[Elecraft] A Rob Sherwood's talk in Dayton

[J.K. Hooper]

Keith, 

I, too, think I see your point.   That point is that one strategy a company could take is to continuously introduce newer, better products, ones which might cannibalize sales of previous products with each new product introduction.  I worked at HP, and I think that was the strategy for the printer division.   I think this is a good strategy for a consumer market place.     This worked well when sales were reasonably high volume.  

Arguably, the best aspect about the Elecraft statement which you quote is that it exists and guides the company investments.    

That statement appeals to me.    I like knowing that my radio will continue to be supported by my vendor and that its re-sale value, when I kick the bucket, will be higher than otherwise.  

So, to Elecraft, one benefit is that the strategy appeals to what-I-think is one of their target market segments - customers who want to be loyal customers.      

I see a cost reduction benefit to Elecraft as well.   Elecraft is less likely to need to be supporting multiple products.   They can keep inventory down, and won't have the costs of dealing with "end of support life" issues.   And design costs might be lower, as the company is not introducing as many new designs and the new designs that are introduced are primarily for completely new-to-Elecraft functionality.   Cost reduction is a big deal for any company.    

So Elecraft's strategy totally works for me. 

73, 
Hoop
K9QJS  





On Jun 7, 2013, at 9:09 AM, Keith-K5ENS <keith at kathyandkeith.mx> wrote:

This statement baffles me...


       "As always, our goal is to continuously improve the K3 in a way that
is applicable to units in the field. If we find a practical way to achieve a
further significant improvement in the audio channel, we'll certainly make
it available."


Why would you not make improvements to the K3 just because they can not be
applied to older units?  I'm not sure what is to gain by holding back
improvements.  As a early K3 owner I would love to see a better K3 offered. 
I would have a choice to keep my early K3 or replace it with a improved
unit.  Radios evolve all the time.  It is disappointing to know a better K3
could exist but doesn't because a new K3 may be better than the an older K3. 

That's just wrong.  IMHO.

Keith, K5ENS