At fisheye this past week we watched with interest the unfolding speculation and then the post analysis pundits on the Apple iPad launch.  While it couldn’t possibly live up to the pre hype (the Wall Street Journal even had a cartoon of Moses holding it in place of the Commandments’ Tablet) it did seem to lack some expected features – no multitasking, flash, camera.

So, I’ll be waiting for the iPad 2.0 before I buy one.  But it did reinforce a belief we hold dear at fisheye – “Always Be Beta”.  What does that mean?  It means not waiting until “it” is perfect.  There is no final prototype.  Instead, there is “pretty good” followed by continually monitoring, learning, tweeking and improving.  The iPad is a beta version.  If they’d done a small test or waited until it was 100% complete Kindle or the rumoured Microsoft tablet could grab and define the market.  Apple is great at grabbing first mover advantage, defining the market by its terms while always improving, refining, upgrading their products.

We never launch a product or marketing campaign that is 100% set.  We believe in continually learning, listening, refining. It’s a continuous improvement loop.  It’s not risk free – but what is?  I’ve spent too many years watching great ideas have the #$% tested out of them before being launched and then either see a competitor grab the opportunity with something less polished or a market shift so that the opportunity morphs into something else.  And markets and tastes are changing at an accelerating rate.

Could your company benefit from a beta state of mind?