Alistair Jeffs asks if:
> > -mckinsey came up with the idea of iMode and sold it to NTT
I've seen and heard different things on this, but am not familiar
with the primary sources. However, backing off just a short distance:
In successful innovation, "the idea" is usually a combination of
ideas that finally break through to success. Edison didn't
invent the light bulb - he just pushed it into practicality.
There are lots of other examples. So it's not either/or,
here. It's fairly common, however, for the single most
critical contributor to have less than the lion's share of
credit, or to even remain utterly obscure. One of my favorite
examples: it wasn't actually Deming who brought the quality
revolution to Japan, but....Homer Sarasohn. (Who?)
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20000525.html
And from this, you can trace a line of development to the
world's most compact and featureful mobile phones.
(Or, if you want to look at it another way, we owe it
to MacArthur for saving Homer from a career in
gynecology. Oh forget it, just read Cringely on this.)
-m
leap@gol.com
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Wed Mar 28 16:43:21 2001