Research in Motion (RIM) talk
Many thanks to Chris Aden for inviting us to listen to Dave Castell, VP of Services at RIM, speak at Professor Jim Utterback's Disruptive Technologies class on March 4th, 2008.
Key takeaways:
1. Make customers and salespeople successful
=> customers will be willing to pay and even advocate for your product/service; salespeople will be more motivated to promote your product/service
2. Start with a focused target and expand systematically - don't try to solve everyone's problem
3. Position in right category
e.g. Blackberry moved from pager to wireless PDA to phone – this involves design and marketing strategies
4. Nobody can market and sell a disruptive product like YOU, the creator because most mature channels are selling "bought-products" that don't require users' behavioral change. Also, don't have an oligopoly downstream.
5. The biggest enemy of disruptive innovation is status quo
e.g. for BlackBerry, it competes against improved wireless access for laptops; counterintuitively, RIM benefitted Apple’s iPhone marketing campaign because people are willing to pay for a phone vs. free phones; RIM’s sales even increased on Apple’s exclusive carriers
- Login to post comments
