Comments on: IBM: The 'next big thing' no longer exists

Era of technology breakthroughs for their own sake rather than for profit is over, says innovation exec Nicholas Donofrio.

[drumpat01]

iPod

no next big thing?? What the heck does he call the iPod which came
out after the turn of the century? Come on, this is coming from a
person that is SUPPOSE to be creating the innovation! Just because
his company failed in the home market and hasn't made a hit
product in years, doesn't mean innovation is dead, just his
company. This would be like Steve Jobs coming out and saying,
well you know what, I guess we can stop making new products
because we are all stupid uncreative idiots and just keep upgrading
our existing ones. What a fool.

[Tanjore]

IPod is a cultural innovation and he did mention that

IPod is a cultural innovation. MP3 players were there before IPOD. Web sites selling music where there before IPOD.

IPOD successfully melded hardware, software, user experience and culture experience beautifully. This can be called cultural innovation or service innovation. If jobs had not succeeded convincing music companies to allow him to sell the music online, IPOD would not have succeeded.

[drumpat01]

iPod

no next big thing?? What the heck does he call the iPod which came
out after the turn of the century? Come on, this is coming from a
person that is SUPPOSE to be creating the innovation! Just because
his company failed in the home market and hasn't made a hit
product in years, doesn't mean innovation is dead, just his
company. This would be like Steve Jobs coming out and saying,
well you know what, I guess we can stop making new products
because we are all stupid uncreative idiots and just keep upgrading
our existing ones. What a fool.

[Tanjore]

IPod is a cultural innovation and he did mention that

IPod is a cultural innovation. MP3 players were there before IPOD. Web sites selling music where there before IPOD.

IPOD successfully melded hardware, software, user experience and culture experience beautifully. This can be called cultural innovation or service innovation. If jobs had not succeeded convincing music companies to allow him to sell the music online, IPOD would not have succeeded.

[sadaemon]

Fortunately Innovators Ignore Such Rubbish

and that about sums it up

[sadaemon]

Fortunately Innovators Ignore Such Rubbish

and that about sums it up

[sadaemon]

Fortunately Innovators Ignore Such Rubbish

and that about sums it up

[sadaemon]

Fortunately Innovators Ignore Such Rubbish

and that about sums it up

[AndrewBoyd]

Get a Job at the patent office.

I believe it was 1900 and a patent office offical said that there was nothing new worth inventing. I can't believe IBM still pays this guy for being inovative.

[bakanale]

Physics too!

Someone around that same time also said the same about physics.

Is there something about the beginning of a century that makes people become stupid and think that's all there is?

[JFDMit]

Good Ol' IBM

Wasn't it IBM's own Tom Watson who, in 1952, predicted that the worldwide market for computers was five?

Big Blue have a history of being unable to see more than three months ahead. The PC was only invented by IBM because the development team was hidden away in Boca Raton, so senior management couldn't gum up the works.

Anyway, even having a role like "Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology" in the company is a pretty stong indicator that innovation is less important than pecking order and corporate heirarchy. Presumably, there are also "Senior VPs of I&T", "Junior VPs of I&T", "Junior Senior VPs of I&T", "Senior I&T Managers", "Junior I&T Managers," "I&T Executives" and all the rest of the status-conscious "I know my place" baloney that is the real enemy of innovation.

Large companies like IBM should stick to what they do best: either buy other people's good ideas or just use their lawyers to steal them.

[AndrewBoyd]

Get a Job at the patent office.

I believe it was 1900 and a patent office offical said that there was nothing new worth inventing. I can't believe IBM still pays this guy for being inovative.

[bakanale]

Physics too!

Someone around that same time also said the same about physics.

Is there something about the beginning of a century that makes people become stupid and think that's all there is?

[JFDMit]

Good Ol' IBM

Wasn't it IBM's own Tom Watson who, in 1952, predicted that the worldwide market for computers was five?

Big Blue have a history of being unable to see more than three months ahead. The PC was only invented by IBM because the development team was hidden away in Boca Raton, so senior management couldn't gum up the works.

Anyway, even having a role like "Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology" in the company is a pretty stong indicator that innovation is less important than pecking order and corporate heirarchy. Presumably, there are also "Senior VPs of I&T", "Junior VPs of I&T", "Junior Senior VPs of I&T", "Senior I&T Managers", "Junior I&T Managers," "I&T Executives" and all the rest of the status-conscious "I know my place" baloney that is the real enemy of innovation.

Large companies like IBM should stick to what they do best: either buy other people's good ideas or just use their lawyers to steal them.

[kubasic]

Nick Donofrio is an idiot

Seriously now, who would believe all the "good" inventions are taken? I can't imagine why he would say this....and I work for IBM!

Embarrasing and pitiful..Nick, go work for Microsoft or Gateway dude.

[marzano]

I Can't Believe You Said That

I'm shocked that you would say this about Mr. Donofrio.

I heard rumors in the past that people said things like this in IBM and there were repercussions.

Jeff Marzano

[kubasic]

Nick Donofrio is an idiot

Seriously now, who would believe all the "good" inventions are taken? I can't imagine why he would say this....and I work for IBM!

Embarrasing and pitiful..Nick, go work for Microsoft or Gateway dude.

[marzano]

I Can't Believe You Said That

I'm shocked that you would say this about Mr. Donofrio.

I heard rumors in the past that people said things like this in IBM and there were repercussions.

Jeff Marzano

[edeckers]

Next BIG thing or lots of little things?

I sort of side with Nicholas Donofrio (IBM), at least on the computer side of things. I'm sure there are all sorts of inventions out there that we've never seen. But I think that computer-wise, we're sort of done with what's REVOLUTIONARY.

