When Pocket PC Magazine first suggested the idea of building a huge CD filled with the winners of their annual software awards, and then giving it a $300 price tag, I’ll admit…I was skeptical. I just couldn’t envision a person shelling out that much money for a collection of PDA software. Still, the folks at Pocket PC magazine have always been good partners so we agreed to give it a shot.
As it turns out there are a lot of people out there who are happy to pay a high price to get all the best. I imagine that this is a pretty handy option for on-the-go business types who don’t have time to wade through the stacks of product at Handango or who don’t want to try 20 programs to find the best one.
This is a great example of something I’ve learned working at Ilium Software. It is extremely difficult to predict what people want and will pay for. Things that get lots of buzz and everyone clamors for end up with lackluster sales. Things that no one was really excited about end up being best sellers. In the end it is often just as important to go with a product that feels right as it is to listen to the ‘hard data’ you get back about an idea.
And in the end, if you really believe in something, you just need to take the idea and run with it. Sometimes you’ll flop and sometimes you’ll soar, but until you get that idea out there you’ll never know if it can succeed.
Mobility Site recently covered the CD here . Pocket PC and Smartphone Magazine actually started talking about the latest version back in April but the official announcements just went out to the mobile community in the last week.
The 2006 edition of Pocket PC Magazine’s Best of Everything CD is available at: http://www.pocketpcmag.com/CD/