High Tech Product Launch

Rating:
Summary: A very good schematic for planing your product lifecycle.
Review: "High Tech Product Launch" is a great outline of the issues and concerns you'll encounter when launching your product, whatever that might be. To some extent, it is "marketing 101," and thus won't substitute for a competent product manager. However, I have seen too many companies neglect planning only to be caught at inopportune times.

The first section deals with assessing the marketplace and determining the feasibility of your offering. I think a lot of dotcoms have glossed over the "Who is the customer," section hoping to "grab marketshare." ("Of which market?!")

Section two concerns developing your positioning and marketing plan. Some of this is done when evaluating your offering and competition, but it's useful to make a rough schedule of your external campaigns, as well as preparing for packaging (if it's an end user product) and internal marketing (letting your sales people know what you're going to offer before they hear it from customers.

The last section is a post-mortem, intended to prepare you for the next product launch. It's key to wrap up any marketing programs and plan on doing objective analyses of what worked and didn't so it doesn't happen again.

Overall, I like this book and think it complements "Engineering your start-up" (Michael Baird) and "High Tech Startup" (Nesheim). For completeness, add "Managing the Consulting Firm" and "The Internet Bubble." :-)

Rating:
Summary: Great book for product marketing
Review: "High Tech Product Launch" is a practical book, all the way. This book not only describes the product launch steps, but also the crucial steps required to define a successful product in the first place.

The first 12 chapters of this book are seep'd with practical words-of-wisdom on topics related to successful product definition, such as market assessment, competitive analysis and positionining. These are critical yet often overlooked steps in product definition. Armed with the information in these earlier chapters, the author then moves on to describe launch plans, launch team and launch management issues.

I recommend this book to all who are involved in defining a successful product and taking it all the way to the market. Happy launching...

Rating:
Summary: A very good schematic for planing your product lifecycle.
Review: "High Tech Product Launch" is a great outline of the issues and concerns you'll encounter when launching your product, whatever that might be. To some extent, it is "marketing 101," and thus won't substitute for a competent product manager. However, I have seen too many companies neglect planning only to be caught at inopportune times.

The first section deals with assessing the marketplace and determining the feasibility of your offering. I think a lot of dotcoms have glossed over the "Who is the customer," section hoping to "grab marketshare." ("Of which market?!")

Section two concerns developing your positioning and marketing plan. Some of this is done when evaluating your offering and competition, but it's useful to make a rough schedule of your external campaigns, as well as preparing for packaging (if it's an end user product) and internal marketing (letting your sales people know what you're going to offer before they hear it from customers.

The last section is a post-mortem, intended to prepare you for the next product launch. It's key to wrap up any marketing programs and plan on doing objective analyses of what worked and didn't so it doesn't happen again.

Overall, I like this book and think it complements "Engineering your start-up" (Michael Baird) and "High Tech Startup" (Nesheim). For completeness, add "Managing the Consulting Firm" and "The Internet Bubble." :-)

Rating:
Summary: Great book for product marketing
Review: "High Tech Product Launch" is a practical book, all the way. This book not only describes the product launch steps, but also the crucial steps required to define a successful product in the first place.

The first 12 chapters of this book are seep'd with practical words-of-wisdom on topics related to successful product definition, such as market assessment, competitive analysis and positionining. These are critical yet often overlooked steps in product definition. Armed with the information in these earlier chapters, the author then moves on to describe launch plans, launch team and launch management issues.

I recommend this book to all who are involved in defining a successful product and taking it all the way to the market. Happy launching...

Rating:
Summary: I must have accidentally ordered a brochure...
Review: ...because this hardly qualifies as a real book.

If you're looking for the meat in product management/product launches in the high-tech world, this is not the place. This book is only 200 pages and has HUGE type. Quantity obviously does not correlate with quality, but there is nothing in here beyond the most basic marketing "tips" to launching a new product. There is no mention of the differences between hardware vs. software product launches and no case studies or real-world examples at all. As a newly minted MBA and a current marketing manager for a software company, I didn't find anything new here. It's marketing 101.

...the book most certainly does not belong on the desk of EVERY product manager. If you are technical person who has little to no experience in marketing, you may find this useful as a STARTER to understanding the marketing side of the equation, but don't expect any detailed, how-to advice.

Rating:
Summary: A substantive guide to high-tech product luanch.
Review: An amazingly thorough guide to all things involving high-tech product launch. With my future pegged to marketing and high-tech Catherine Kitcho's book is timely. Catherine Kitcho offers practical advice and deep insight in a style that is enjoyable and easily understood. This book is a must for anyone involved in high-tech product launches.

Rating:
Summary: Elementary Watson
Review: Book is based more on what the old high tech business model was, I got money and I got to spend it. Lacks insight into creating a product launch that is more than a one off event. The lack of understanding why people buy and the value delivered is a major weakness. Strengths of the book is that style is the key focus and not substance, so if lipstick and blush are critical to your product launch this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Training Guide
Review: High Tech Product Launch is a great training guide for new product launch managers. The step-by-step layout of the launch process was extremely helpful in preparing me to launch new products successfully in a very dynamic environment. It also provides wonderful tips on organization and planning for marketing project managers.

Rating:
Summary: Worth a read
Review: If someone is going to take up a Product Manager's role for the first time, this book is very handy to understand the key factors which needs to be addressed in a product launch plan. Catherine has described it in a very simple manner and step-by-step approach. The book doesnt give a readymade solution which you can use verbatim but provides primitives which will definitely be of great help. Last but not the least, as a product manager you will be able to produce output as soon as you get on to the job.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive planning prescription for today's executives
Review: It is one thing to scout for promising opportunities; it is another to be capable of turning them into commercial successes. Given the failure rate of 90% for consumer products and 30% for industrial products, launch efforts undertaken by firms today are not just high profile PR stints anymore. In fact in today's hyper-competitive market it is an essential element for future survival/growth of businesses. In her book -High Tech Product Launch, Catherine Kitcho lays down the basic steps required to successfully plan,organize and launch products. The marketing plan, especially, mentioned in chapter 12 of the book is a classic. If followed it definitely ensures clarity and focus for people within the organization and channel efforts towards achieving the strategic objective of the new product. Companies that fail at product launches often lament that they did not co-ordinate launch efforts or communicate effectively. High Tech Product Launch recommends establishing a multi-disciplinary teams to overcome this very problem. I have used the recommendations from the book in more than one instance and have achieved successful results in every instance. I am glad that I spent the time and money on what is perhaps the most comprehensive planning prescription for executives faced with the challenges of a dynamic market environment.