Hi Greg,
 
I blieve it depends on the product offering - E.g. if the product offering is meant for a specific industry (say Insurance) or an industry sector (say Financial Services), then I woul dexpect the candidate to have some skillsets in that industry. For instance, if my offering is meant for the telecom service providers then I would expect the candidate to know business domains like Service Provisioning, Asusrance, etc. This industry experience will be over and above the base product management skills.
 
On the contrary, if the product offering is agnostic to an industry / sector and is more of a horizontal offering (e.g. Quicken, Systems Management, etc.) then the base product management skills apply. Here too, one can look for specialization....product management with expertise in technology products or manufacturing products ...and so on.

I do agree that it is not difficult for a good product manager to understand a specific industry domain pretty quickly however it will be difficult for him / her to gain desired depth unless there is prior experience or passion / affinity for that industry.

Regards
Sanjay

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