Business Marketing Innovation
Innovation has so far been focused on the introduction of disruptive technologies that could either come in the form of a new product line, an addition to an existing product line, or a major improvement or revision of such (i.e. product repositioning) . In this case, Sling TV would be one of the marketing innovation’s focuses. For starters, the Sling TV is an attempt to win over the customers of traditional cable-based television and video services.
The developers behind the Sling TV, spearheaded by Roger Lynch (Chief Executive Officer of Sling TV LLC, the company behind this innovation), aims to do so by offering video on demand services instead of a constant or static list of channels. This would basically enabled Sling TV’s customers to watch whatever kind of video content that they want on whatever media players (that are compatible with Sling TV’s steaming points) that they have. Examples of which include Smart Televisions, digital media players, and even small devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
The main marketing edge of this innovation, perhaps, the feature that would enable it to successfully disrupt traditional cable-based viewing technologies, is its ability to provide on-demand video services to its users; this would basically enable its users to select, based on their viewing preferences, the programs and contents that would appear in their televisions and connected media players . Considering these key features, it would be safe to say that the introduction of Sling TV is essentially an attempt to revise an existing line of product (or in this case a service) (i.e. product or service repositioning).
Now, critically assessing the drawbacks of this innovation in media technologies would be akin to knowing the reasons why it would fail to achieve the growth that its developers have promised and expected. One of the major drawbacks of the Sling TV is the limited number of streams that is allowed per user account. According to the developers of the service, numerous contractual, technological, and economic reasons exist that prevent the company from addressing this obstacle. Unfortunately, with this drawback, the Sling TV users would not have any edge against traditional TV users because the promise when this innovation was introduced was that it is going to remove the limitations imposed by traditional cable-based television service providers, something which is impossible at the moment.
Netatmo, A New Look at Security
Netatmo is a tech company that is invested in the development of smart products that offer a wide range of connectivity capabilities. One of their most recent product releases involve the use of a smart camera that enables families to secure their home by making sure that only authorized people get in and out of a specified list of premises . Unlike the Sling TV, this product innovation is an attempt to form a new product line. This would be something that would set the stage for the creation of smart homes. Smart homes, according to analysts, would be heavily dependent on the creation of the Internet of Things, a new concept which involves a larger scale use of internet and internet connectivity-capable devices. In this case, Netatmo’s smart cameras would have to be connected to a server, most probably a cloud-based one, in order to function properly. The main drawback of this innovation, however, is the fact that the IOT platforms that would enable it to function properly are still in their development stages. To put it into perspective, its development basically came in prematurely.
Conclusions
These two innovations, given proper attention and funding, should contribute greatly to the shaping of the future. They can certainly be among the list of the next big things in the market but certain conditions must be met in order for that to happen, one of the most important of which would be the addressing of their limitations. If the limitations that were mentioned for each of the two products or services discussed can be addressed, then their development and progress can go full blast.
References
Baumgartner, J. (2015). Sling TV - Now comes the hard part. Multi Channel, http://www.multichannel.com/blog/bauminator/sling-tv-now-comes-hard-part/387989.
Christensen, C. (2002). The Rules of Innovation. Technology Review, 32-38.
Kotler, P., & Keller, L. (n.d.). Introducing New Market Offerings. Slide Share.
Palladino, V. (2015). Review: Netatmo's Welcome Home Security Camera gets Facial Recognition Right. ARS Technica, http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/11/review-netatmos-welcome-home-security-camera-gets-facial-recognition-right/2/.
