by the way -- does anyone know if there is a term in the field of commercial marketing where a company releases a product without the actual intention of spending much money marketing it -- but instead just to scare away or keep the competition in line, using the threat of large-scale marketing if a competitor tries to challenge them?
-mouser
Don't know if there's a specific name for it other than FUD.
And FUD was something pioneered by none other than Thomas A. Edison.
Back in the days when he was referred to as
The Wizard of Menlo Park, there was a general belief (in America) that anything that came from Edison and the fledgling Edison Electric Corporation was (or would be) vastly superior to anything else on the market.
Edison learned to capitalize on his reputation by denying emerging tech markets to his competitors. If a product came out that he was interested in, all he had to do was announce that his company would soon be coming out with its own version, and the other product would immediately stop selling.
