shpmdr
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2015
- Posts
- 1
- Likes
- 15
I've been interested in audio for a long time. My first job in high school (1986) was selling equipment in a high end shop. We had Threshold, KEF, Revox, NAD, Carver, etc. During a change in management, no adults were minding the shop, leaving the proverbial kid in the candy store in charge. I brought in Sumo (Andromeda, Athena and Polaris on display), Monitor Audio and Cambridge Audio.
From current my day job, I can tell you that experience is a major factoring in determining brand success. Give the customer a great experience, you can charge a premium. Give the customer a poor experience and you invite competition.
So let's look at Jason's post from the point of view of experience.
1. Whole Foods created the greatest food retailing experience in the country. It is so good that when a friend's mother visitor from Russia, the thing she liked the most was Whole Foods. It's inspired songs (search YouTube for Whole Foods Parking Lot if you haven't heard it). And while in St. Petersburg, Russia, my tour guide asked me about the track (I live where they shot the video). Now consider the typical hi-fi shopping experience. The stores that are around are often by appointment only (at least in LA), a sure way to kill the curiosity of a cat newly-interested in hi-fi. Most stores can't afford to display much of the entry level stuff, so it's mostly sold online as commodity products. As Jason noted, the buying decision is now influenced by forums and flame wars rather than thoughtful expertise. And it's really hard to buy "because it sounds better" if you can't even hear the stuff; 30-day home trials only help so much.
2. Apple created the most innovative device of the 21st century (so far...Tesla might overtake it). They created a retail experience that has the energy of a casino. The only hi-fi manufacturers who seriously attempt Apple's level of innovation and user experience charge a lot (e.g., Meridian, Devialet) or kind of dropped out of hi-fi (B&O). If hi-fi's greatest innovation right now is hi-rez streaming, consider the prices for some of these devices and tell me those firms would survive if Apple wanted to enter the market: "Siri, play Kind of Blue in the living room." There is no reason any "streaming media server" should cost more than a Mac, and yet that's all the industry makes.
As a long-time fan of Jason's work (remember, I brought Sumo into that shop, Franklin Lakes Stereo, all those years ago), my question for him is what could Schiit do in this innovation (rather than value) space? I'm happy to help (seriously, DM me if you want to talk...digital innovation is a focus of my job.).
3. Want to know why Pono specifically is struggling (and being attacked in a way A&K aren't)? Think about the experience. They've got an old geezer fighting the wrong battle. (I mention this because I suspect the young audience who cares about Neil Young wants vinyl.) You don't win hearts & minds telling people they've been wrong this whole time. You win them by creating a great experience. Beats didn't convince anyone of anything other than "this is a cool experience." Whole Foods didn't win shoppers by telling them they were killing themselves with the food they bought at Safeway (even if some of their suppliers do). Whole Foods created the greatest food retail shopping experience around and people pay a premium for it. Apple "just works" and is always at the leading edge of user experience design. Pono went up against one of the greatest industrial design firms of all time (market cap is approaching $1 trillion at $750 billion) to help me "regain my soul" and launched a slightly kludgy store to go with a slightly kludgy device (from what I've read...I haven't used one). Hell, Pono is using the Force platform from Salesforce and didn't even design a browser icon (it's Salesforce's) or own the own domain name. Apple can squash them like a bug.
Just my two cents.
Scott
From current my day job, I can tell you that experience is a major factoring in determining brand success. Give the customer a great experience, you can charge a premium. Give the customer a poor experience and you invite competition.
So let's look at Jason's post from the point of view of experience.
1. Whole Foods created the greatest food retailing experience in the country. It is so good that when a friend's mother visitor from Russia, the thing she liked the most was Whole Foods. It's inspired songs (search YouTube for Whole Foods Parking Lot if you haven't heard it). And while in St. Petersburg, Russia, my tour guide asked me about the track (I live where they shot the video). Now consider the typical hi-fi shopping experience. The stores that are around are often by appointment only (at least in LA), a sure way to kill the curiosity of a cat newly-interested in hi-fi. Most stores can't afford to display much of the entry level stuff, so it's mostly sold online as commodity products. As Jason noted, the buying decision is now influenced by forums and flame wars rather than thoughtful expertise. And it's really hard to buy "because it sounds better" if you can't even hear the stuff; 30-day home trials only help so much.
2. Apple created the most innovative device of the 21st century (so far...Tesla might overtake it). They created a retail experience that has the energy of a casino. The only hi-fi manufacturers who seriously attempt Apple's level of innovation and user experience charge a lot (e.g., Meridian, Devialet) or kind of dropped out of hi-fi (B&O). If hi-fi's greatest innovation right now is hi-rez streaming, consider the prices for some of these devices and tell me those firms would survive if Apple wanted to enter the market: "Siri, play Kind of Blue in the living room." There is no reason any "streaming media server" should cost more than a Mac, and yet that's all the industry makes.
As a long-time fan of Jason's work (remember, I brought Sumo into that shop, Franklin Lakes Stereo, all those years ago), my question for him is what could Schiit do in this innovation (rather than value) space? I'm happy to help (seriously, DM me if you want to talk...digital innovation is a focus of my job.).
3. Want to know why Pono specifically is struggling (and being attacked in a way A&K aren't)? Think about the experience. They've got an old geezer fighting the wrong battle. (I mention this because I suspect the young audience who cares about Neil Young wants vinyl.) You don't win hearts & minds telling people they've been wrong this whole time. You win them by creating a great experience. Beats didn't convince anyone of anything other than "this is a cool experience." Whole Foods didn't win shoppers by telling them they were killing themselves with the food they bought at Safeway (even if some of their suppliers do). Whole Foods created the greatest food retail shopping experience around and people pay a premium for it. Apple "just works" and is always at the leading edge of user experience design. Pono went up against one of the greatest industrial design firms of all time (market cap is approaching $1 trillion at $750 billion) to help me "regain my soul" and launched a slightly kludgy store to go with a slightly kludgy device (from what I've read...I haven't used one). Hell, Pono is using the Force platform from Salesforce and didn't even design a browser icon (it's Salesforce's) or own the own domain name. Apple can squash them like a bug.
Just my two cents.
Scott