You Must Use An iPhone If…

You Must Use An iPhone If…

Jan 11, 2010
entrepreneur

…it’s your competition.

“I’ve never used an iPhone” was the quote from Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein during a recent interview.  That makes him either a liar or a fool.

The arrogance of not deeply knowing your competition is something that perhaps would work in the past, but today and into the future is a direct line to failure.  As an entrepreneur one of the most important things you can do is to understand who your competition is and what they bring to the market.  Whether you’re a manufacturer, service provider or blogger you need to make it a pillar of your career to have the mindset of researching your competition.  Here are some reasons why…

  • In sales you will be better prepared to sell your features/benefits over your competition
  • In design you will be able to exploit the design weakness of your competitions products
  • In marketing you will be able to position your product where others aren’t and where others fall short
  • In pricing you will be able to target your markets more competitively
  • In support you will understand opportunities that your offering can utilize to reduce complaints
  • In usability you will find nuances that no one can share with you, no matter how many videos, reviews or articles you read.

Being an entrepreneur today is all about learning. You need to learn your about your competition, market and customer.  A lack of understanding in any one of those three areas is done at your own peril.

How about you, do you research your competition? How?

photo credit

  • http://twitter.com/runsweetlew Lewis Butler

    From the interview at CES, where that quote I taken from, I took it to mean he never used an iPhone as his personal cell phone. Here is what he directly follows the “never used an iPhone” quote:

    “The iPhone is a great product, Apple is a great company. I love Apple. But we're focused on what we're doing. We have our view. Our view is very cloud centric.”

    So I do not think that makes him a “liar or damn fool”.

  • http://www.RichLazzara.com Rich Lazzara

    Lewis, I wasn't there so certainly context can easily be misconstrued. However based on the interview questions it appears to me that “I don’t have an iPhone. I’ve never even used one.”” means just that. Perhaps thats not what was meant. If it meant he doesn't use it as his personal phone, then I stand corrected and would apologize. However if not I stand by my liar/fool comment.

    Thanks for the comments.

  • http://www.maniecki.com/ Jason Maniecki

    Rich,
    I agree with your general Thought. I always am on the look out for what other real estate brokers are doing to better their business! Don't reinvent the wheel, just make it better! is my approach. I want to see what the competition is doing so that I can learn from it and make it better!

  • http://twitter.com/runsweetlew Lewis Butler

    Do you follow 1000 Watt Consulting? I don't follow a lot of real estate blogs, but I like to check their stuff from time to time. http://www.1000wattconsulting.com/blog

  • http://www.RichLazzara.com Rich Lazzara

    Jason, Its good to know your competition. When you were in the NFL I know you spent a ton of time studying the competition. No different in real estate, business, etc. Thanks for the comments.