Fire Sale – What Happened To Cisco’s Flip Camera?

Dang it! This was supposed to be a story about a product success, not a product failure. Pure Digital created the low-end highly portable video camera market a few years back and then got bought out for a half a billion U.S. dollars by the networking giant Cisco. Cisco is stuffed with smart, bright product … Read more

Product Managers Know New Marketing Techniques Are Not Necessarily The Best

One of the reasons that we all became product managers is that we were attracted to the field because it is always changing. Part of this change is that new marketing techniques are always showing up. Product managers are always attracted to shiny new ways to reach our customers. However, should we be? What’s the … Read more

Product Managers Want To Know: What Happened To The Microsoft Kin Phones?

Gone in 48 days. Ouch – that’s got to be some sort of record. As product managers we try to do all of the right things when we’re handed the responsibility of birthing a new product: determine what our customer’s needs are, understand the competition, calculate costs and price points, and create clever tag lines … Read more

Guns, Ammo, And Product Managers

So there you are: the product manager for a boring product. How often have you caught yourself gazing longingly over at one of those iPhones, Kindles, or some other such highly desirable product and though to yourself “Now why couldn’t I be the Product Manager for a cool product like that?” I have one message … Read more

Why Chatty Product Managers Do Well On The Web 2.0

Boy, oh boy do I have a story for you today. I’ve been working with one of my customers who has decided that they need to improve how they communicate with their customers. Having read all of the industry rags, they’ve decided that they need to set up a social networking site for their company … Read more