Why Do Business with the Innovator?

Apple, Innovation, Kent, Technology No Responses »
Oct 082010

 

I make no bones about the fact that I’m a fan of Apple. They’ve recently become the technology market leader in key financial aspects, but in my mind they’ve been the market leader in almost every important way for a long time, especially in vision and innovation.

For example, while I know that there are dozens, or hundreds, of iPhone knock-offs that are much less expensive than the original created by the innovators at Apple, I’ll keep buying the iPhone. Why do I do business with the innovators rather than the “me too” followers?

First, I like to support innovation, and I can most directly do that by voting with my dollars. While the product may cost more, to me that’s the price of originality and the risk of putting something new on the market and in the world – and it’s worth supporting.

Second, I know that the innovator of an idea or product brought that new thing forward by plan and purpose after baking it just right – not as a reaction to what someone else did. There’s a longer-term vision and roadmap, while the “copycats” that come after have to wait and see what the innovator does next.

Third, there’s almost always a quality drop-off in the imitator’s products. This is a function of the rapid product development cycle in an effort to respond to the new idea; the fact that the new innovation may be very outside the inherent design of existing products; and the simple fact that the innovation may not be fully understood and may be difficult to “shoehorn” into an existing product family, architecture or design.

Finally, I’m not one to be years behind – and in many areas, you can’t afford to be years behind in a competitive market. This is truer today than ever, because some innovations change things so rapidly.

We’ve all seen dozens of iPhone-alikes come and go, making barely a blip in the overall scheme of things – an inherent risk in purchasing the cheaper clone. Yet the iPhone marches on. This discussion is not just about cell phones — it applies to all innovative products and the ensuing innovation-imitation-iteration cycle that drives creative competition. We at Quosal strive to innovate and will continue to do so. Those who come after are doing just that — coming after.

Go Apple!

Kent McNall

Kent McNall
President and CEO
Quosal LLC

Posted by Kent at 11:12 am Tagged with: , , ,

The Apple iPad -- 10 Weeks Later

Apple, Kent, Productivity, iPad No Responses »
Jun 212010

 

From the moment I held an Apple iPad and told the missus it was the sexiest thing I’d ever held (she nodded with a solemn understanding), I felt it was a game-changer. Two weeks later, I demonstrated the iPad with our Order Porter software on ConnectWise TV with Arnie Bellini.

So 10 weeks later, it’s time for an iPad checkup. Has the game changed?  I examine this question only in the limited context of our own company, not the wide world at large.

First, I’ve followed through on getting all of our employees an iPad here at Quosal (with the exception of the interns, who shoot me the evil eye each time they hear me say this). We’ll be doing enough with the iPad that everyone here needs to wrap themselves in the gestalt of the device and platform. So does everyone use it yet?  No – but most everyone does. Our power user is Sam, who bring his iPad to every meeting and executes his action items on it as they are decided, running ConnectWise and other apps via RDP.

My own usage is more along the lines of a good blog by Chris Day (http://www.fullymanaged.com/blog/apple-ipad-thoughts-and-5-fantastic.html) – email, browser, RDP.

Another use we’ve all found for the iPad is GoToMeeting, a tool we use constantly. GTM has a great client for the iPad.

Of course, we all use the iPad with our own software. On April 20, I showed the first-cut examples, and our first customers are going into production/use with the iPad just this week. We’re really excited about the platform and are doing a lot around it.

So, is it indeed a game changer, so far, after 3 months? For us, internally, I’m going to be honest and say, “Not yet, but soon.” I’m very confident it has been a game-changer already for other companies with other uses — it definitely makes me wish I was in the medical systems field — and we can certainly vouch for the game-changing that we at Quosal will be doing for many MSPs and their sales professionals with the iPad!

Posted by Kent at 10:02 am Tagged with: , , ,

Long Term Technology Vision: Knowledge Navigator to the iPad

Apple, Kent, Technology, iPad No Responses »
May 102010

 

Stepping back to as much perspective as one’s lifespan allows, and seeing how the future is shaped by technology visionaries, is an interesting study, especially those that you’ve had a chance to observe with your own eyes.

One such case in point for me is Apple’s Knowledge Navigator. I happened to be at Unix World in 1987 when Apple’s John Scully debuted the Knowledge Navigator video (why they would choose Unix World to do so is and was a mystery). You can find the Knowledge Navigator video here.

When I saw the iPad (I’m admittedly a big fan), in my mind’s eye I saw the Knowledge Navigator and thought, “Wow, they really hit that vision.” I had to go back to watch the video again to realize we’re not quite there yet — but what a lot of people chuckled at in 1987 does not seem far off now.

The iPad also reminds me of another technology visionary, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. We’ve been chasing around a few of his visions as well. Remember the yeoman handing Kirk a pad with a blinking light for his signature? Our modern cell phones are very reminiscent of “communicators,” and the first time I saw a 3.5″ floppy (a technology that’s come AND gone) was on Star Trek.

Jules Verne set out technology visions that took many decades to realize. We’re seeing goals set out by our modern visionaries that are achieved in a fraction of that time — in some cases, before our eyes.

Posted by Kent at 9:29 pm Tagged with: , ,
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