• The Pantser@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    63
    ·
    5 months ago

    We’ve certainly seen companies fall because they’ve not tried to stay on the cutting edge before

    Best example I can think of is Kodak and digital cameras. They invented it then sat on it until it was too late because they didn’t want to cut into their film scam.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        31
        ·
        5 months ago

        Sears had a massive mail order catalog. Easy to switch that to Internet, right? But they decided to focus on stores.

        • 4am@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          27
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          It’s quite unbelievable that it was literally right there. The logistics were like 60% solved for them already, the remaining 40% was just making sure the online content remained linked with inventory and fulfillment, and expanding that capacity.

          “We think online shopping will be just a fad” - the unimaginable hubris…

          • someguy3@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            I was refreshing myself on wiki. They launched prodigy, but it was too early for online shopping to be popular. So they probably got a bad taste for that kind of thing. A concept in venture capital is that it’s all about timing.

            • 4am@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              5 months ago

              Ohh I forgot they did Prodigy. It was such a WEIRD experience; it seemed to drop you down into this BBS/DOS mode, and none of the navigation was very similar to everything else on any PC/Mac at the time. I enjoyed some of the games on it but I really didn’t know what to think otherwise. We didn’t keep it very long.

              • someguy3@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                5 months ago

                Can you fill us in on what it was exactly? I’m rather confused but I think I got online store out of it man

    • magic_lobster_party@kbin.run
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      5 months ago

      Nokia. They were at the top before iPhone. They couldn’t catch up with smart phones at all.

      I believe Intel will be another potential example, but we’ll see about that.