Comments on: What can the iPhone teach you?

By: Gopal Shenoy

Gopal Shenoy — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 01:49:30 +0000

Great post. One of the things I respect Apple for, is how they create elegant solutions that don’t try to do everything, but do few things absolutely well. Product planning in a lot of ways is mostly figuring out what not to do than what to do. All the bells and whistles that get added to products is what compromises a product’s usability. Apple is one of few companies that gets this. Other companies always want to add features because they fall victim to the “what if the customer wants to do this?” resulting in products that are bloated pigs. Apple is bold enough to answer this question and say “then the customer has to buy another product”. This is one of the most valuable lessons I have personally taken away from Apple’s success.

By: Jeff Lash

Jeff Lash — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:29:47 +0000

As with everything in product management, moderation is key. Ignoring the iPhone (or any other similar new product or development that could have a major impact on your market or society) because it’s unrelated to what you do is missing an opportunity to learn; focusing intently on the iPhone (ditto above) and getting too caught up in the hype is misplaced enthusiasm at best and distracting at worst.

Product managers shouldn’t ignore the iPhone because of the incredibly amount of hype around it, nor should they get caught up in it and assume it’s going to change the world. (Remember the hype around how the Segway was going to change the world?) Look through the media circus and see if there’s anything tangible there that can help you meet the needs of your market better.

By: Mike Capsambelis

Mike Capsambelis — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:27:34 +0000

Saeed –

I think this is an admonition to product mgrs who want to dismiss the hype as empty media fluff – something we’ve been rightfully conditioned to do. The hype around the iPhone is important as it reflects both Apple’s product design and marketing mastery. I’ve already been told by one colleague from our design team that I will ignore the iPhone at my own peril.

(Ooh, maybe, I can charge it to my R&D budget…)

By: Saeed

Saeed — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:50:58 +0000

Hi, are you sure you’re first line is correct?

“If you want to be a bad product manager, don’t get caught up in all of the hype around the iPhone. ”

It seems to make more sense if it were written as:

“If you want to be a bad product manager, get caught up in all of the hype around the iPhone.

Saeed

By: Bruce McCarthy

Bruce McCarthy — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:22:51 +0000

Great observations. The iPod in particular is a great example of rethinking the total solution. The player itself could have been criticized for a lack of features, but it provided all the really necessary pieces of the whole solution – a hard drive for much moire capacity than the flash players that were most of the market, software to manage your music easily, a dock to sync and charge at the same time neatly, and a built-in way to browse and buy music – all in one integrated package.

Apple is the master at this “total solution” approach. Microsoft, by contrast, tries to play the platform game and make an ecosystem for others to provide parts of the solution. Few but Microsoft can do this, but more importantly, Apple’s solutions are usually more satisfying.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:11:11 +0000

Product management lessons are everywhere. While the media has been focused on the iPhone launch, the real message is how Apple looked beyond the status quo and solved the bigger problem.

Likewise, product managers should look beyond the “me-too” features of their competitive landscape and see the bigger problem that could be solved. As you said, “See what you can learn that can translate to your business.”

Thanks for a great post.