Successful Business Leadership

Here we are at year-end 2007 for business. It was an intriguing year with lots of changes, ups and downs, competition, and plenty of new ideas and opportunities. This series of four postings will provide a brief review of the year in business beginning with some interesting new innovations, then the economy, and some interesting business strategies to watch. The last posting in this series will be about what may lay ahead in 2008, especially some thoughts about the job market. Enjoy.

New Innovations - demonstrating the convergence of technology, the high levels of competition, or product development for poorer markets.

• Apple introduced the iPhone on June 29 with a powerful user interface that is a combination phone, web browser, music and video player, and personal digital assistant. You know it is a good innovation when it causes competitors to rethink their product lines. Apple appears to be on track to meet its goal of 1% market share by September 2008. The Motorola Razr 2 added features such as GPS navigation, a camera providing up to 2 hours of video recording, web access content that’s sized to fit the screen, and a music player with a micro-USB headset. The Nokia N95 has built-in global positioning, takes better pictures than most digital cameras, has Internet access, plays videos and music, and is available from more than one service provider (it does not have the touch screen interface found with Apple software).

• Halo 3, introduced in September, is Microsoft’s next installment in the science-fiction action series for Xbox. This series has sold about 15 million copies worldwide. It includes great graphics, allows players to generate their own content (e.g., movie clips, new game levels or rules), and even compete against friends online; all in a future where the human race is at war against alien invaders. In Microsoft’s latest 10-Q, they say “Xbox and PC game revenue increased $895 million or 148% as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, and Xbox 360 accessory sales. We shipped 1.8 million Xbox 360 consoles in the current quarter as compared to 0.9 million consoles in the first quarter of fiscal year 2007. Halo 3 was launched in September 2007 and generated approximately $330 million of revenue during the quarter.” See the original trailer for Halo 3.

• Microsoft introduced Sync that enables drivers to call hands-free and to control a range of digital audio using voice commands and buttons mounted on the steering wheel. It has been made available in twelve 2008 models across the Ford product line and will be available in all 2009 Ford cars. The software will be updatable via a USB port. The product features include: enabling up to 12 different phones through an always-on Bluetooth connection, automatically copies and stores the phone books from cell phones, drivers place calls using voice commands, the system will read aloud incoming text messages upon receipt and then reply with a standard response programmed by voice command, and users can stream digital audio from their mobile devices and Internet radio stations. It is too early to know yet how this new product will sell, so keep an eye on it. Here’s a video of the system.

• YouTube collaborated with consumer electronics manufacturers to add features that make it easier to produce and then share videos on cell phones, camcorders, cameras, and TV set-top boxes. For example:

Casio sells four new digital cameras that feature a customized YouTube capture mode.

Pure Digital Technologies introduced two camcorders designed to make postings directly to YouTube (when connected to a PC, the camcorders automatically launch software that logs you into YouTube to upload a video).

Sony’s Net Sharing Cam is designed for posting to blogs and online social networks. To upload a clip, a user connects the camera to a computer’s USB port and the software leads a user to post clips to YouTube.

• In July, Fiat launched the 500 mini, a car that enjoyed cult status in Italy after World War II. The new 500 has revived the appeal of the Fiat brand and helped boost market share in Italy to nearly 31%. One review said “The car is extremely entertaining and practical to drive, due to its three engines (one turbo-diesel unit and two gas-powered engines)…and it takes a quality leap forward in terms of comfort and safety, technology and equipment for this segment…it is environmentally-friendly and accessible, but also appealing and full of fun.”

• The Airbus A380 is the world’s biggest passenger jet and had its first commercial flight on October 25. The double-decker plane is designed for more than 550 passengers, but Singapore Airlines strategy (the first to fly it) has been to put in 470 seats in order to offer more luxurious amenities such as private first-class suites with double beds. Airbus’s goal for the A380 is to become the plane of choice on long, heavily traveled routes between international airports. But to-date, Airbus has orders for only 177 planes, with a minimum of 420 needed to break even. It is a technologically advanced plane, but the best measure of a successful innovation is whether or not it sells. We’ll see.

• Dell’s new XPS One is a stylish 20-inch desktop PC using Windows Media Center software and a built-in digital tuner for high-definition television. Sensors light up the controls on the PC when you come near it. The PC comes equipped with a built-in Blu-ray DVD player. PC Magazine says the XPS One “easily outclasses its all-in-one competitor the Gateway One, and matches or surpasses the Apple iMac, which has long been the gold standard of all-in-one PCs.” See the magazine’s video review here.

• Sony introduced the XEL-1 TV October 1. It is one-tenth of an inch (in depth), making it the thinnest TV on the market. In its press release, Sony says the “XEL-1 also incorporates Sony’s independently developed ‘Organic Panel’, which realizes advantages such as high contrast, high peak brightness, color reproduction, rapid response time, all of which combine to deliver unparalleled image quality.” Sony is the first TV maker to commercialize the “organic electroluminescent display” technology after spending 14 years developing it in the labs. Of course it will probably sell slowly at first with a $1700-$1800 price tag for the 11” wide screen. The important factor, however, is that the technology has now been developed for an incredibly narrow high-quality display, which can open up new business applications over the longer term.

• The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has created intellectual property software that maps innovation by identifying who is developing common types of technology. The goal is to reduce the time to research and develop new technologies. Intellectual property maps are used by more and more organizations from health-care companies to research scientists. They use the maps to manage and expand the knowledge networks identifying links between people and businesses with patents and common research activities. Users of BCG’s software tool seek ways to achieve breakthroughs in the R&D process, survey their own state of research knowledge, identify potential acquisition targets, and create teamwork across disciplines and employees.

• The International Academy of Science has 42 nominations for the 2007 Outstanding Technology of the Year Award. These nominations range from cameras to fighter aircraft to digital pens to violin playing robots. And they represent some great new products. The winners will be announced December 31, 2007.

• Postscript: The Consumer Electronics Show started today and here are their nominations for best future new gadgets.

From these examples, we can see the importance of new product development and innovation in businesses. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 11:01 am and is filed under Businesses, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Print This Post