I am often (and justifiably) accused of muttering a few recurring phrases in product planning sessions – and one of these trite little gems I use more than most has gotta be: “Do one thing – and do it well!”
This sentiment has arisen – yet again – after glancing at today’s tech news and witnessing the app quagmire the Amazon Kindle has blindly stumbled into.
Basically, the new Amazon Kindle App Store has released its first few apps created from the KDK (that’s Kindle Development Kit for those scoring at home). Well, I say ‘released’ but it looks like most Kindle readers are unable to either download it, located outside the US-only boundary, or are stuck on old firmware that won’t run them anyway. As if that’s enough of a roadblock to mass Kindle App adoption, these first few apps aren’t reader-enhancements or even book-related applications – they’re GAMES. And without pulling any punches, they’re kinda, well…crappy games.
Look, the only way the Kindle has a snowball’s chance of competing with the iPad is as an eReading platform – period.
And for eReading functionality and experience it basically beats the pants off the iPad (better screen for long-term reading, better price, better battery life, better selection of titles). The key should have been to STOP there.
But alas, Dear eReader, Amazon has decided to mess with your formula by dabbling in the App Store thing and muddying your true USP.
C’mon, Amazon – leave the poor Kindle alone. It can compete as an eReader (for a while at least). But why the apps? Why the colour screen? Why the touchscreen rumours?
Do one thing, and do it well.
The policy works well for mobile apps (look at the most used apps on your iPhone or Android phone – I’ll bet they do one thing very well – looking up train times, downloading podcasts, checking weather, jotting down notes…you get the drift).
It actually works for just about every new product specification, which is why I go back to it time and time again (from Mobile Web site design to Mobile Apps to Social Network integrations to eReading projects, the list goes on).
Look, Web sites are different animals, and trying to shoehorn ten categories of information or functionality into a mobile product or (heaven forbid) an eReader platform is just overkill. Worse, it dilutes the value of the product, confuses the consumer, and weakens the overall proposition.
If you want lots of content, make lots of apps! If you have a product doing something better than the competition, don’t add more stuff !
If anything subtract – find the core value and focus on improving it (you’ll find it can always be augmented, updated, better designed or even streamlined).
Apps on an eReader…the thought still makes me mad…
Another week, another batch of Smartphone market share data – this time from Canalys showing the continued rise of the Android OS (now up to a surprising 16% global market share of all Smartphones):
However, before you rush into your next meeting proclaiming a halt to any iOS Apps in development and pointing to the increased Android market share as a reason to drastically shift focus to the Android platform, it’s crucial to remember just where the overwhelming majority of mobile App downloads are really taking place – and that place is still the Apple App Store. Just take a look at the continuing disparity in new App releases, Developer projects planned, and overall store growth:
Android phones have (predictably) grabbed significant market share in the past few months due to massive promotions from the likes of Motorola (Droid and Droid X), free-to-contract Android handsets flooding international markets, and increasing instances of handset manufacturers other than Apple (Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson) moving to Android as a default over more traditional OS choices like Symbian or Windows Mobile.
All of this doesn’t mean Android is a better App marketplace or ultimately presents a more lucrative business opportunity. After all, if it was really all about market share, we should just be dropping any plans for iOS or Android and start scheduling Nokia and Java Apps. Oh yeah, there’s no viable market for those!
Long and the short of it – don’t take too much stock in quarter-on-quarter market share data – there are far too many variables to consider when planning a mobile product. It’s not about the size of the potential audience, it’s the location. And right now, the majority of mobile content consumers (and especially those willing to pay for the privilege) remain on the iOS platform.
For now.
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