Crossing the Chasm is the title of the 1991 book by Geoffrey Moore that describes how technology products enter the mainstream. Moore posited that although many tech products are often gobbled up by the innovators and visionaries, they then often languish in a "chasm" that lies between those same early adopters and the mainstream. Wikipedia says:
"Moore argues there is a chasm between the early adopters of the product (technology enthusiasts and visionaries) and the early majority (the pragmatists).
Moore believes visionaries and pragmatists have very different
expectations."
A huge part of that chasm crossing is having a critical mass of "references" who are similar to the prospective buyers who give prospective mainstream buyers confidence that a product will work for them, too.
Check out today’s post by David Pogue of the New York Times, Explaining the Macintosh Surge. It’s spot on. (Read the comments, too.) It wasn’t just one thing that has brought Apple to where it is today. It’s a combination of things, including:
- The marketwide move to new machines triggered, frankly, by Vista (gotta buy something)
- Awareness of Apple through their media activities (both ads and coverage)
- Mainstream (read "non-geeks") comfort with Apple’s iPod and iPhone
- An increasing number of "reference" customers that span across demographics
Is this another example of patience and persistence paying off?
i’d argue you could also apply the “chasm” philosophy to the time leading up to musicians tipping into being “popular” in this non-channeled world that the music industry is trying to control.
not many artists, let alone companies, have the wherewithal to sustain such a patient (read: non-sellout) approach to delivering quality and innovation.
No – stuborness by Steve J says this non-geek and, despite the high prices of apple stuff for those of us who do not need alot of extra programs Microsoft never went after us…..
What a great blog – yours – to find via adept Aaron Stout
Looking forward to reading the article, thanks for the pointer.
I just went through a hard sale with my mom trying to get her to switch. Sadly she didn’t go for it, mainly because she didn’t want to “learn a new operating system”. Her laptop came with Vista. Uh…
Huge opportunity lost for her, considering her needs and my ability to help her tech support so much easier on the Mac with the new Screen Sharing built-in.
Oh well.