Intelligent market segmentation -- by a hardware guy

MacWorld UK has an interesting interview with Greg Joswiak -- commonly referred to as Joz -- VP of hardware marketing at Apple where he talks about the product positioning of the iPod Shuffle and whether it will cannibalize product sales. His answer? "This is a different product and it will take the iPod to a different market, one which couldn't afford the price of the normal iPod."

I've always liked Joz, because he speaks intelligently about both marketing and hardware (a rarity in high tech, I might add). But lest you think the above statement is obvious, remember the buzz about the iPod mini when it came out? Joz does. He notes, "When that launched [the iPod Mini] everybody said that it would take customers away from the iPod, but it didn't. They are different products." Amen. High-tech needs to stop thinking price and technical specs define products. Customer needs, product positioning to address those needs with benefits, and clear messaging of those needs and benefits define products. Apple gets that; the rest of the high-tech should learn it.