How many video calls do you make per week? I bet a lot.
Video calls are an integral part of our lives. Perhaps too integral. At least, that’s what I was thinking a week ago as I sat at the airport and unintentionally overheard a video conversation between a man next to me and a woman who seemed to be his girlfriend.
They were delving into details of their romantic relationships that I found overly intimate. Maybe I am just old-fashioned.
But you may not have known that when Skype introduced its solution in 2003, it was not the first attempt in history.
In 1964, when my father was just dating my mother, AT&T presented Picturephone. It was the first video conferencing service ever. The company tried to commercialize it a few times but fell flat.
Why did Picturephone fail while Skype, Zoom, Facebook, Apple FaceTime, Google Meets, Teams, and WhatsApp succeed?
It’s tempting just to say that Picturephone was ‘ahead of its time.’
However, it explains nothing from a business perspective.
Isn’t an innovative product you’re about to launch also ‘ahead of its time?’ What makes ‘big things’ what they are?
Success occurs when the value a company offers aligns with customer needs, transforming these needs into demand.
