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In the end will it be about the device or the person?
Given the overabundance of chatter about all of the tablet device available, including the announcement from Amazon about their new Kindle Fire I wonder if we are missing the point. Despite the product market cars, TVs, stereos, lawn mowers, or laundry detergent there are loyalists to each of the brands that are out there.
I remember being in high school and listening to the ‘motor-heads’ argue back and forth over why Chevy was better than Ford or why Mopar was the way to go. Last I checked Ford, Chevy, and Dodge were all still battling it out for market share. Each one determined to continue to differentiate from the others, winning some and losing others.
This is what’s happening in the tablet and Smartphone market. There is a groundbreaking brand’s technology that leads the day. Then shortly after there is the competition’s version of a product meant to serve the same purpose. The newcomer puts their spin on it to try to stand out, but then out comes someone else. You get the idea.
Differentiation won, differentiation lost. All based on individuals deciding who/what they like or don’t like, who they liked before, or who they didn’t. I’m pretty solid on the idea that the same forces that drive market competition on every level are going to perpetuate in the tablet market. A technological game of leapfrog where consumers drive who’s on top today and who’s on top tomorrow.
The difference lies in the content providers. Their challenge is to evaluate who their target market is behind and be where they are. The even bigger challenge is to understand that it’s likely to be a multi-way tie. While there may be tens of thousands of people with similar interests, they all like to get there in a different way. I go to the beach in my Ford; you take your beloved Chevy. Puts a new spin on the downstream effect of the product. A bit we should consider just as much as we do what the hardware is.
Posted in Digital Publishing
Tagged digital publishing, ebooks, tablets