26 Oct 2005

"Innovation" is not what it seems

Having worked for a long time with two major telecomm equipment vendors, I have an insider's view on what goes on behind the flashy brands and rosy corporate image.

What appear to be cool and innovative products are in fact extremely suboptimal and inefficient bundles of electronics and poor software which are usually patched and repatched hundreds of times. This is to the extent that it is almost granted and accepted that major bugs and need for rework is a natural step ney even required!.

With all the "ambitious", over-confident corporate clones invading every corner of big corporates, product promotion and marketing collateral have very little to do with the functions the products can actually do, or to be precise, contain everything the products can not do!. In the face of criticism to such a hard-sell approach, I heard the phrase "positive spin" often used. Another one I heard recently is being "honestly creative". Whatever that means, it definitely has very little to do with honesty... More like deception if you ask me. Being economical with the truth is a sinister form of deception and misinformation.
So before you rush to buy the last mobile gadget that is combination of: high resolution camera, mp3 player, photo album, communication device, window on the internet, "fast" link to the world that is promised to make you happy, brings you closer to your friends, prepares your meal, changes your linen and grounds your coffee, ... Remember that it is intentionally designed to develop a fault within a year and that you pay extra for the price of inefficiencies and unnecessary components that make the bulk of it.

No comments: