About Forrester
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James serves CMOs. He is the foremost analyst tracking and defining the power and impact of digital disruption on traditional businesses. His consumer models identify the ways consumers have embraced digital experiences and platforms, and his strategy models help companies prepare to serve those consumers. Though he applies this knowledge to a wide variety of industries, he spends the majority of his consulting time with consumer media and consumer electronics companies that are at the forefront of dealing with digital disruption.In February of 2013, James published his book "Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation."
Previously at Forrester, James served as a vice president and research director, running Consumer Technographics® North America, Forrester's unparalleled consumer research effort. Before that, he was a senior analyst and founding member of the online retail strategies practice at Forrester. In addition to keynoting at industry events and Forrester Forums, James is routinely sought after for comment by such publications as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also appears frequently on NPR and CNBC.
James comes to Forrester most recently after teaching marketing research and media management at Boston University's top-rated College of Communication. In addition, he has served as research director at WGBH in Boston and as a graduate fellow at Syracuse University.
James earned his Ph.D. in mass communication research at Syracuse University. He also holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing.
Marketers and strategists at tech vendors who sell tablets won’t want to miss a webinar co-hosted by Simon Yates and me this Friday, September 28th. Aimed at a CIO audience, our webinar...
Product strategists at Mars, Incorporated are experimenting with mass customized offerings quite a bit. In addition to their build-to-order customized M&Ms offering, their subsidiary Wrigley...

An Empowered Report
RehabCare has implemented a deeply integrated strategy using iOS devices, like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, that has changed the way it delivers care to its patients. Its offering required...
We're only a couple weeks away from Forrester's Marketing Forum 2011, April 5-6 in San Francisco, California. (You can view the event details and sign up to attend here). The theme is...
In the original ‘Jurassic Park’ movie (which will be 20 years old this June), the young girl Lex Murphy (played by Ariana Richards) asks Dr. Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) what happened...
Entice Customers Into The Loyalty Cycle
While appealing to customer needs is always important in product strategies, it's imperative for mass-customized offerings in particular. Buyers must have the right options available to them —...
Mass customization has been the “next big thing” in product strategy for a very long time. Theorists have been talking about it as the future of products since at least 1970, when Alvin...
Executive Overview: The Workforce Enablement Playbook
BYOD. BYOPC. Consumerization. These are the words that send shivers down the spines of infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals responsible for "end user computing" in their companies....
“Hello, I’m J. P. Gownder, and I serve Infrastructure and Operations professionals!” That’s my new greeting to Forrester’s clients. (I borrowed –...
We talk to product strategists in a wide variety of industries. Regardless of the vertical industry of their companies, they tell us that the release of new, disruptive products -- like Apple's...
Forrester is bullish on Windows 8 as a product for consumers. With Windows 8, Microsoft is adapting Windows in key ways that make it better suited to compete in the post-PC era, including a...
Calling all product strategists at big name clothing and apparel companies: If you work at the likes of Gap, Macy's, Nordstrom, or American Eagle Outfitters, we at Forrester think you are...
Heterogeneity Is Here — And Mobility Is Driving It Further
Infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals face a splintered landscape of operating systems (OSes) and browsers, which complicates investment decisions tied to what they deploy and support for...

ZDNet’s legendary Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley reported on an intriguing possibility for the rumored forthcoming Windows Blue update to Windows 8: That Microsoft could bring back the Start...
Product Strategists Must Build Total Product Experiences To Combat Consumers' Declining Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty has long been a critical pillar of product strategy, but its power is in relative decline. Technology and a recessionary economy have threatened the value of brand loyalty, especially...

Today the European Commission fined Microsoft €561 million ($732 million) for failing to live up to a previous legal agreement. As the New York Times reported it, “the penalty Wednesday...
More than 90,000 iPad-only apps are available today. Forrester clients in a wide range of industries — media, software, retail, travel, consumer packaged goods, financial services,...
Ah, Black Friday: What would the post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza be without a visit to the local mall? This year, I was keen to perform some gumshoe research on a theme I've been talking about...
Path Dependence Matters, But Digital Disruption Matters More
Product strategists looking to the past to guide future decisions often learn the wrong lessons about history. They point to the QWERTY keyboard or the success of Blu-ray to show that path dependence...
The link between product strategy and channel is often overlooked, but strong: In our most recent survey of product strategy professionals, 33% say that they, personally, define the channel strategy...
Amazon’s product strategists shocked some constituencies with their $199 price point for the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet announced today. But there’s a fundamental product strategy...