It is very hard for technical businesses of every sort to understand a simple rule: simpler is better.
Technology businesses are founded by technophiles who love more technical features.
I make my point with three examples.
First
is the ASUS eee the product that created the new field of netbooks.
The ASUS entered the market with no hard drive, little memory and the
simplest possible Linux software designed to connect to the web and not
much else. It was a small screen. Last year, the second year on the
market, netbooks sold over 10 million products.
The second smashing hit has been the Flip video camera. It just makes an hour long video of medium resolution, fits in your pocket, connects directly to a computer USB port and has nothing else.
Lastly, the car that cracked the imported car market, the late 1950s VW had only one round dashboard panel with nothing else on it but the speedometer, the simplest possible car in every way.
I could mention many more including the Ipod and the original Swatches.