Keywords:: PermanentNote makePublic
Reference: The New Old Thing
New products are usually incarnations of something old. The difference is that new products do it much better, faster, and/or cheaper.
Products exist to serve customer needs. People's needs rarely change – we always want to be healthy, look good, save time, make money, get the newest information, etc. It's probably going to stay this way.
The products that are winning are those that do it (solve problems, provide benefits) in the best and cheapest way. And the thing that enables that is called technology.
Relevant notes:
In regards to product management
Behind the most successful products usually stand great product managers. They combine what is desirable with what is now possible, to create solutions that serve customer needs in the best and cheapest way.
That said, if you want to be successful as a PM, you must understand where current products fall short and then search for new ways of applying technology to solve user needs in the best possible way.
As said here PN: Problems stay, solutions (products) change, products exist to serve customer needs. The solution that does it in the most effective and cheapest way usually wins.
PN: Problems stay, solutions (products) change: Innovation is driven by people's problems and technology. Product managers are the ones who are combining what is currently possible in terms of technology with what is desired by the users.
PN: Innovation is about combining things, PN: Problems stay, solutions (products) change: new products are usually combinations of existing parts that address problems that never change.
What's more, problems don't change that rapidly because people will always have similar desires that will need to be met (think of Maslov's hierarchy). Solutions change way more quickly – each new invention can drastically change the landscape of 'how' we solve particular problems (think of electricity, the first computers, the internet).