Consider the following two examples relating to former typewriter manufacturers whose products were made obsolete by the PC. Olivetti tried, and failed, to build up a position in PCs. Remington, on the other hand, moved into products using similar technical and manufacturing skills as were used in manufacturing typewriters.
Although PCs and typewriters (even electronic typewriters) are used for similar word processing tasks, and both have a similarly configured keyboard, the underlying technology producing them is fundamentally different. (A PC is also more versatile than a typewriter.)
The point to grasp is that the market need – the ability to type letters and reports – was the same but the companies lacked the competences to manufacture and market PCs successfully. Olivetti tried and failed to address the same market need. Remington looked for different markets with which to use its competences.
You might want to consider a further development. Will the PC be used to watch television? Will television become the Internet’s way into most homes? The mergers between content owners and communications providers may be intended to build crucial resource competences (for example, AOL TIME Warner combines an Internet service provider with an owner of magazines and a film company – other examples include Virgin/NTL and the various elements of News Corporation).
