It’s Freitag and the weekend is upon us. Each week this column will focus on light-hearted musings of the wireless industry and all of the moving parts that make this industry work. Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and Security. Having experience at an operator, software and hardware vendors and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News through daily contributions going forward.
Kickstarter has become a phenomenon like watching a train wreck, to use an overused cliché. People can’t stop watching to see what happens next. Today, I’ll offer a top ten of my most recent perusal of the site. My initial search focused on wireless oriented programs, but there just weren’t that many unless we want to focus on an overabundance of chargers and keyboard accessories, so I’ve ventured further in my list.
I’d love to call this list the good, the bad and the ugly, but that might be too pointed. So let’s take another path.
Interesting stuff I’d like to buy
- OwnPhones. These are 3D-printed wireless earbuds. You start by taking a video of your ear with your smartphone and based on that, the earbuds are developed to ensure a perfect personal fit. In addition, you can custom design the color and style with 10,000 possibilities to meet your needs. Amount raised: $233,000. Goal: $250,000. Days remaining: 23.
- NudeAudio. Wireless portable speakers you can take with you, that fit in your pocket, with great styling and great sound. There are many projects that seem to tackle this topic, but the styling and sound here seems to be a real differentiation. Amount raised: $456,000. Goal: 75,000. Days remaining: 13.
- Electric Objects. This one has already gotten a good deal of media coverage, but it is one of my personal favorites so I need to include them. Think about a digital picture frame, but for art. Large enough to hang on the wall, wireless so there are no ugly connectivity requirements and a changing landscape of art. Art comes with and without motion. Would love one of these on my wall. Amount raised: $645,000, Goal: $25,000. Days remaining: 6. Seems a lot of other people feel the same way as I do about this project.
- Sbrick. This one is just cool and should appeal to the child in all of us. The technology let’s you wirelessly connect all of your Lego creations. I think most of us have played with Legos at some point in our lives and wished it could move on its own. Now it can. Via integrated Bluetooth technology with a range up to 100 meters, your Legos can now be on the go with you. Amount raised: 48,000 GBP. Goal: 60,000 GBP. Days remaining: 12 days.
So we all know about the “Potato Salad” guy, who caused a lot of controversy as to whether or not Kickstarter should have let him join and whether or not he should get to keep his funding. But, all-in-all he scores high points for being creative and if people want to give him money, OK then. What people fund is a very personal decision and sometimes it doesn’t always make sense to the rest of us.
Things that make you go hmmm?
- Emotiv Insight. This one is from 2013, but I couldn’t skip it. The company statement is that this product will allow you to “optimize your brain fitness.” OK, this sounds cool and I see the possibilities for researchers, but a high percentage of their pitch is aimed at the average consumer utilizing this data. Basically the story goes that it “let’s you record your brain waves and translate this into usable data.” OK, here I really go hmmm. What is the average consumer going to do with this? It seems people really wanted this to happen. Amount raised: $1.6 million. Campaign status: $100,000.
- TurtleShell wireless boombox. My issue with this campaign is not the product itself. The product itself is actually pretty cool. What confused me is the marketing in the fashion of a bad infomercial and that so many people actually got to the point of giving money without just abandoning during the video. But I guess it’s a personal preference. Amount raised: $315,000. Campaign status: funded. So the product speaks for itself. Guess it goes to show you that you don’t always need marketing. Hard for a marketing person to admit this though!
SnapLaces. Billed as the product solving the problem of tying your shoe laces. “Never tie your shoelaces again.” I understand how this helps little children and the handicapped, but don’t we already have velcro trainers available? They discuss triathletes and how it saves them crucial seconds in their race and reduces blisters and swollen feet. I can see the first statement, but the second two? Maybe others are having the same issue. Amount raised: $3,000. Goal of $20,000. Days remaining: 37. So maybe things will improve.
Hoverbike. OK, at first I really wanted to like this one, it sounded so cool. But the company discussion is all around “making drones fun and accessible.” I didn’t realize that was a problem that needed solving. In the video, a one-third scale model, looking a lot like the Starship Enterprise, flies around showing the ways drones can accomplish these goals. They bring drinks, pizzas and parachuting teddy bears. Hmmmm. Amount raised: 30,000 GBP. Goal: 30,000 GBP. Days remaining: 30. So what do I know, maybe we do need more accessible and fun drones.
Last but not least, the category of: I just don’t get it.
Freeble. Wireless devices that allow you to remotely hold hands. With the use of Skype, FaceTime or the Freeble App you can hold this device while the other person does the same wherever they happen to be and remotely hold hands. When one person squeezes the device the device squeezes the other person’s hand. The company bills themselves as the “best online hand-holding experience” on the market. Honestly, I couldn’t find any competition in my Web search for this topic. Maybe I’m just a cynic and the market does need this. But, their campaign ends today without successful funding.
I Know Where Your Cat Lives. Maybe this is just enough said at this point. But just in case its not, this campaign is about visualizing the location of online cats on the web. If you are interested, they are only 72% funded with eight days to go. I wonder if the cats have to opt into some kind of privacy clause about giving out their location?
But seriously. Kickstarter is a great way for young companies to get exposure, funding and move to the next level in their life cycle. For all the good and bad discussions going on about who should and shouldn’t be allowed into these formats and what is real vs. publicity, it still presents great opportunities for the entrepreneurs among us.
