CROSSING THE CHASM. Copyright © 1991 by Geoffrey A. Moore. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™. PerfectBound ™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers. Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1. October 2001 ISBN 0-06-018987-8 The original hardcover edition of this book was published in 1991 by HarperBusiness, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Marie

Contents

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PART I

Discovering the Chasm
INTRODUCTION If Bill Gates Can Be a Billionaire

1 High-Tech Marketing Illusion 2 High-Tech Marketing Enlightenment PART II

Crossing the Chasm
3 The D-Day Analogy v vi

Contents

4 5 6 7

Target the Point of Attack Assemble the Invasion Force Define the Battle Launch the Invasion

CONCLUSION Getting Beyond the Chasm About the Author Credits About the Publisher Front Cover

Preface to the Revised Edition

“Obiwan Kenobi,” says Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars movie— “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard for a long, long time.” The same might well be said of a number of the companies that served as examples in the original edition of Crossing the Chasm. Reading through its index brings to mind the medieval lament, “Where are the snows of yesteryear?” Where indeed are Aldus, Apollo, Ashton-Tate, Ask, Burroughs,