Notes

1. Of course, sometimes the rest of the industry will not follow an innovator’s example. That is fine if the innovation is beneficial to you, but not so good when the innovation attempts to do something unpopular—e.g., attempting to discipline the market. AT&T’s capping of data usage by subscribers so far has not been emulated and has been called a PR disaster. AT&T might have tried a more graduated strategy, beginning with loose bands and eventually letting users grow into them. Abrupt banding called attention to the change and so formed an unfavorable context.

2. Credit Suisse, “Great Brands of Tomorrow,” March 30, 2004. One blogger on the Applease site commented: “The best thing about AT&T is rollover minutes.”

3. “‘Power by the Hour’: Can Paying Only for Performance Redefine How Products Are Sold and Serviced?” See knowledge@ Wharton, February 21, 2007. Other markets where what used to be sold as a product can now be bought as a service include electrical power. “Pay for the Power, Not the Panels,” The New York Times, March 26, 2008, p. H1. Transforming what used to be a product into a service is an expanding phenomenon.