So Microsoft is responding not by improving IE and making it a must-have for users, but by trying to spend the competition into submission...Let's say that Microsoft is successful in getting users to install IE9. That doesn't mean that they're going to stick with it.

It might work to shore up its market share, for a while. But in the long run? Microsoft has dug itself a hole it can't buy its way out of. The only real way for Internet Explorer to reclaim its crown is for Microsoft to compete on features and deliver what users want. I know, that's not Microsoft's first choice of tactic but it's the only one that works in the long run.

Anyone who believes Microsoft is an outlier here is deluding themselves. Many companies - big and small - see the tough work of innovation, product focus, and futurecasting markets as the Big Bad Wolf and try to take the shortcut around the forest. Sadly, it's that shortcut that leads not to *one* wolf, but directly into a ravenous pack of his best pals. And they're more than happy to gobble you up.

It's all too easy to rest when you think your product has hit "feature cap." I don't think that's necessarily what's happening to Microsoft and IE (as if there could be feature caps in the constantly evolving browser space), but there are some telling indicators here from which we can learn. Are any of these sentiments impacting your company's product development?

"Customers will ignore our product flaws if we lure them in with low prices."
"Good marketing and sales is enough to increase our market share...the product will just sell itself."
"Our real customers are enterprise users and they don't care about fancy UIs."

Sometimes, the Big Bad Wolf doesn't live outside our workplace walls. He smiles eagerly from within.

After I left Google in July, I heard that there was renewed effort around the project and that a new team was bringing some much-needed attention to the product. I expected them to give the product a facelift, and integrate G+ -- both things that needed to happen.

But killing off functionality that could have easily been built on top of G+, and missing the mark by so much on the UI... and then releasing them under the guise of improvements?

I'm not going to pile on Google for how it's managing its products or communicating with its users. Hell, at this point it's almost too easy. But there is one element I think is worth calling out as an example of what not to do with any product: kill - or cripple - functionality without adding equal or increased value *as perceived by the user*.

There's nothing abnormal or wrong about sunsetting product features. In the grand scheme of successfully managing a product, it's necessary to cut things that no longer deliver value to users. If we didn't do that, we'd be wrestling with an unwieldy monstrosity in very short time.

Where Google seemed to miscalculate (or simply not care, depending on who you ask) is when it came to screwing around with features with an almost casual disregard for the end user. Sure it makes sense to begin integrating Reader and other Google properties around G+ but it appears they did it to the detriment of the user's core experience. And with that, they've displayed an arrogance that may end up hurting them in the long-run. Better communication with users would clearly have helped.

And yet, there's a part of me that wonders if we're all not more than a little spoiled as users ourselves. Have we misplaced our own expectations of product perfection? Do we not get a little pissed off when our own users get impatient with our bugs, missing features, delayed launches? 

I don't know...so tell me, is there anything you've learned from Google's Reader SNAFU?

Stop Selling Product

Salespeople that sell products can get all wrapped up in believing that because their product is the very best that they have only to sell its superiority over its competitors to win. They believe that because their product is so clearly the best, it will make the sale for them.

The biggest problem with this line of thinking is that their product doesn’t solve their prospective client’s problem:

Your client’s problem is not that they don’t have your product.

Brilliant thinking on sales and solving our customers' *real* problem...

Anthropology extracts the true nature of tech

Genevieve Bell on how fieldwork and observation can guide technology.

Genevieve Bell, director of interaction and experience research at Intel Corporation, says when she approaches technology she is "less interested in thinking about the piece of technology itself and more interested in the kind of work that technology is trying to do and the larger context in which it finds itself."

In the following interview, Bell discusses her experience as a "Thinker in Residence" and how anthropology concepts can be used to make tech more consumer centric.

Absolutely brilliant article on how anthropology applies to thinking about technology issues and creating solutions. Love what Genevieve says about her work in making Intel a more consumer-centric company.

The McRib's Magic Marketing Sauce

McDonald's brought back the McRib this week, but once again just for a limited time. Cruel and unusual? Maybe. It's also brilliant marketing. Here's what you can learn from the country's most in-demand pork sandwich.

Call me strange, but I'm not a huge fan of the McRib. However, there sure are a bunch of folks who are not only fans, but crazy passionate about this boneless pork sandwich.

Inc has some excellent ideas for how to take some of the McRib marketing magic and use it with your own product strategy:

1. Scarcity works, but only if your product is known.
2. Your customers know your products better than you do.
3. Before the buzz dies, engage the community.
4. Don't be a marketing robot.

The big takeaways?
Listen and observe how your customers are *actually* using your product. It might very well be in ways you never intended for it to be used...and that's okay. Users have real-world problems to solve and they'll use whatever tools are available to get the job done. If you pay attention, you might just uncover an untapped market need that only you can meet.

And don't be afraid to give your marketing some quirky personality. Yeah, this is tough because it can be a risk. But boring doesn't cut it anymore so find a way to help your customers have fun with your product and your business.