:: Competing for Usage Value ::

Following a previous mailing regarding ART we got an interesting mail back. It said:

"I completely disagree with the opening of today's Wadi list. This is like saying that a mouse and a keyboard are competing. Different input channels are appropriates for different tasks - for example, I'll be happy to have my mobile phone voice activated and yet I'll be more than happy if my laptop could read handwriting. Is that so far fetched?"

Nice point.

It brings up a very interesting question - what is it that we compete on?Think a Toaster and a Toaster Oven, think Pens and Pencils, or think Showers and Bathtubs. Most people have both and at a given point in time most people use one OR the other but not one AND the other.Usage Value to the End Customer is what we compete on.

However, most people are far smarter than what other people think of them. When faced with two things that they can't use at the same time, they either choose to always use one or to have both and use them alternatively. But no matter what they choose - they end up paying EXACTLY the Usage Value they associate with the product.

Voice Recognition and Handwriting Recognition are two new input methods. Nobody can tell what the Usage Value of each will be. However, even before those become as common as keyboards and mice we can already know one thing for sure - those two technologies compete on what people are willing to pay for doing an action of "Inputing". And this is the toughest competition of all.

Feel like challenging us to think?

Mail address below.

Wadi Writer #1 (Gray)
WadiList@mail.com

Related Wadi Issues:
:: Typos :: http://www.oocities.org/wadilist/0077.htm
:: iMyth :: http://www.oocities.org/wadilist/0085.htm
:: State of the ART :: http://www.oocities.org/wadilist/0172.htm