Will And Vision
By Vikram Parmar
Remember Chux? The disposable diaper that took the market by storm in 1932?
Of course you don't. Chux saw its product as a luxury item, and happily kept its little throwaway business to itself for almost forty years. Then Pampers came along in the 1960s, supported by a huge, mass-consumer vision with persistence to match, and blew Chux out of the market-transforming baby rearing forever.

And everyone knows the legend of the two Steves-Jobs and Wozniak-who invented the personal computer in someone's garage. Only they didn't. The Altair MITS came to market long before in 1975. It's just that Steve Jobs had the mammoth vision of a computer on every desk; and Apple II became the first PC hit.

I just finished reading a brilliant book titled Will and Vision-How Latecomers Grow to Dominate Markets, by Grard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder.

This book takes the concept of vision and makes it concrete, demonstrating sixty-six cases where a huge vision of value for a market combined with persistence and indomitable will, made the ingredients for blockbuster success. Along the way the authors bury the concept of first mover advantage. They offer numerous examples of companies that arrived second, third or later, and went on to dominate their markets.

So what does Will and Vision say are the key elements of success?

The authors-academics grounded in research-not than starry-eyed growth consultants

BUSTED! iPhone.com now owned by Apple, Inc.

There was a point recently, where the ads appearing on iPhone.com, began to cross the line of someone simply looking to run a business, and someone who was clearly deriving profit from Apple, Inc's joint trademark with Cisco.  The whole descent into ad-monger was detailed in a previous article, and is experted below.  Apparently, Apple has finally caught up with them, and however it has been worked out, the domain name now uses Apple's nameservers, and redirects to Apple's iPhone website joining iPhone.org is Apple's iPhone domain name portfolio.  It seems like this was only a matter of time, and could possibly have already been in progress when the ads began to show up last week. 

The details are beginning to crystallize on the availability of the iPhone on June 29th, 2007. For some, this will be the day that lived in infamy, for others it will be their short-lived moment in the sun, the envy of throngs of others.  Apparently, the 29th is being considered something of a "soft launch" for the iPhone.  AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook confirmed that the phone will only be available through the company's stores (roughly 1800), and those of Apple itself (around 170). The following represents additional tips and info.

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Proving how crucial its June timing was, it appears that the Bluetooth headset announced in January at the MacWorld convention alongside the iPhone, has finally received FCC approval. Much the same as its parent product, the FCC has granted Apple a period of time before which detailed product photos and information would not be disseminated to the public.  The device will carry the model number A1221 and the FCC ID BCGA1221.

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"Get Ready for iPhone", are the words written in an e-mail sent out to those signed up to be notified about the device being launched by Apple and at&t late this June.  "iPhone arrives June 29th" according to the e-mails that began going out on Tuesday according to the partners.  Aside from reiterating its numerous features, the e-mail goes on to detail numerous points regarding what customers might do to prepare themselves to start using their new iPhones.  Contacts, Calendar, Email, Photos, Music/

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According to a recent article in the Financial Times, Apple is in advanced talks with Hollywood's largest movie studios to enable iTunes users to play rented movies on their computers, as well as one additional device, like their iPhone.  The service, set to be released in the fall of 2007, would have consumers pay $2.99 for a 30-day rental.

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Amongst the storm of commercials for the Apple iPhone created by its growing fan-base, comes this gem from director Ryan Landels.  A spec ad done as a collaboration with producer Christina Ferguson and visual effects artist Phil Broste, "the Future is Calling" borrows from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, cutting together a shortened version of an existing sequence.  The Monolith, from the film, was the perfect stand-in for what would be images of the iPhone rendered in 3D and composited into the scenes. 

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Forbes has run a story informing readers that this year, the FCC is set to auction off another block of the wireless spectrum. According to the publication, if a band of "technology veterans" and "wireless entrepreneurs" have their way, the FCC will reserve part of that spectrum as a "sandbox" for innovative companies. This notion is not at all something put out by starry-eyed idealists either, and has taken the form of an open letter to the FCC on Thursday...

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The Economist has released an article entitled "Lessons from Apple", that details some important aspects to this innovative company that many often overlook.  They go on to list four specific lessons that have helped Apple in its road to success.  Among these are: "Innovation can come from without as well as within" acknowledging that not all good ideas start at home, "the importance of designing new products around the needs of the user", "Smart companies should sometimes ignore what the market says it wants today" and finally "fail wisely, not stigmatising it, but learning from it".

