Author: Albert Silver
Date: 12:06:38 06/02/04
Go up one level in this thread
On June 02, 2004 at 08:02:11, Dann Corbit wrote:
>On June 02, 2004 at 00:05:38, Albert Silver wrote:
>
>> Which program do people want to
>>>>>buy today - it is Shredder.
>>>>
>>>>I am guessing that there are at least 1000 sales of ChessMaster for every sale
>>>>of Shredder.
>>>>
>>>>You can't even buy Shredder where I live in Federal Way, WA (population 90,000).
>>>> You would have to order online or go to Seattle to buy it.
>>>
>>>ChessMaster (on the other hand) can be purchased from Fred Meyers, BestBuy, Toys
>>>R Us, CompUSA, WalMart (and several others, I am very sure).
>>>
>>
>>True, but they only buy it because they can't find Shredder. It's like academic
>>theses and Reader's Digest. People only buy Reader's Digest because the
>>newsstands don't carry the academic theses. Sorry if I'm preaching something you
>>already knew.
>
>No argument there. I was just trying to dispell the myth that if you build a
>better mousetrap, people will beat a path to your door.
>
>Having shelf space is more important than having the better product.
>
>Still, CM is a good product or they would not have millions of sales.
Actually, I was being sarcastic. I remember John (Merlino) recounting the US
Youth championships (unsure of the title) a while back, and the stand for
Chessmaster. He mentioned two key factors in the success of Chessmaster:
- the numerous tutorials allowing even someone with no previous knowledge of the
game to learn the ABCs of chess, as well as help lower-scale players to improve
their game.
- The brand-name of Chessmaster, with a solid reputation, and in its 18th year.
I don't want to sound harsh, as I'm an admirer of Shredder, but you could take
Chessmaster as it is, just changing its name to Shredder, and fill the stores
with it, and it wouldn't sell nearly as much.
Add to that movie bynames such as Josh Waitzkin, and a very colorful, friendly
looking, easy-to-use GUI, and you have a multi-million copy-selling product.
Never EVER underestimate the importance of the GUI.
Anyhow, as a small note to those who complain about Chessbase's favoritism
towards Fritz, it's clear it has little to do with some sort of love affair with
Morsch (No offense), and everything to do with a brand-name creating strategy.
IMHO.
Albert
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