First-to-market obsession
It's proven that first-to-market with a product or service, if professionally handled generally ensures dominance in a particular sector. But when that race is at the expense of quality, customer satisfaction with the offering or after sales service and back-up, the marketer treads a razor-edged path.
Years ago there was a race between two assessment-instrument companies. Both were global players and they were in a flat spin to get the latest 'Leadership' measurement instrument to market. The outcome was a profile assessment which was so generalist and inadequate that it had to be pulled. The recent (and rare for Unilever) absurdity of a no-leak, upside-down Sunlight liquid dispenser being withdrawn, is a case in point. Sometimes practical is what's needed and sexy is less relevant with commodities.
Microsoft Windows editions have probably garnered poster-child status for debugging themselves on the consumer. So successful has Bill Gates' chutzpah been that we've all been lulled into a sense of inevitability that almost any new software offering will drive us demented to some or other degree. This year Norton Internet Security 2005 did it for me. I've been a faithful Norton antivirus user since the man with the folded arms first appeared on boxes. Yup, there have been occasional glitches with the product, but this year caused such a slow-down and other oddities, that I voted with my fingertips and went for Computer Associates' e-Trust antivirus. My uninstalled Norton now sits sulking in an office cupboard. (Any e-Bay offers?)
There's a price to pay when you're an early-adopter of anything. I'm afraid I often rush out and buy the latest whatever, particularly if it's vaguely in the IT gadget or widget category. Hence, Vodacom 3G is offered on a Sunday, Simpkins hits the phone at 08:30 Monday morning to a Vodashop and asks if they have the 3G PCMCIA card in stock. The staffer concerned didn't know what I was talking about. In vintage Napoleonic fashion I demanded the store owner ' a charming man who got me and my high-speed 3G up and running within the hour. For someone like me who's seldom at a desk in any one location, 3G was like a gift from the gods. Telkom, although promising to install ADSL512 for me in a maximum of twenty two days, actually only phoned me some seven weeks after application to say they were in the driveway and wanted to install. I told them to go take a hike as they'd just been superseded by the mobility of 3G. And Vodacom promise that 3G will exceed the 512 ADSL speed pretty soon. From their lips to God's ears.
Has my 3G lived up to expectations? No. Initially it was fast and always connected. And then everyone came trekking back from holiday. Despite the fact that Vodacom 3G techies tell me I'm in an 'excellent to very good' signal zone, I get two (Yiddish coming up!) verkakte little bars of signal out of five. My prayers are therefore with those in poor reception zones. I've made umpteen calls, been given hopeless responses by several people and have at times resorted to my fixed ISDN line. When everyone leaves the Rosebank office area and goes home again, or at weekends, my 3G stays permanently 'up' as it's intended to do. So Vodacom, first to market with Vodafone's 3G only makes sense if it actually delivers on what you promise.
My final technical 'nagmerrie' for the start of the year was my i-mate PDA. Having owned a Qtek 1010 which was a PDA-cum-mobile pocket computer, I thought the new generation would be a stunner by comparison. The newbie had the dreadful habit of hanging, refusing to reboot and when I removed and replaced the main battery to force it to do so, all data was lost. OK, so it was backed up on my notebook computer, but when you've reconfigured for the (literal) twentieth time, sense of humour deficit sets in. Leaf Wireless, the importers in South Africa, responded appropriately and replaced the device. However, ditto personality defects in the replacement. In desperation they gave me the i-mate PDA2K as a second replacement and I have to say, it and I are inseparable and it hasn't yet had an Alzheimer's moment.
So, is the rush to be first-to-market always a great idea? I think not. I steadfastly refuse to lease or purchase a certain kind of fax and photocopier because it nearly drove me to a Valium dependency. Three brands of notebook computer are on my 'don't ever buy again' list. In most instances it's not that the actual product or service itself is so awful, but the fact that you can't get anyone to solve the hassles quickly enough to keep you in their 'repurchase zone.'
The lesson to be learned by we early-adopters is this: You become the unpaid and unappreciated guinea pig for manufacturers who are driven by market share and profit. I think it's time they paid us compensation for cruel and unusual punishment.
About the author: Clive is a marketing and communications strategist and published book author. His speciality is facilitating sustainable change in individuals and organizations. Website: http://www.imbizo.com