On Sunday Eugene Polley, the inventor of the wireless remote control, passed away at the age of 96. Obviously the scope of Mr. Polley's invention can not be under-valued. I mean, there are entire generations of people (including mine) who can't imagine a world in which they would have to physically get up to change the channel every time and actually get really annoyed when the batteries die and force us to do that very thing. (Seriously, do batteries die faster in the remote or does it just seem like they do?) I mean, before Mr. Polley came along you really had to not like a show to try and find something else to watch. Now you can flip the station without even trying. Also, I found it really interesting that the earliest versions of the remote would mute the TV, because it just goes to show that even in the early days of television people were looking for ways to watch TV without having to listen to commercials. (Originally the remote made a clicking noise, hence being called a "clicker". But, seeing as how it hasn't done that in decades, I find calling the remote "the clicker" to be annoying.) The remote wasn't all Mr. Polley came up with, either - he also worked on the laser disk, which eventually gave us DVDs and push-button radios, which still get used today. Clearly, the man had a wide range of skills.
Still, the word that stuck with me from his obituary was how all his products were "unveiled" to the world. That line got me to thinking about how no one makes a big deal of releasing new products anymore. It used to be that companies would have one guy out front, almost like a carnival barker, extolling the virtues of this wonderful new idea. Now for the most part companies keep things on the down-low in the days leading up to the release. One day the product is unavailable and the next it is for sale. Things aren't so much 'unveiled' as they are 'available for purchase' and there is a big difference. Other than a couple of commercials after the product is out there is never much of a production made anymore, which kind of bums me out. Sure, Apple has a big press conference once a year to let you know that they made a minor improvement to one thing or another, but that isn't quite the same. It feels very cold and not showy enough. Not to mention, that is a fairly new practice for them. I certainly don't remember much hoopla in the run-up to the release of iPods and those should have been on our radars for months. Instead one day I looked up and everyone had one - it just kind of happened.
It isn't like society is no longer coming up with new and interesting inventions to show off, either. Sure, most of the coolest things are being released in app form, but there are still enough new physical products out there to warrant a show. It makes some sense from a business stance as well - if nothing else it would get some people excited and you'll sell a few thousand units before people discover your product isn't nearly as exciting as promised. Maybe not the way to build customer loyalty, but that is a problem for another day. I assume people have dialed back on the rhetoric because of the chance the product could bomb. People are a lot less inclined to remember your failures if you don't attract a lot of attention to yourself beforehand, so no need to up the pressure by telling everyone how amazing your invention is. I mean, I remember when the Segway was supposed to revolutionize the way everyone traveled, worked and moved and instead all it really changed was whether tourists wanted to rent bikes on their tours around the city and how cameramen moved from hole to hole during golf tournaments. After that let-down I can see why a big product launch would make retailers a little gun-shy.
Still, I think I would thoroughly enjoy some kind of a "World's Fair" event where people and companies take the time to make a big production of the latest gadgets which will soon be available. (I have visions of a giant curtain being pulled back and the crowds "oohing" and "ahhing".) But the closest thing we have these days are conventions and most of the time those are closed to the general public, allowing only vendors to get a look at the next cool toy we'll all need to have. Now, I'm sure if I gave them some space for a rebuttal these companies would say that having a launch like that in one location isn't good marketing, as it limits the audience. They would tell you that it makes so much more sense to just put out some TV commercials, as you can hit more eyeballs in more locations that way. I'm sure that used to be true, but ever since Eugene Polley's invention came out in 1956 people have gotten really good at avoiding commercials and yet not missing any of their show. So, thanks to the remote, the only way to make absolutely sure people are looking at your idea these days is to be right in front of them. It just goes to prove that the idea which are supposed to revolutionize entire civilizations often fall flat, but the simplest inventions available to the widest range of people are the ones which end up truly changing the way the world operates.
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