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Member Cindynjgirl79 from the MacRumors forum, has apparently scored a copy of the AT&T sales training manual for the iPhone.  Describing herself as neither an employee of Apple nor an employee of AT&T, and neither obtaining the guide by theft nor break-in, the MacRumors forum member sent them scans of 15 pages out of a 33 page guide.  Included with the scans were a picture of her holding the guide next to her face.

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Qualcomm, the second largest manufacturer of mobile phone chips will be banned from new mobile phone models sold in the U.S. While Qualcomm seeks an emergency stay of the rulling from the Federal Circuit Court, as well as a presidential veto, the company, along with partners like Verizon Wireless must contemplate how this result will impact their business.

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An article on emsnow starts off by detailing a report by Topology Research, on how global shipments of touch-panels are expected to reach 55 million units this year, and jump to about 95 million units in 2010 thanks to the demonstration of the Apple iPhone.  Some interesting details into the technology side notes that:

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GigaOM interviews Randall Stephenson new CEO of the new AT&T. While it sounds right out of a boilerplate, here's what he had to say about the iPhone and its importance to the company:

The iPhone is a radically innovative new device and it only makes sense that AT&T and Apple would partner to bring it to market. This device is very important to us, it’s important to Apple and it is going to do very well with customers. It also reinforces with consumers that AT&T is the place to turn for the latest in wireless devices and services.

http://gigaom.com/2007/06/05/att-ceo-randall-stephenson-interv

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like yours truly-carefully reviewed the historical record: vision was the number one element.

That's right. Big fat vision backed by persistence, will, and relentless innovation.

Today's world offers many choices. People who lack vision are apt to drift to the next appealing project as soon as things don't go the way they planned. They lack persistence to achieve anything important.

Will and Vision offers us a different kind of world. (Of course I'm biased. I've been shouting about vision and commitment for years.) We aren't talking about a "vision" that's sloganized and prettified and pasted on a plaque. We mean the kind of vision that highlights the importance and value of a product or service to many people and ultimately points the way to a new future. And, of course, requires a 100% commitment to bring into reality.

More mass-value vision examples, from high tech and low: Dell computers, not IBM or IMSAI; Sony video recorders, not Ampex-who gave up a ten year lead; Microsoft Internet Explorer-not Netscape, or its predecessor, Links; McDonalds' Ray Kroc-not the McDonald Brothers; Gillette-not Wilkenson Sword.

Mass market + high utility = big vision.

Seeing what no one else can see. Having a new world view.

Leaders in each of these companies owned a view that extended further than any of their predecessors.

And that expansive vision enabled these people to gain access and leverage the resources (Key #4), maintain the persistence to bring the vision into reality (Key #2), and sustain relentless creativity and innovations (Key #3), over a period of years.

Here are a few points about a successful vision taken from the research:

* The vision must be unique. Not uniqueness of product per se, but unique in the way your product serves the world;

* The vision must be simple and easy to grasp;

* Seeds of the vision typically exist in some form in other products or services; (Thank goodness we don't all have to be inventors or originals-only visionaries!)

The new vision may be of a thing for which there no market-yet. (This last bit is illuminating for any of us stuck in market research.)

And some important points regarding will:

* Reaching your vision may take a long time. Vision without will won't get you there. Only great commitment can;

* A misplaced belief in luck or other unseen forces hinders our ability to persist. We will find evidence that no such luck exists, and use that as an excuse to quit.

* And this great insight: persistence can manifest as a series of minor solutions, and contrarily, complacency in small successes can be a barrier to innovation that farsighted vision requires.

Some additional tips for long-term success:

* Maintain a continuous feedback loop and solicit others' opinions regarding your execution;

* Keep a sharp eye for market changes, and be willing to respond quickly;

* And as Andrew Grove suggests, paranoia drives innovation. A healthy fear of competitors sneaking up on you can keep your product or service fresh;

So how big is YOUR vision?

Is your vision big enough to drive the kind of success you seek? Is your vision large enough to sustain you? Is it important enough to mobilize the resources necessary for its realization? Is it sufficiently inspiring to partners and employees and customers and investors-and all the other people you need to be successful?