Why did Chrome win over Firefox and Mailchimp over Activecampaign and Apple over Microsoft?
Well no one can give a clear answer, and my analysis might sound stupid but this is what I think:
Feelings. It's all about how they make you feel.
Those feelings will come from something real of course. A better, faster, more beautiful product will make you feel better about it.
But there is also some magic in the equation, which is why it is so hard to plan for succes.
The magic is what some people call "brand".
I would say it's the ability of having smart original ideas that make it 100% to the product without being diluted by an overanalyzing bunch of "experts".
It's how you look different, fresh, new, authentic and maybe most importantly, cool.
I think we are all primal in that way. We don't want the logically "best product", we want the products we feel cool about and that excites us.
and how are you cool?
First of all if you try to think your way to become cool, you will never be.
A shortcut to being cool, is being authentic, open and daring.
So you really care about building your own type of product. Something you would love. Graphics you would love. Sounds, texts, videos you would love.
And then you just keep improving the output.
Some people are cool, so they can build cool original products, while other people are sheep who can only copy or follow.
The exciting vs the boring.
Is that really true? I don't know but it feels that way to me.
Original cool thinkers who have been given the freedom and power to act out their visions are rare.
And those rare product teams usually win in the end.