The Paradox of Quality: Why Better Technology Fails The most popular “camera” on Flickr today according to upload data is the iPhone with its pinhole aperture. Not the highest specification camera. Not the coolest camera. Music, photography and movies have all developed contrary to the expectations of the technology industries. We favor low quality instagram snaps we can share instantly over high end DSLR images that we hoard on pen drives and CDs. We consume far more low quality Youtube videos with their comments and common threads than high end Blu-Ray discs

1. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
The Paradox of Quality: Why Better Technology Fails
SELL SHAREABILITY OVER QUALITY
The most popular “camera” on Flickr today according to upload data is the
iPhone with its pinhole aperture.
Not the highest specification camera.
Not the coolest camera.
Music, photography and movies have all developed contrary to the expectations of
the technology industries.
We favor low quality instagram snaps we can share instantly over high end DSLR
images that we hoard on pen drives and CDs. We consume far more low quality
Youtube videos with their comments and common threads than high end Blu-Ray
discs
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2. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
Making your technology better is a payoff between quality and shareability
Why?
More From Graham Brown's Series on How to Sell Technology
The 90-10 Rule: Focus on the 10% that influences the 90%
The Paradox of Quality: Why Better Technology Fails
Change Your Metaphors: How great leaders sell technology
These 2 Social Experiments Show How Stories Sell Technology
Why you need to become a Farmer not a Hunter to sell technology
THE PARADOX OF QUALITY
Technology firms focus on higher quality products but customers prefer those that
are more shareable, even if they are of a lower quality.
62% of marketing managers in tech firms believe that video and picture quality will
decide who will win the smartphone race.
But 83% of mobile consumers want a more durable handset with longer battery
life, compared to 31% who wanted a better video or picture quality.
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3. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
It appears we prefer shareable products because they offer more social benefit.
And social benefit creates product value.
If you want to see evidence, check out these 2 social experiments that
demonstrate how we perceive product value.
The higher the quality, the more exclusive it becomes, the less able we are to
share the product.
Compromises in quality allow a more shareable product.
QUALITY vs SHAREABILITY
Higher Quality More Shareable
Video Blu-Ray, HDTV, 3DTV Youtube
Music Hi-fidelity, Higher
Bandwidth audio
MP3, iTunes, Spotify
Camera Megapixels, Zeiss Lenses,
DSLR
Flickr, Instagram, Filters
Messaging Picture messaging, Video
messaging
Text, Twitter, Whatsapp,
IM
DON’T GET LOST ON QUALITY
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4. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
Traditional marketing has long focused on the pay off between price and quality
suggesting low price also meant low quality and therefore we would pay more for
higher quality goods.
For example, Microsoft promoted a higher quality gaming experience with XBox
One by driving gaming into the Cloud but ultimately reduced the basic shareability
of the gaming experience (Xbox One precluded the ability to swap old games or
play in the same room).
The higher the quality, the more expensive the camera, the less likely you are to
have it with you all the time (unless you’re a professional but then that’s a
different story - we’re talking about the average customer).
As many digital camera users will confess, most of their photos remain stuck on
the memory card, or inside the camera.
Even with the advent of wifi transfer and quick sharing, it appears the average
customer just can’t be bothered to upload 1000 photos to their computer. It’s a
whole lot easier, to snap a low quality photo on their phone and share it instantly.
Often tech companies can get lost on quality at the expense of shareability.
Part of the problem is the critics within your own organization who are convinced
by the need for quality over shareability. Dealing with the critics is key to creating
a relevant product for customers, but be careful how you tread - you need to
master the internal sale first.
The other part of the problem is the metaphors we use in selling technology.
Kodak got it right when they identified their business as "sharing memories". It's
when the organization lost focus on this objective and became obsessed with
product that Kodak became irrelevant.
WE DON'T SHARE TECHNOLOGY BUT THE STORIES IT CREATES
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5. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
Share your photos w/ us using #europeanautumn on instagram! (Photo credit:
European Parliament)
It’s not the features of the photographs we “like” but the context of them. We like
pictures that feature people, especially people we know.
We share stories of our travels, birthday parties and school memories because
they are relevant to the people we share them with. Look at Johnny aged 16 when
he had all that long hair! Those were the days.
That's why we need a common base to share these stories.
No good using the latest technology if nobody else is using it too.
SMS, Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook are all at the lower end of functionality
compared to the evoked set of mobile apps out there.
The lower tech functions may appear primitive to the technology purist but they
are intrinsic in the product appeal.
The lowest common denominator in technology has mass appeal.
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6. mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
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