Everyone wants so much to be on the leading edge that they over-hype anything that has the slightest chance of being a big deal.

Lee Gomes in the April 14, 2003 Wall Street Journal talks about over-hype in the technology business. He proposes that the technologies with the biggest impact have the quietest launches. He points to the hype surrounding the Apple Newton, The Data Superhighway, Thin Client Computing, and .Net as examples of over-hyped products that did not deliver.

To quote Mr. Gomes: “All involve wishful thinking passed off as prognostication.” My question is what ever happened to ‘under-promise and over-deliver’ as a basis of dealing with the world? While first-mover advantage as a rationalization for over-hype is not dead, it was certainly wounded by the internet bubble. Over-hype may bring the press and public attention, but the best way to win is to work with customers and build success. Let the hype report your results, not your wishful thinking. [Read Gomes WSJ Article]

Maybe this is an American press predisposition. I see similarities in the news, in the treatment of new technology and news reporting in the first weeks of Iraqi Freedom. Reporters are so looking to make a name for themselves that they over-hype events, signs, and trends to try to be at the top of the next news cycle. Unfortunately the trends are often wrong, the scuttlebutt is occasionally garbage, and the reporters confuse news with self serving prognostication.

Perhaps this need for over-hype is also driven by common feelings that the best way to ‘win’ is to attract the attention of the press? Forget it. Great products win. Great services win. Reality wins. The truth wins. Misplaced hype discredits.

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