erland;523172 Wrote:
>
> I think it's important to remember that what we see on these forums are
> users with problems, but we don't see is the other 95% who are very
> happy with the Radio.
>
> I'm not saying that we should ignore the 5% that have problems, I'm
> just saying that I strongly believe that the Radio does work for most
> people. Even more since the 7.4.2 release when you can be pretty sure
> that the Radio plays some sound at the correct alarm time.
>
> (5% is obviously just an educated guess, I suspect it's even less than
> that in reallity)
erland,
The subject of "average users" is interesting, and certainly most
relevant to the potential success of squeezebox as a product line.
I agree that this forum attracts perhaps the most demanding users of
the product. Today this group likely makes up a larger percentage of
the customer base than it would if/when the product was to become a
general consumer product, vs. a geek toy.
The market potential question fascinates me, as a business owner
myself. I've got a small sample of general consumer usage, based upon
having given 4 SB Radios as Christmas gifts, and am surprised to what
I've observed. (It would be interesting if Logitech did a real survey of
usage!)
My 4 sample users:
A 20-something college student, who uses the radio entirely to listen
to Pandora. It serves as a "Pandora Player" in his apartment. Very
happy with the radio.
A 50-something sports fan who mastered the internet radio search, and
uses it almost exclusively to find and listen to US-wide sports
broadcasts not otherwise available on local over-the-air radio. It has
opened up to him a new and appreciated way to follow sports broadcasts.
Very happy with the radio.
A 40-something couple, who use it very infrequently, and only as a
radio. They seem to have set & rely on presets for local stations.
Looks to them like a standard radio with very good reception. Not all
that impressed.
A 40 something who uses it as a bedside radio, listening to one local
station. Reports to have "never gotten the alarms to work". "Likes the
nice clear clock display screen". Seems to me to be a waste of
technology & money here.
Things that I've seen in looking at the small sample:
2 had no setup problems, 2 needed help from tech savvy friends to get
it working
Only 1 seems to have tried alarms, and failed.
None listen to podcasts
None installed the server software (I suspect that only 1, the 20
something, even knows that a server of any kind, local on mySB,
exists.)
I think that only the 20 something set up a mysqueezebox account
None use it for their music collection, although I believe that 3 of
the 4 are iTunes users and have music players of some sort.
Some patterns:
All use the radio as a single use device
All view it as a simple appliance
None come anywhere near utilizing the capabilities of the radio, or
even recognize what's possible
None use the alarm feature
None are aware of or understand the server concept, local or mySB
3 of 4 see it as a "new kind of radio", like a standard radio only able
to receive more stations with great quality
None use this or any other web sites for usage instruction
None would ever report a bug
None know nor care about software versions or updates
What it tells me:
1. None of these people would have purchases the radio, had I not given
it to them.
SB needs much more focus on marketing to the masses. Currently the
product message is getting out only by word of mouth and scattered
internet reviews, and only to a tech-savvy base.
The message has to focus on "What SB does". What are the core
capabilities - the "N" things that the SB Radio does well? Why should
one buy it for $150 vs. a $30 standard radio? Tivo is a good model for
this type of marketing ("We're changing how you watch TV")
2. Upon owning the radio, none were able to understand the capabilities
and get them to work
Lack of user documentation or a manual is a big shortcoming. Only the
geeks will dig around the web and find forums like this. People are
used to "appliances" that plug in and have obvious functions.
The server concept is foreign to non-geek consumers.SB needs a way to
clearly get the concept across to consumers. Too many odd names "my
Squeezebox" "Squeezebox Server", etc. Confusion on when to use each &
for what. Is the only reason to install a local server to be able to
listen to your music collection?
3. Ease of use
While not all that bad, the current user interface on the radio needs
to be looked at for possible improvement and simplification. Separate
basic consumer function from advanced "serious user" function. Look sat
buttons, menus, and messages. Similar to the approach taken by Tivo,
that made it appealing to a wide consumer audience, while providing some
fairly technical capabilities. Average walking-around slob consumers try
to do something once with an appliance, Is it works, they use it, if the
1st attempt fails, they forget about using it.
In summary, the change to internet appliances is going to happen.
Which companies profit is still up in the air. Logitech has a lead, out
of the starting gate with the technology. The firm with the best
marketing and customer focus will win.
--
davenva
------------------------------------------------------------------------
davenva's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=34191
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=75541
_______________________________________________
Radio mailing list
Radio@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/radio
