News Flash: shipping is hard. Reuters reports that LG’s planned Android tablet will be later than expected because LG hasn’t figured out how to build an Android tablet yet. Daring Fireball points out that this buys LG’s VP of mobile marketing, Chang Ma, some more time to look silly.
Here’s a shocker: the product you send out the door will probably come later, and with fewer features, than you intended. Time runs out. Unexpected complications arise. Bugs overwhelm the team. Your partner invalidates your plans. Something’s got to give. You need to either take something out, or wait longer. But if you’ve spent months blowing smoke, now everyone is waiting longer.
The problem with talking smack is you immediately put yourself on the clock. You almost guarantee public disappointment when the product does not ship as (or when) promised. If you just shut your mouth and let the product speak for itself—once you actually have a product—then there’s a much better chance for people to be pleasantly surprised. Some companies understand this. Others clearly do not.