ALL are into it. From mom-pop store to small, medium and large conglomerates all are bracing beta thing to get the reality bites from the real users. Market pre test was never this easy in old days. Get all the statistical power behind those behavioral tactics.
Gauge them without spending the world.
The story behind the name goes like this. In the early 1960 IBM ran a test where before releasing a computer program in the market it pre tests it with the public and named it after the first Greek letter, alpha. The second test was run in the company itself. It has been named Beta, (the second letter of Greek alphabet)
The names have stuck, but their meanings have changed. Today, an alpha test refers to the first test on the initial version of a product, often done by company employees. The product is usually unstable, but it gives developers a preview of the finished version. The next test, the beta test, is done by a limited number of outsiders.
Now Beta is regarded as a successful weapon in the marketing strategy. So be it computers, software technology, telecommunication or fast moving consumer goods MNCs do run these tests under non disclosure agreements (mostly).
The best part is off course companies sometimes astonishingly discover that the budget they have allocated for say certain R&D purpose is not at all required.
Don’t know on other grounds, but surely when Beta is around research scientist and the marketing managers will surely agree upon certain agenda.
Beta long term label at The Wall Street Journal
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