Defining Technology Company
Question: "The title of the PMTK book refers to technology product management at technology companies. What is meant by Technology Company?"
Answer: All industries rely on some form of technology to deliver their products, but that does not make them technology industries.
A technology company is a business entity that either (1) Develops technology that is incorporated in a product or is used in the assembly or manufacturing of a product; or (2) Manufactures a product that contains technology and that same product relies on that technology to perform its core function.
For example, a television set or a Casio watch are technology products.
Conversely, the amount of supportive technology and systems that goes into creating a plastic fork or a wooden cube is immense, but that does not make them technology products.
Another example is the financial industry which is a very low-tech industry.
In general, their core product is the provisioning and enablement of financial transactions and their business model is about taking commissions.
The financial industry employs the most advanced technology supporting systems (ATM's, internet, software) to provide a very low-tech product.