The title of this post can apply to a large array of situations, whether it’s technology, finance, business, or selling lemonade.

Too many companies will often launch their service/product well in advance simply because of consumer anticipation, consumer impatience, or simply the greed for money. When this happens, often times, certain features of the service or product are lacking, which can cause many problems for the consumer.

If you are selling lemonade (yes, bad example, but you will get my point) and you average 10 customers a day, and you rush the preparation of the lemonade, you may be handing out a product that is very bland. The problem is, a good business model will allow you to sell lemonade with a variety of tastes so you can reach a larger portion of your customers. Some customers may not like sweet lemonade, so they go for the more bland taste, or vice versa.

The point I am attempting to make is that when you rush a product, you sacrifice many aspects of the product that might be beneficial to your customers.

In Google’s case, they are not providing a product to 10 customers, but millions of customers.

Google and their recent Google Talk Client

Google, by far the world’s most advanced and popular search engine, recently released a product called Google Talk that allows people from all over the world to communicate either by IM or Voice. It’s a great application and will connect millions around the globe.

Problem

Google, again, one of the most visible companies, comparable to Microsoft, getting millions of visitors per day, decided to release a product that ONLY works on Windows/PC systems. This is a HUGE problem, because millions of people on the internet are Apple users.

Google, essentially, just shut out millions of users from its Google Talk client simply (and this is an assumption) to push out their product quickly. It’s a free product, so aside from advertising, there is no revenue stream for Google, but nonetheless, they released a major product without considering the fact that a good portion of their visitors don’t use the Windows platform, and Google KNOWS THIS!

What was the rush? Was their too much anticipation? Was Google greedy? Was their too much pressure from management?

All these questions are assumptions, but I feel they have to be asked.

In Google’s Defense

In Google’s defense, they have provided several protocols that allow for Jabber to work with many IM clients, so that is somewhat of a safety net for them.

Not just Google

The above concept applies to all types of businesses who provide products/services to consumers. Even though Google is going to come out with a Mac/Apple version of the Google Talk client, they released the product premature, in my opinion. If it meant 2 more months of programming and building, then so be it, but don’t ever jump the gun by sacrificing product quality.

This concept happens quite a bit in the web development world. Often times, a website is brought live prematurely because management has a convention/panel discussion and they often want their site “live” by the time that date arrives. This makes workers rush, put less quality into their work, and essentially put a product live that is NOT READY to be live.

Some Advice to Businesses

Take a breath, roll your shoulders, crack your neck, and modify your timeline so that your product can be released at a time where it will reach the highest number of consumers without sacrificing quality.

I am sure Google will not be beaten into the ground because of this lapse in judgment, but I do feel that it was a poor decision, especially from a business and ethics standpoint.