3 ms·

The problem with Garmin is that they obsessively fragment/segment/differentiate their market/products. It's infuriating that such an expensive watch will be un

The problem with Garmin is that they obsessively fragment/segment/differentiate their market/products. It's infuriating that such an expensive watch will be unable to do some basic feature because they want to sell a "golf" version of the watch or a "sailing" version and so on. They'll also release some feature that clearly is possible to implement on even current products elsewhere in the lineup - and isn't even really implemented on the watch at all but just some processing done on their cloud. But you don't get the feature, even if you bought a current model elsewhere in the lineup, because only the new watches get it. With increased competition, supply chain issues, and consumer spending tightening it's been amusing to see Garmin suddenly drop much of that; the Vivoactive 4 and Forerunner 255 are absent most of their typical segmentation crap. The Forerunner 255 is a running watch that supports cycling power meters, for example, which had been a feature that had been limited to their absurdly expensive, huge, gaudy-looking "Fenix" watches.

nradov 4y ago
I generally agree with your points, but cycling power meters had been supported even on some older Forerunner models like the 935 that was released in 2017. It's cheaper and smaller than a Fenix, but internally shares much of the same hardware and software. It seems like Garmin is missing out on an opportunity to upsell existing device owners on apps. Like if someone sails occasionally then they're probably not going to spend $800 for another smart watch with sailing features, but they might spend $20 to add the sailing app to their existing device.
jiggawatts 4y ago
Famously, Steve Jobs rescued Apple from oblivion largely by stopping their market segmentation and forcing the company to have "one great product in each major category". As in one phone, one PC, one music player, etc... Meanwhile Apple's competition is flailing around releasing literally hundreds of minor model variations each, which all require design, parts sourcing, warehousing, warranty support[1], standards licensing, FCC approvals, etc... Remember Nokia? They had something like over 100 phone models when Apple release the iPhone! More models isn't more choice. It's more confusion, more fragmentation, more overhead, and more upset customers that can't get the combination of features they want. [1] This one in particular is a killer, especially in some markets like California and Australia. Needing to keep spares on hand for legally-mandated warranty drags down the profitability or jacks up the price for a lot of companies that don't "get" the Apple Way of having fewer SKUs.
sytelus 4y ago
Garmin’s branding and segmentation is complete mess. After hour of browsing I still cannot figure out what to buy and the real differentiators. Their compare tool is useless. It has all the characteristics of no attention to details. The whole company is surviving simply because they turn off GPS, wifi and always on to boost the battery life to 5X. There is no other visible magic souse. It is also beyond me why Apple can’t simply add “modes” to extend battery life is same manner.

nradov 4y ago

I generally agree with your points, but cycling power meters had been supported even on some older Forerunner models like the 935 that was released in 2017. It's cheaper and smaller than a Fenix, but internally shares much of the same hardware and software. It seems like Garmin is missing out on an opportunity to upsell existing device owners on apps. Like if someone sails occasionally then they're probably not going to spend $800 for another smart watch with sailing features, but they might spend $20 to add the sailing app to their existing device.

jiggawatts 4y ago

Famously, Steve Jobs rescued Apple from oblivion largely by stopping their market segmentation and forcing the company to have "one great product in each major category". As in one phone, one PC, one music player, etc... Meanwhile Apple's competition is flailing around releasing literally hundreds of minor model variations each, which all require design, parts sourcing, warehousing, warranty support[1], standards licensing, FCC approvals, etc... Remember Nokia? They had something like over 100 phone models when Apple release the iPhone! More models isn't more choice. It's more confusion, more fragmentation, more overhead, and more upset customers that can't get the combination of features they want. [1] This one in particular is a killer, especially in some markets like California and Australia. Needing to keep spares on hand for legally-mandated warranty drags down the profitability or jacks up the price for a lot of companies that don't "get" the Apple Way of having fewer SKUs.

sytelus 4y ago

Garmin’s branding and segmentation is complete mess. After hour of browsing I still cannot figure out what to buy and the real differentiators. Their compare tool is useless. It has all the characteristics of no attention to details. The whole company is surviving simply because they turn off GPS, wifi and always on to boost the battery life to 5X. There is no other visible magic souse. It is also beyond me why Apple can’t simply add “modes” to extend battery life is same manner.