Hello Neal, On Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:20:04 -0800 GMT (20/Sep/09, 4:20 AM +0700 GMT), Neal Laugman wrote:
NL> Software development is a precarious job of walking a marketing NL> tightrope. For a certain product or product group there can be an NL> easily sustainable market segment if you keep yourself lean. If you NL> wish more, you have to spend more to take business away from someone NL> else. Well, let's hope for the best. I don't believe the above, as you have to grow to survive, and each market segment will have new entrants all the time (we ar talking about email, not some highly-specialised niche product), and IMAP is the future so they will be taking customers away from Thunderbird or die, but let's wait. NL> RitLabs has been doing this for quite awhile now and is still here, NL> producing and making progress with a really cool and unique product NL> that has a predictable clientele. Perhaps this market segment that TB! NL> serves is enough to make a few people a few €€ without risking what NL> they already have, and their goals are quite satisfied by this NL> business strategy. TB! needs a technical user (IMHO) to fully exploit NL> its features, and I'm here to tell you that the average middle-aged NL> users that I have done business with are more comfortable with NL> Thunderbird, etc... which is a different market segment. I believe that is the market segment they could capture, but as you say, they seem to be comfortable with the money they are making now. As discussed on a parallel thread, POP is still around in many countries but that may change. NL> It bugs me to see RitLabs disrespected so much over the years. It NL> cannot help a developer's attitude at all (and this sentence is the NL> heart of my post). This is one of the reasons that I don't participate NL> with TBBETA as much as I use to, even though I love TB! and respect NL> this list, its participants, and the commitment they have. I wasn't talking about software development, I was talking about market development. The potential is right here, on this list: How many companies have the privilege of hearing so many suggestions, so many ways to improve the product instead of having to pay heavy dollars for R&D, and how many companies have such brand loyalty as you (and obviously most people on this list, including me) show? This is what I mean: Wasted opportunities for market growth and ultimately survival. Thunderbird is taking market share from Ritlabs, why would Ritlabs not take market share from them? But then, it is their decision, and many of us are indeed still around. Several of the old hands on this list have moved on. -- Cheers, Thomas. http://thomas.fernandez.hat-gar-keine-homepage.de/ Message reply created with The Bat! 4.2.10.6 under Windows XP 5.1 Build 2600 Service Pack 3 ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 4.2.10.12 | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
