Core and Diferentiation

Neutralisation by Geoffrey Moore
Neutralisation by Geoffrey Moore

-------------------------------
Killer application - VisiCalc
-------------------------------
Consumers would buy the (usually expensive) hardware just to run that application. A killer app can substantially increase sales of the platform on which it runs. A new phenomenon which does create demand for specific product.
The first generally agreed example of a "killer app" in gaming is Space Invaders. It was a 1978 arcade game created by Tomohiro Nishikado and subsequently ported to the Atari VCS (Atari 2600) console in 1980, quadrupling sales of the then three-year-old Atari 2600 platform. It was supprise.
One of the first examples of a killer application in Business software is generally agreed to be the VisiCalc spreadsheet for the Apple II Computer in the early 1980's. VisiCalc was single "reason enough for owning a computer". VisiCalc was a great sales booster for Apple II in the early 1980s'. The first generally agreed example of a "killer app" in gaming is Space Invaders, released for arcades in 1978.
Dan Bricklin changed the world forever when he codeveloped VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet application and precursor of applications used all over the world every day like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.


---------------------------------------------
Neutralisation in spreadsheet category
---------------------------------------------
In the 1980s Lotus 1-2-3 piggybacked on VisiCalc to accomplish this neutralisation in the spreadsheet category. In the 1990s Microsoft Excel has done the same thing to Lotus.
Now we have FLOSS LibreOffice Calc.
Thus it is spreadsheets, not VisiCalc, Multiplan, Lotus, or Excel.
--------------------
Lotus 1-2-3
--------------------
Lotus 1-2-3 is a prime example of optimizing the High-TechMarketing Model.
In 1980s it was the best spread sheet program on the market. Certainly it wasn't the first, and many of the features people appreciate about it most were in fact
derived directly from VisiCalc, its predecessor that ran on the Apple II. But Lotus 1-2-3 was the first spreadsheet for the IBM PC, and its designers were careful to tune its performance specifically for that platform.
As a result, the innovators liked Lotus 1-2-3 because it was slick and fast. Then the early adopters liked it because it allowed them to do something they had never been
able to do before—what later became popularized as "what if" analysis. The early majority liked the spreadsheet because it fell into line with some very common business operations, like budgeting, sales forecasting, and project tracking. As more and more people began to use it, it became harder and harder to use anything else, including paper and pencil, so the late majority gradually fell into line. This was the tool people knew how to use. If you wanted to share a spreadsheet file, it had to be in Lotus format.
Thus it became so entrenched that by the end of the 1980s well over half the IBM PCs and PC compatibles with spreadsheets had Lotus 1-2-3—despite the fact that there were numerous competitors, many of which were, feature for feature, superior products.
Astounding as this accomplishment is, many other companies have achieved a comparable status.
http://www.slideshare.net/mjskok/startup-secrets-wrap-up-geoffrey-moore-an-insiders-guide-to-unfair-competitive-advantage-14984243


---------------------
Innovation is anything that creates favourable separation between you and your competitirs.
Separation..
Differentiate & Neutralise & Optimise your products and company