Seat at the Table

If there is anything to learn from superior Apple vs. Window computers, Nintendo Wii vs. XBox and PS3 and Vizio TVs versus everyone, it’s that consumers don’t choose the best technology, they choose the best price, feature and experience combination.  

So when Sony brushes off the iPhone’s game capabilities by pointing out the PSP has superior production power, it makes me wonder if this consumer oriented company still understands the consumer.

As reported in Casual Gaming and Business Insider, Sony Computer Entertainment UK MD Ray Maguire said Sony was not bothered by iPhone competitors because it does not have the production power of a PSP – that as a games machine, the PSP would win.

It may be that the PSP may win as a games machine, but that’s different from winning as a device people want to buy vs. the iPhone as a game machine.  In consumer electronics, messaging should often focus not on technical superiority (see first paragraph) but on where the consumer will find the best combination of experience and value.  This has always been true but never more so than today. 

But there’s a larger lesson here, messaging is not about saying what is accurate, it’s saying it in a way that shows the company understands the market it is serving.  Anything short can erode business, and even consumer, confidence in a brand.