my Facebook page, my LinkedIn account, my Blackberry Messenger profile, and my blog. Now, if I want to share something, such as a new blog post or an article I read, all I do is compose a tweet using the Twitter client on my Blackberry. The link is automatically shortened, my BBM status is updated, my Twitter feed is fed, my Facebook timeline gets a timely new post, LinkedIn gets the link, and my blog is logged.

I never used Twitter much before now. But this integration simplifies my desire to share things with my readers. Twitter's business model is built on simplifying sharing with the masses.

If you're interested in starting your own business, look for opportunities to simplify something. It gives a new meaning to easy money.

No Pings? Please!

What is it with people who set statuses like: "Sleeping, DO NOT ping me", "Studying, NO PINGS", "Busy, don't ping", and the everlasting variations. What's the point of such status messages? If you don't want to be interrupted, well here is an idea: turn off your phone.

Ok, so maybe you don't want to turn off your phone in case there is an emergency - like a fire in the room and your room mate in the next bed needs to call you to tell you to evacuate. So turn off notifications; yes you can do that. There is a Blackberry profile for calls only - you will not get beeps and pings, only phone calls. "What?! How do I do that?" you ask incredulously.

Here is how you activate this mode. You see that little speaker icon at the top left side of your screen, just below the date?  Click it. Scroll to the bottom of the menu that appears. Ta da! "Phone Calls Only" mode.  Now you can sleep, study, eat, or watch TV in peace.

If you want, you can even customize the profiles to enable and disable certain notifications, have it vibrate instead of ping, and even add special alerts for one or more contacts. This last one might be great if, for example, you want your significant other to be able to get you around the clock. Useful for midnight, um, conversations.

I'm gonna chalk this one up to a lack of familiarity with the technology. Now that you are duly educated about this nifty feature, stop with the silly status messages. That is all.