Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Why the greatest innovations do only one thing, but do it well

How Sony’s founder ignored market research and defied his own engineers to make a huge success of the Walkman

issue 12 December 2015

McDonald’s got rid of cutlery. Uber does not allow you to pre-book taxis. Amazon began by selling only books. Conventional logic would suggest that successful innovations are best when they allow you to do lots of things. Actually, if you want your innovation to change behaviour, it is often best to launch an innovation which does only one thing.

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