Vertical Market Segments

This is an expression which has become widely used in bigger organizations during last decade. It is in line with focusing and has a correlation with scalability.

There is a nice story to explain the context. When the iPad was launched, there was no comparable product available. It was introduced to public and was used in business in first instance by high-level-managers as PC-light. Nowadays you see physical maps neither on airplanes nor on vessels in use. If it is a jet-pilot or a captain or a maritime pilot – all of them use the tablet-computer for their daily duty. I believe, that these applications where not on the list, when the specification for the iPad was created. It was also not part of the business-plan. But it is for sure, that the segment for aviation and maritime navigation developed with the tablet-computer.

Each of these segments has its own requirements and provides huge barriers through approvals and specifications. But they provide a stable, profitable and sustainable business, once the product has been accepted. 

The magic questions is, how the segment and the product are coming together? The answer is quite simple. Excited customers! There is no better reference than excited users. And I am sure, the first users in aviation have been private pilots with their single-engine aircraft, using the table-computer with a simple street-map-app on their knee. The rest of the story is simple. There is a lot of talk in the aviation-community and such good experiences are going around.

I think the people at apple were clever when they expanded the specification for tablet, that it would match for these applications as well. Pilots and captains could experience a considerable ease of use and at the same time more reliable and up-to-date weather-data.

If we sharpen our awareness for applications in other segments, we get a higher chance to find attractive opportunities. It is better deleting a segment from a long list then to miss a profitable cash-cow.