MIT's notebook
Disruptive innovations, such as MIT's "one-hundred-dollar notebook," have been getting a lot of flak from industry experts. Disruptive innovations always receive flak in the early stages of their introduction to markets -- usually from individuals ensconced in, and benefitting from, the status quo. There are numerous past examples of this:
- British Airways' condemnation of budget airlines in Europe.
- Microsoft's criticism of Linux.
- Chung-Hua telecom's lack of respect for Skype.
- Auction houses' chuckles at the young eBay.
- Old-style universities' professors' contempt for the "new" universities, such as the University of Phoenix.
- IBM's indifference to PCs when they were on the horizon.
The whole point of this whole disruptive innovation thing is that the product is technically inferior to incumbents' offering. However, the people who will actually value this "inferior product" think it is fantastic relative to what they have now -- nothing. So when you ask Microsoft and Intel about their views on the one-hundred-dollar notebook, you're asking the wrong people.
Better yet, comments such as "it's just a gadget" are a good indication that this low-cost notebook is going to be a winner.
innovation management in Asia
- British Airways' condemnation of budget airlines in Europe.
- Microsoft's criticism of Linux.
- Chung-Hua telecom's lack of respect for Skype.
- Auction houses' chuckles at the young eBay.
- Old-style universities' professors' contempt for the "new" universities, such as the University of Phoenix.
- IBM's indifference to PCs when they were on the horizon.
The whole point of this whole disruptive innovation thing is that the product is technically inferior to incumbents' offering. However, the people who will actually value this "inferior product" think it is fantastic relative to what they have now -- nothing. So when you ask Microsoft and Intel about their views on the one-hundred-dollar notebook, you're asking the wrong people.
Better yet, comments such as "it's just a gadget" are a good indication that this low-cost notebook is going to be a winner.
innovation management in Asia
Labels: innovation, taiwan
posted by Gordon Graham at 3:57 AM
3 Comments:
Nice post.
I've found that people find the idea of disruptive innovation easy to understand, but difficult to apply.
And it's practically impossible for those within an industry to accurately comment on a potential disruptive innovation in their own market - they're too close, too involved, with too much on the line.
Great call with the conclusion, I think you're bang on.
Let's face it. Arrogance plays a huge role here. All too often the disruptive innovation doesn't effect the status quo until it's too late. Mostly because they don't see it as a competitive threat.
Fraser's right though - with so much on the line, they often don't know how to counter the threat because it involves changing the foundation of their business model.
What companies need is a place to safely experiment on their business model without all the fear and risk normally associated with changing the status quo. Check out the Business Innovation Factory in Rhode Island. Launched in 2004, we leverage Rhode Island's unique size and densely connected networks to create a real world laboratory for testing new ideas.
Thanks for the comments Frase and Chris. Will check out your blog Frase and the Business Innovation Factory in Rhode Island, Chris. I don't know much about Rhode island, but looking forward to reading about what they're doing over there.
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