The Magic of Iteration: Apple to Tesla
Jeff Jenkins
Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Advisor, Innovative Executive Leader across industries (Whole Foods, Taco Bell, Carter's, NASA)
110k pre-orders before seeing the product. Overnight lines at retail stores hundreds deep. 290k orders in the first 48 hours. 300 Million dollars generated in two days. 13.5 Billion in future sales booked in the blink of an eye. And this is not for an Apple iDevice. This is not for a device that cost 300 dollars. This is for a $45k automobile, which won't be ready for 2 years. This was not about how great Tesla is....well, there is some of this. But to me it was an indictment of the rest of the auto industry.
"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." -- Ed Colligan, Palm CEO in 2007
WHOOPS.
The car manufacturers had time to see this coming. The Tesla Model S was named Motor Trend's "Best Car Of The Year" for several years in a row. And their response? The Bolt? The Volt? Barely salvageable hybrid afterthoughts? Lowering gas prices?(snarky, I know). The answer is they feel there is no market for all electric cars.
This always reminds me of my favorite blog on "Why big companies can't innovate." Watch the first video here. It will be the best two minutes spent of your day.
The Model 3 is not revolutionary. It's an iterative build from the previous gen. Sound familiar? Sound Apple -esque? I liken this moment to the unveiling of the Iphone 4. It was a shift in design and form and took Apple to the mass market. But is was an iteration on the first iPhone. Does the image up top look familiar?
But what's most remarkable is that Tesla has also changed the most painful part of the car process: The buying. When you elevate a utility item into a transformative moment, you can't deliver it via regular norms. They erased dealerships and price haggling, which Saturn had tried many years ago. They made it a digital experience that everyone is now used to. And deliver the car with the car you would expect.
They do all of this not because they are building cars...but because their goal is "to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport" . A much loftier goal.
Until the next Last/Best...........
In the meantime, you can always find more Last/Best ramblings here.
Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Advisor, Innovative Executive Leader across industries (Whole Foods, Taco Bell, Carter's, NASA)
8 年Jihaan Karjeker, PMP, CSM all of the main autos have maintained the "badge design" style started by the Prius. -- electric cars need to look different so they are easily identified and badge the owner as cool/Eco-friendly etc. that wave has passed and people want normal looking electric vehicles like the model 3. Although Tesla has badge value as well.
Lead Technical Project Manager at Epsilon
8 年Jeff Jenkins very true but arguably the BMW I3 was earlier to market with the $45k price range. It's also the greener car compared to the Tesla with a lower carbon footprint from start to finish. I'd be very interested in your perspective of why the I3 wasn't embraced the way the Tesla has been.
Lead Technical Project Manager at Epsilon
8 年The leap from spending $300 to $45,000 is vast. Granted you only have to commit to $1000 right now but still. I think competition is slim because other car manufacturers lack the brand trust that Tesla has built with their customers. Even if they had comparable products, they wouldn't be able to pre-sell the way Tesla has.
Associate at Kirkland & Ellis | UChicago JD/MBA | Georgia Tech
8 年Fantastic article, Jeff. I would argue, however, that the big car manufacturers definitely recognize a market opportunity for electric cars, but: a) they see it as a niche rather than a mainstream market and b) they don't have a current infrastructure, batteries, tech to support widespread adoption. Still can't get over Tesla flipping the script at a historical level, though!