Have you recently looked at an ad for a smoke alarm and thought, ‘I want one!’?
Corporate tech: focus shifts from patent battles to individuals’ talents
This article was originally published by Hanover communications as The price of ideas and what consumers want.
When Google purchased smart device company Nest at the turn of the year, some people wondered why the tech giant was getting into the thermostat and smoke alarms markets. What could be cutting-edge about that, some wondered? In buying the company for $3.2bn, the Mountain View firm had secured more than the top-end of the market in energy-saving and life-saving devices for the home.
With Nest, Google brought on board ex-Apple Senior Vice President Tony Fadell who designed the iPod. As part of the acquisition, Fadell agreed to help the Californian company with product advice outside of Nest. No, Google hadn’t managed to poach Sir Jony Ive but they had captured the next best thing. Nest, within Google, took less than six months to begin growing its product portfolio — it bought surveillance camera startup Dropcam for $555m earlier this month.
Elsewhere, the fight to keep top tech talent is on. As Apple lost Fadell in late 2008, Twitter has seen a number of its executives fly the nest of late. January saw the departure of Vice President of Consumer Product, Michael Sippey. Its second highest-paid employee, ‘10x engineer’ Chris Fry left in May. Then earlier this month, in the space of one day, Ali Rowghani, Chief Operating Officer, and Chloe Sladden, head of North America Media, departed the San Francisco-based microblogging company. Why this outflow at Twitter? Reportedly, the battle for ideas about the future of Twitter is on. On one side, there are calls — especially by Rowghani — to buy complementary firms such as music streaming service Spotify which could help Twitter to grow its user-base faster and become more competitive with social media-dominating Facebook.
It’s the talent of individuals where the battle now lies
If corporate tech between 2011-2013 was centred around patent fights between Apple and Samsung, it’s the talent of individuals where the battle now lies. Why is this? It’s because the products and services that are most successful in tech, are those that are not necessarily the most advanced, but that provide the most enjoyable, fluid, straight-forward human experience to use. Facebook and the iPhone both meet this test. A lot of people struggle to get to grips with Twitter, due to its @s, its #s and its never-ceasing stream of the world’s thoughts. Google’s market-leading Android smartphone operating system, with its myriad of versions, devices and customisable options is another that some people struggle to get to grips with.
Products and services that connect with people sell. Which is why tech companies are placing such emphasis on bringing in and retaining people who understand how to connect with consumers. There’s a huge difference between having a disruptive offering and one that will connect with human beings in the longer term. As tech becomes more accessible and impacts on all sectors, the race for the most commercially successful ideas will hot up. We will more frequently see products like this in surprising categories from tech companies and think: “I want one”.
