Most product launches have similar patterns: a blog post, a demo video, executive quotes calling it a milestone, and tech-specific headlines that use the announcement to write a more snappy version of the other announcements. None of those indicates anything about the launch’s significance. Here’s how to figure out the real significance.
Use Today’s Availability
The first and most important question: is this a shipping product or a promise on a roadmap with no committed date? Most of the “big” announcements are product previews with a launch date of “this year,” or “in the coming months.” It’s a nicer way to say that the product does not exist and is completely hypothetical. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is insignificant, as many important and pre-release products are demonstrated. However, it changes the context of the announcement and may indicate that the announcement is just a marketing ploy to attract attention rather than a real breakthrough.
If the product is launching immediately to the public, then the release is inherently different from a demo with no launch date.
Vague comparisons and marketing
Vague comparisons (“dramatically faster,” “significantly improved”) or the use of “next-generation”phrases are nearly always filler for a missing number or comparable statement. For example, if a company is claiming their new chips are 40% faster than the last generation, they will say that as it is an easily verifiable claim. Marketing that stays vague is often not because the company lacks a strong claim. More than likely, the real numbers behind those claims will fall short of the goals marketing set, or there isn’t a fair basis for that comparison. Lack of strong or real frame marketing doesn’t necessarily mean a product is bad. It may just mean the company’s product marketing needs some work, or the company is trying to recoup some of their loss from a subpar product with marketing.
Separate the feature from the light
Many launches these days will claim a product is a wholly different product when in fact, it is just a small improvement on a product that has been available previously, and is being changed to be marketable. This isn’t misleading or dishonest, companies are more than likely going to do this, but often it is worth question what the real boundaries of the new same product are and what the refinement really is. This is often pretty easy to tell just from taking a look at the new product in context with the surrounding competitive products.
Who is Actually Being Quoted?
Announcements featuring logos of partners and the quotes of executives often lack real substance, and focus instead on partnerships. This is a pattern that is worth noticing instead of a hard and fast rule. Some major launches rely on new partnerships, and that is why partnerships lead the announcements. However, when an announcement contains logos and quotes in abundance, but lacks data, it is worth being skeptical of the claim. Real world usage or independent coverage will show of the claim is legitimate.
Independent Testing Trumps All Demos
Company demos are strictly scripted and choreographed to include only the best possible outcomes. The true test of a technology or product lies in how it performs when it is out of the control of the promoters and is in the possession of a third party. This includes independent reviewers and genuine users of the product, or in the case of a new product, developers who are building using it, as opposed to watching a live demo. The real gap between a demo and the true potential of the product or technology to perform in the real world is where the true launch of the product is seen. This normally takes a few weeks after the initial launch when the promoters of the product have had time to calm down.
A simple checklist
There are a few things to check before deciding whether a launch is really significant. For example, is it available now, or is it just a promise? Is the comparison clear, or is it vague? Is the capability really new, or is it just something that’s been framed differently? Has anyone outside the company actually tested it? Most launches fail at least one of these checks, and that doesn’t mean they’re not important or worth covering. It just means they should be covered with some level of skepticism.