8 ms·

Actually it worked very well for many companies. The Amazon Kindle came out of Lab 126, Amazon's innovation program. The idea isn't just to remain dynamic, but

Actually it worked very well for many companies. The Amazon Kindle came out of Lab 126, Amazon's innovation program. The idea isn't just to remain dynamic, but to allow for new products and services to be developed despite posing a threat to the company's main cash cow. So Lab126 was completely independent from most of Amazon, including being based in the Bay Area vs. Seattle. This allowed the to develop a product that went directly against the main cash cow at the time (selling physical books) and make it to market. Microsoft had one as well, but would always fail because the existing businesses heads held too much power, and would always kill the products. Just take a look at the history of the Surface.

vl 8y ago
Well, ereaders and ebooks are really obvious things to develop if you are in selling physical books business.
- sjm-lbm 8y ago
  Not if you're Kodak and making film. Or, at least, the technology might have been obvious (they did have a hand in developing digital cameras), but the idea that they should bet big on the new technology eventually replacing them evidently wasn't obvious.
  - frankchn 8y ago
    It is even worse than that for Kodak -- Steven Sasson actually created the first digital camera using a CCD sensor while working at Kodak [1] and Kodak owned the patent for a digital camera [2]. [1]: https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Kodak-engineer-had-revolutionary-idea-the-first-1182624.php https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Kodak-engineer-ha... [2]: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4131919 https://patents.google.com/patent/US4131919
  - pfdietz 8y ago
    For a company in Kodak's position, trying to reinvent themselves may not have been the best idea. Another possibility would have been to recognize that the basis for the company was going away and attempt to milk it for as much money as possible as it died. If this meant paying large dividends then shutting down or carving up the remnants of the company, so be it.
deleted 8y ago
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mintplant 8y ago
> The Amazon Kindle came out of Lab 126, Amazon's innovation program. I know this from all the com.lab126 Java packages in the firmware :)

vl 8y ago

Well, ereaders and ebooks are really obvious things to develop if you are in selling physical books business.

sjm-lbm 8y ago
Not if you're Kodak and making film. Or, at least, the technology might have been obvious (they did have a hand in developing digital cameras), but the idea that they should bet big on the new technology eventually replacing them evidently wasn't obvious.
- frankchn 8y ago
  It is even worse than that for Kodak -- Steven Sasson actually created the first digital camera using a CCD sensor while working at Kodak [1] and Kodak owned the patent for a digital camera [2]. [1]: https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Kodak-engineer-had-revolutionary-idea-the-first-1182624.php https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Kodak-engineer-ha... [2]: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4131919 https://patents.google.com/patent/US4131919
- pfdietz 8y ago
  For a company in Kodak's position, trying to reinvent themselves may not have been the best idea. Another possibility would have been to recognize that the basis for the company was going away and attempt to milk it for as much money as possible as it died. If this meant paying large dividends then shutting down or carving up the remnants of the company, so be it.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

mintplant 8y ago

> The Amazon Kindle came out of Lab 126, Amazon's innovation program. I know this from all the com.lab126 Java packages in the firmware :)