家電量販店では、「新生活商戦」の最盛期であるが、大きな変化が起こっている。かつてパソコン売り場の主役だった、テレビが見られるチューナー内蔵のパソコンのシェアが05年には39%もあったが、昨年はわずか8%に減少している。かつて便利さや割安感で単身者らの人気を集めたが、テレビもパソコンも技術革新が進み、別々に買った方が、高性能品が安く購入できることなった。技術的に素晴らしくて便利というだけでは、必ずしも売上につながらない。かつて、CDプレイヤーを組みこんだゲーム機が登場したが、さっぱり売れなかった。二種類の違った要素技術を組み込む技術は賞賛されても、それぞれの要素技術の革新に遅れずについていくのは難しい。しかも、聞くと遊ぶという二つの機能を同時に追うと、ターゲットとする消費者も不明瞭になり、結局、中途半端な商品になってしまう。機能を詰めすぎると、商品のリスクも大きくなることを理解する必要がある。(Written by Shigeo Sunahara of CBC, Inc.)

No. 45: Avoid too many built-in functions (February 22, 2010)
Volume retailers of home electronics are busily occupied with big sale for young people graduating from school to get into the business world. A noticeable change is going on in such volume retailers. The PC with built-in tuner to watch TV decreased the share considerably from 39% in 2005 to merely 8% in 2009. PCs with built-in tuner were very popular among single-person households because they are convenience and reasonable in price. Technological innovation developed very fast both in PC and TV, it is now more reasonable to purchase these two items separately. As is often the case, being excellent technically does not always mean quick sale. More than 10 years ago, the game console machine with built-in CD player was put on the market, but it ended in as marketing blunder. The technology to incorporate two different factor technologies into a product should be praised, but it is rather hard to keep abreast of two factor technologies simultaneously. In addition, if a product pursues two functions of listening and playing, and the target consumers become ambiguous. Such kind of products usually ends in a half-hearted product. The more built-in functions a product has, the higher risk it has.