Idiot-proof it, Cisco!

And while we’re on the topic of Cisco, I have to say I find Linksys unbearably tedious!

If Linksys has to cross the chasm, it’d better pay a lot of attention to usability.

In 2003, Linksys had 30-40%% of the SOHO networking market, followed by NetGear, D-Link, Belkin, et. al. That’s when Cisco acquired it for $500 Million.

Two years later, Cisco has added more “stuff” to the SOHO portfolio, including VoIP technology from the Sipura acquisition.

Breadth keeps expanding. But what about coverage?

Linksys could get so much further with their core offerings alone, if they invested in making the products usable …

And this issue is going to come back to bite them if they don’t pay attention now, because their India strategy will need a super idiot-proof offering. It is going to be a very large SME / SOHO based growth opportunity, under fierce price pressures.

John Chambers, please go sit at Jobs’ feet for a while …

Comments

[…] an ensuing collaboration between Linksys and Apple, I presume? … I wish them good luck. Linksys is truly the world’s most user un-friendly consumer product in the market. … Cisco looking into a mirror would expose so may worts, freckles, gray hair, wrinkles, and […]

The Law of Mobility » Blog Archive » Sramana Mitra on the impact of the iPhone Friday, May 11, 2007 at 8:50 AM PT

You must not be very intelligent if you think Linksys is not user friendly. I know dozens of people who returned their Netgear products with Linksys because it was so difficult to configure. Also, you were wrong in your earlier article as Linksys is now quadruple the size in revenue from their initial acquisition revenue level. Steve Jobs could take a few lessons from John Chambers as to product reliability. Those Iphones better be more durable than those Ipods and Macs. They break down much too rapidly.

Steve Austen Monday, May 14, 2007 at 7:32 AM PT