Innovation

Innovation

Example of a successful innovation

An example of successful innovation is the Blippar app. It is an image recognition platform that uses Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality. In simple terms, the app allows users to use their smartphone camera to point at objects which would then unlock essential and entertaining information or content. What the app sought to do was to make the ability to catalogue easy. Besides, the Blippar app was meant to obtain additional content through product scans via cameras. It made it easier for users to access information and games (Johnston, 2015). Users could also make packaging more engaging and interactive by merely using their smartphone cameras. The app has since revolutionized to an artificial intelligence visual search engine allowing users to recognize various objects.

Reasons for successful innovation

Three main areas resulted in successful innovation of the Blippar app. The first thing was the continuous effort in the focused area. The developers had to think big and test those ideas regularly. Individuals are more likely to develop innovative products through specialization and consistency since it is a sustained effort of hard work (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2010). Ideas have to be turned into reality by testing them against the actual world.

The next thing that the innovators did to develop this app was built on their strength. For any product to be successful, developers must stay in touch with possible opportunities. Innovators must rely on their strength by looking at opportunities on a broader scale. Besides, innovators have to be temperamentally adjusted to the innovative opportunity. This enables them to be persistent, hardworking and have that temperamental fit.

Example of a failed innovation and reasons for failure

An example of a product with failed innovation was the HP, Touchpad in 2011. After Apple had released its iPad the previous year, many companies struggled to release tablets of their own. Following this, HP developed its TouchPad, which was halted after nearly six months. The sale of this device that relied on the WebOS operating system was devastating. The product was universally ignored especially by the tech press who favored that developed by Apple. The company had to drastically reduce the prices of the product and was eventually discontinued. The reason given for the failure of this device has to do with the apps. Compared to the iPad, this device had less apps. Apple was able to rejuvenate the market with a device full of apps and iTunes. There are thousands of apps on Apple’s Website that users can choose. For the TouchPad, there are more than 300 apps. The product produced by HP could not make it easy for webOS to create many apps. Innovators must provide those products that suit the complex needs of their customers. In addition, for a new product to succeed in the market, it has to leverage time-tested technologies that rely on the company’s brand. Another key to proper and successful innovation is for management to have an elaborate process for innovation so that they can decide which one they can venture in.

Poor planning in HP’s management was one of the main reason for the failure of this product. The first thing that the management did was moving the company away from the needs of the customers. They failed to map out a better strategy when developing this product (Kamasak, 2015). They also failed to include many apps that are suited by customers when compared to the iPad. Lastly, the company did not make an informed choice on whether to enter this fast-changing market. Companies like Google and Apple have legions of innovators inventing apps for their devices.

References

Cheng, C. F., Chang, M. L., & Li, C. S. (2013). Configural paths to successful product innovation. Journal of Business Research, 66(12), 2561-2573.

Kamasak, R. (2015). Determinants of innovation performance: a resource-based study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195(3), 1330-1337.

Ottenbacher, M. C., & Harrington, R. J. (2010). Strategies for achieving success for innovative versus incremental new services. Journal of Services Marketing.

Johnston, N. (2015). Adaptive Marketing: Leveraging Real-time Data to Become a More Competitive and Successful Company. Springer.