Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Philly Pocket PC Summit - The most memorable presentation
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 11:01 PM
In what was easily the most controversial presentation given at the Summit, Todd Kort from Gartner Dataquest gave a presentation on the first day, and...let's just say it was the most memorable presentation for all the wrong reasons. The presentation was billed as "The Anatomy of the Pocket PC Industry", and the write up was as follows: "Find out what's really going on in the Pocket PC industry today by attending this industry analysis and roundtable discussion! We'll invite top leaders from the Pocket PC OEM manufacturers, including Microsoft, to talk about the state of the Pocket PC as a platform and as a community."
So people were coming into the room with the expectation of a discussion on the Pocket PC industry specifically, and a round-table discussion at that. Instead they were given an overview of the PDA industry in general, and a monologue not a dialogue. That's not a bad thing, mind you, but expectations hold powerful sway over behaviour. If you don't get what you expect, you can be disappointed. Todd's first mistake was to not open with a statement about how his presentation was an overview of the entire PDA industry, not just Pocket PCs. If he would have altered the expectations of those in the room, things would have been different. Some quick facts from Todd's presentation:
Overall growth of the PDA industry
1999 - 5.17 million
2000 - 11.08 million
2001 - 13.11 million
2002 - 14.80 million
Growth now and in the future
18.4% compound annual growth 2001 to 2006
4.6 billion dollars worth of PDAs to be sold this year
PDA Shipments by operating system by 2006
Windows CE 48%, Palm 41%, 7% Others, 3% Linux, 1% Symbian
Who buys PDAs?
Current worldwide PDA market is about 73% consumer, 27% enterprise (based on the source of purchase funds)
Then things got a little crazy. John Tidwell, one of the Pocket PC Summit organizers, came up to the front and asked Todd to step off the stage. They had a short discussion, then John went up to the microphone and apologized for the content of the presentation and mentioned the words "Microsoft bashing". It went downhill from there - people in the audience seemed to be split in opinion. Some wanted Kort to continue, others were upset about his perceived anti-Pocket PC stance at a Pocket PC conference. My take on it? Kort was a Gartner Analyst, not a Pocket PC enthusiast or OEM, and it's his job to look at the data and interpret it, not rally the troops.
The whole room had a lynch mob feel, and quite honestly I wanted to crawl under the table. I was deeply embarrassed at what was going on - if I was a presenter, I would have walked out of the room and not looked back. I don't care how much the audience disagrees with the presenter - he should always be given the chance to finish, and if you feel the need, skewer him with questions after he's finished. There's a time and place for everything.
After a minute or two (it seemed like hours), Todd continued. This is where he made his second error - he began talking about the forthcoming Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and how its battery life was said to be quite weak. He forgot that he was talking to a room full of the most hard core Pocket PC users around, and around half a dozen people in that room had already been using the HTC Wallaby/Spaceneedle device for several months. His statements seemed to trigger something in those device owners, and we had a minute or so of people shouting out their love for the HTC hardware and its great battery life.
The latter part of his presentation was very interesting, however: July 28th is the two year date from the 3COM spin-off of Palm, and the tax penalties for another company buying Palm will be lifted on that date. Gartner is saying that possible buyers include Sony or Apple. The Palm market in general has seen a 10% decline in market share from Q1 2001 to Q1 2002.
The question period at the end proved to be just as contentious as the rest of the presentation, with several people lining up to butt heads with Kort. A couple of people congratulated him. I just sat there with my head buried in my hands wondering what sort of twilight zone I had stepped in to.
See why it was memorable?
So people were coming into the room with the expectation of a discussion on the Pocket PC industry specifically, and a round-table discussion at that. Instead they were given an overview of the PDA industry in general, and a monologue not a dialogue. That's not a bad thing, mind you, but expectations hold powerful sway over behaviour. If you don't get what you expect, you can be disappointed. Todd's first mistake was to not open with a statement about how his presentation was an overview of the entire PDA industry, not just Pocket PCs. If he would have altered the expectations of those in the room, things would have been different. Some quick facts from Todd's presentation:
Overall growth of the PDA industry
1999 - 5.17 million
2000 - 11.08 million
2001 - 13.11 million
2002 - 14.80 million
Growth now and in the future
18.4% compound annual growth 2001 to 2006
4.6 billion dollars worth of PDAs to be sold this year
PDA Shipments by operating system by 2006
Windows CE 48%, Palm 41%, 7% Others, 3% Linux, 1% Symbian
Who buys PDAs?
Current worldwide PDA market is about 73% consumer, 27% enterprise (based on the source of purchase funds)
Then things got a little crazy. John Tidwell, one of the Pocket PC Summit organizers, came up to the front and asked Todd to step off the stage. They had a short discussion, then John went up to the microphone and apologized for the content of the presentation and mentioned the words "Microsoft bashing". It went downhill from there - people in the audience seemed to be split in opinion. Some wanted Kort to continue, others were upset about his perceived anti-Pocket PC stance at a Pocket PC conference. My take on it? Kort was a Gartner Analyst, not a Pocket PC enthusiast or OEM, and it's his job to look at the data and interpret it, not rally the troops.
The whole room had a lynch mob feel, and quite honestly I wanted to crawl under the table. I was deeply embarrassed at what was going on - if I was a presenter, I would have walked out of the room and not looked back. I don't care how much the audience disagrees with the presenter - he should always be given the chance to finish, and if you feel the need, skewer him with questions after he's finished. There's a time and place for everything.
After a minute or two (it seemed like hours), Todd continued. This is where he made his second error - he began talking about the forthcoming Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and how its battery life was said to be quite weak. He forgot that he was talking to a room full of the most hard core Pocket PC users around, and around half a dozen people in that room had already been using the HTC Wallaby/Spaceneedle device for several months. His statements seemed to trigger something in those device owners, and we had a minute or so of people shouting out their love for the HTC hardware and its great battery life.
The latter part of his presentation was very interesting, however: July 28th is the two year date from the 3COM spin-off of Palm, and the tax penalties for another company buying Palm will be lifted on that date. Gartner is saying that possible buyers include Sony or Apple. The Palm market in general has seen a 10% decline in market share from Q1 2001 to Q1 2002.
The question period at the end proved to be just as contentious as the rest of the presentation, with several people lining up to butt heads with Kort. A couple of people congratulated him. I just sat there with my head buried in my hands wondering what sort of twilight zone I had stepped in to.
See why it was memorable?
