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Honeywell and Jack Benny
As I have been mulling over the new partnership of Honeywell Process Solutions and Krohne for flowmeters, it reminds me of Jack Benny moving his radio show from NBC to CBS in 1949.
This may seem like an odd analogy, but bear with me through a short history lesson. If you don't know who Jack Benny was, suffice it to say he was one of the biggest comedy entertainers of the era. (If you don't know what radio was, I can't help you.) Jack's radio show was on NBC for more than 10 years, but at the end of 1948 he abruptly moved to CBS, right in the middle of the season. William S. Paley, then president of CBS, had paid an astronomical sum of money to entice Jack to make the change. Radio was still big at that time, but not big enough to justify the price. Paley was thinking ahead to television, and he was banking on the fact that Jack's popularity would make the transition and position CBS as the major player as TV became more popular. He was right, and CBS did well.
OK, so what does that have to do with Honeywell? This is my own opinion, of course. I have no special sources of information. The idea applies to HPS and other companies that are quietly filling out their ranges of instrumentation. It's about wireless. Just as Paley was making sure he had programs to fill TV screens, instrumentation suppliers who are looking to wireless networking are making sure they have sources for devices that will make the shift from wired to wireless as easy as possible. Nobody is going to adopt technology until they are sure they can get all the equipment they need to use it. Otherwise, it would be like buying a TV when there are no programs to watch.
Honeywell and Jack Benny
June 20, 2007
As I have been mulling over the new partnership of Honeywell Process Solutions and Krohne for flowmeters, it reminds me of Jack Benny moving his radio show from NBC to CBS in 1949.This may seem like an odd analogy, but bear with me through a short history lesson. If you don't know who Jack Benny was, suffice it to say he was one of the biggest comedy entertainers of the era. (If you don't know what radio was, I can't help you.) Jack's radio show was on NBC for more than 10 years, but at the end of 1948 he abruptly moved to CBS, right in the middle of the season. William S. Paley, then president of CBS, had paid an astronomical sum of money to entice Jack to make the change. Radio was still big at that time, but not big enough to justify the price. Paley was thinking ahead to television, and he was banking on the fact that Jack's popularity would make the transition and position CBS as the major player as TV became more popular. He was right, and CBS did well.
OK, so what does that have to do with Honeywell? This is my own opinion, of course. I have no special sources of information. The idea applies to HPS and other companies that are quietly filling out their ranges of instrumentation. It's about wireless. Just as Paley was making sure he had programs to fill TV screens, instrumentation suppliers who are looking to wireless networking are making sure they have sources for devices that will make the shift from wired to wireless as easy as possible. Nobody is going to adopt technology until they are sure they can get all the equipment they need to use it. Otherwise, it would be like buying a TV when there are no programs to watch.
Posted by Peter Welander on June 20, 2007 | Comments (0)
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