Imagine it is 2007, there is no Apple, you are a new entrant developing a product that will go head to head with Nokia’s flagship phone the N95. You are the product manager who is responsible for the success of the product. You are focused upon beating Nokia; you’ve made it your business to intimately know the N95, you can recite the list of features it has from memory. You have a meeting with your design team and they break the news. They tell you the spec they have come up with. “Let me get this straight” you say. “You are telling me that the phone you are proposing we take to market will have no Card slot, no 3G, no Bluetooth (headset support only), no decent camera, no MMS, no video, no cut and paste, no secondary video camera, no radio, no GPS, no Java…” “Yup” the team say. How do you feel? Ditch the feature list that you’ve fixated upon in your quest to beat your competitors flagship product? Only the brave would avoid the tick box mentality and strive for feature parity as a minimum requirement. Would you really throw out 3G, GPS and a decent camera; the real innovations in the market place? The first generation of iPhone was released in June 2007, three months after Nokia’s flagship handset the N95. On paper, when you compare the phone features side by side, it is a sorry looking list. As a product manager would you rather have the iPhone or the N95 on your resume?

1. Features
vs
Outcomes

2. Beating the
competition means
delivering more
features only a
madman would
deliver less
Hypothesis

3. Let’s go back in
time

4. 09
January
2007

5. Three months ago
Nokia announced the
N95, integrating a wide
range of features into a
consumer-oriented
smartphone.

6. Today you announce
yours.

7. Vs.

8. ✘ Heavier.
✘ Larger.
✘ Doesn’t have…
Your phone is…

9. ✗ Card slot
✗ 3g
✗ Bluetooth
✗ Infrared
✗ Decent camera
✗ Secondary camera
✗ Camera flash
✗ MMS
✗ Radio
✗ Video
✗ Video calling
✗ TV out
✗ Music ring tones
✗ Voice dialing
✗ Voice commands
✗ GPS
✗ JAVA
✗ Push to talk

10. ✗ Card slot
✗ 3g
✗ Bluetooth
✗ Infrared
✗ Decent camera
✗ Secondary camera
✗ Camera flash
✗ MMS
✗ Radio
✗ Video
✗ Video calling
✗ TV out
✗ Music ring tones
✗ Voice dialing
✗ Voice commands
✗ GPS
✗ JAVA
✗ Push to talk
Feeling
nervous?

11. Feeling
nervous?

12. h"p://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-­‐from-­‐macworld-­‐2007-­‐steve-­‐jobs-­‐keynote/

13. iPhone Sales to
Surpass 100
Million by 2011
Katy
Huberty.
June
16,
2010
“
“

14. Apple pips
Microsoft as
world's biggest
Reuters,
May
27,
2010
“
“

15. At Sony we assume that all products
of our competitors have basically the
same technology, price, performance
and features.
Design is the only thing that
differentiates one product from
another in the marketplace.
Norio
Ohga,
former
Chairman
and
CEO,
Sony
“
“

16. Share prices of companies
using design effectively
outperformed FTSE All-
Share index by 200%
over 10 years
h"p://www.theuxbookmark.com/links/business-­‐case/
“
“

17. Beating the
competition means
delivering more
features only a
madman would
deliver less
Hypothesis
is
refuted,
null
hypothesis
accepted
Hypothesis

18. Beating the
competition means
delivering compelling
customer centric
design

19. marc mcneill
www.dancingmango.com
Twitter.com/dancingmango