When a product succeeds in mixing what’s needed with what’s desired…

Exception to the rule? Ask yourself if the world would have known the smartphone, in its very specific shape (product format) of a sleek, black tile with rounded edges, it it weren’t for Steve Jobs. Maybe later, in a different form? Mind you: Apple brought the iPhone at a time when people weren’t exactly complaining about their mobile phones!

No more fertile ground than when a product or service manages to combine the inevitable/what’s needed with what’s desired. So, why are some things still missing? Why does the world’s largest market for consumer products show so few groundbreaking, new developments? Reportedly, the car market was the next one Jobs aspired to address (iCar and all that).

Solely based on battery drive, Tesla grew out to be more valuable than Volkswagen. Imagine the potential when other car travel-related issues are tackled too: zero-emission transit without the need for subsidizing, energy efficiency, gridlock, profitable ride-hailing, traffic safety, self-driving.

Industries differ a lot from each other. Let’s combine some of the observations I made: 1. as if this could have been Jobs’ analysis himself 2. by comparing the car industry with that other creative sector California is famous for.

Time to happily, purposefully cater to the growing and diverse market of urbanites, two-car households, early-adopters, singles, couples, one-child families, greenies, techies, ride-hail providers themselves (did you know that the average trip consists of 1.2 passenger?). Together they represent more than 1 out of every 1000 prospective car buyers. The 1/1000 ratio suffices to have a viable production (with global car sales averaging 90 million).

Cheers, Ralph