There will always be improvements to what computers can do, but what is there that we do without computers that we should do WITH computers?

Streaming special TV and radio channels were big. Using the computer as a phone was pretty big. MP3s, and the subesquent MP3 players, were enormous. But I can't think of anything new that a computer will do that it can't do already. Maybe we can use it to watch regular TV. I know people who use their CPU as a Tivo/DVR. And we can do video chat a lot easier and cheaper than video phones. But what's next? I think until someone comes up with a matter-energy transference machine, we're sort of tapped out with anything NEW a computer can do.

Just my three cents,


Erik Deckers

[ordaj]

If companie like IBM & Microsoft would stop stifling technology

We would have a LOT more innovation and big ideas. But if they can't control markets and technolgies, they kill them. Impede them. Marginalize them.

[Thomas, David]

Come On

How about Tertiary computing instead of Binary?

But leave the inventions, and dreams to those who can. The suits,
well, hehe, they are historically, and forever more, just that.

[edeckers]

Next BIG thing or lots of little things?

I sort of side with Nicholas Donofrio (IBM), at least on the computer side of things. I'm sure there are all sorts of inventions out there that we've never seen. But I think that computer-wise, we're sort of done with what's REVOLUTIONARY.

There will always be improvements to what computers can do, but what is there that we do without computers that we should do WITH computers?

Streaming special TV and radio channels were big. Using the computer as a phone was pretty big. MP3s, and the subesquent MP3 players, were enormous. But I can't think of anything new that a computer will do that it can't do already. Maybe we can use it to watch regular TV. I know people who use their CPU as a Tivo/DVR. And we can do video chat a lot easier and cheaper than video phones. But what's next? I think until someone comes up with a matter-energy transference machine, we're sort of tapped out with anything NEW a computer can do.

Just my three cents,


Erik Deckers

[ordaj]

If companie like IBM & Microsoft would stop stifling technology

We would have a LOT more innovation and big ideas. But if they can't control markets and technolgies, they kill them. Impede them. Marginalize them.

[Thomas, David]

Come On

How about Tertiary computing instead of Binary?

But leave the inventions, and dreams to those who can. The suits,
well, hehe, they are historically, and forever more, just that.

[rarmasu]

The Next Big Thing Is Alive And Well

Nicholas Donofrio could not be any more wrong! The NEXT BIG THING is just around the corner and will lavish unbelievable spoils to the one that discovers it.

The spirit of innovation is alive and well - just maybe not at IBM.

[baswwe]

Net 2.0 , right?

What a joke!

[rarmasu]

The Next Big Thing Is Alive And Well

Nicholas Donofrio could not be any more wrong! The NEXT BIG THING is just around the corner and will lavish unbelievable spoils to the one that discovers it.

The spirit of innovation is alive and well - just maybe not at IBM.

[baswwe]

Net 2.0 , right?

What a joke!

[pgabel]

Only half true.

Of course Nicholas Donofrio is wrong. I believe he speaks for his (and perhaps IBM's) lack of vision.

What is true about what he has said is that collaboration and multifaceted approaches are and will continue to be critical to the success of innovations.

The irony is that the most dramatic innovations (the "big things") will be created by mavericks who are willing to take a risk in not thinking like everyone else. This is in contrast to most incremental improvements which happen best in larger organizations.

I can think of several emerging technologies which will create new "big things" - that is, innovations that have large societal impact.

[pgabel]

Only half true.

Of course Nicholas Donofrio is wrong. I believe he speaks for his (and perhaps IBM's) lack of vision.

What is true about what he has said is that collaboration and multifaceted approaches are and will continue to be critical to the success of innovations.

The irony is that the most dramatic innovations (the "big things") will be created by mavericks who are willing to take a risk in not thinking like everyone else. This is in contrast to most incremental improvements which happen best in larger organizations.

I can think of several emerging technologies which will create new "big things" - that is, innovations that have large societal impact.

[charleyg21]

What!!!!

This is coming from a company that lost its edge in the computer
world. People are beings of invention. I don't forsee any change
soon.

[charleyg21]

What!!!!

This is coming from a company that lost its edge in the computer
world. People are beings of invention. I don't forsee any change
soon.

[dwledet]

IBM is good at Predicting the future!!

This is the same company that in the 1980s passed up the option to buy MS-DOS from Bill Gates and chose to license it instead because IBM predicted that the total PC sales per year would NEVER be more than a few thousand.

Doug

[milesmonroe]

Tell the future?

Doug, please indicate an instance when a company foretold the future? IBM's 'prediction' was made at a time when no one had personal computers. Who, based on that reality, could say EVERYONE would want one of them? Conversly, Sony thought EVERYONE would want a Betamax machine. In the end, the Porn industry allowed the cheaper VHS standard to win, and also helped popularize the Personal Computer (and coincidentally MS Windows).

[dwledet]

IBM is good at Predicting the future!!

This is the same company that in the 1980s passed up the option to buy MS-DOS from Bill Gates and chose to license it instead because IBM predicted that the total PC sales per year would NEVER be more than a few thousand.

Doug

[milesmonroe]

Tell the future?

Doug, please indicate an instance when a company foretold the future? IBM's 'prediction' was made at a time when no one had personal computers. Who, based on that reality, could say EVERYONE would want one of them? Conversly, Sony thought EVERYONE would want a Betamax machine. In the end, the Porn industry allowed the cheaper VHS standard to win, and also helped popularize the Personal Computer (and coincidentally MS Windows).