I’ve worked in great big companies that are threatened by change because they built their empire on a bygone widget. For example, it’s really scary to the media companies that people trade music and movies online. Console manufacturers are petrified that people hack their boxes to play DiVX-encoded media downloads. It’s scary for Microsoft to move into on-demand versions of Office.

But rather than sticking your head in the sand or, worse, using legislation to legally coerce your customers into submission, you must change the way you serve them. Respect your customers’ demands, give them what they want how/where they want it, and they will respect you. And as we’ve seen with Apple, customer loyalty is incredibly valuable, no matter what business you decide to pursue.

It’s scary for big companies to put their golden goose in danger. But if you don’t, someone else will. That’s innovation; ignore it at your peril.