Thursday, October 4, 2007
Bringing Up Babytech
Bringing Up Babytech
Rachel Rosmarin, 06.19.07, 4:30 PM ET
What happens when gadget-crazy, Internet-obsessed, financially secure adults have babies? A new market is born.
U.S. parents spent $2.9 billion in 2006 on baby goods, and $337 million of that was directed at gadgets like monitors, thermometers and the like. Now a smaller, but growing, industry is leveraging the same technologies people rely upon for business and pleasure--such as Web video conferencing, wireless frequencies and digital media players--to aid in the displaying, entertaining and rearing of offspring.
Most people with an e-mail address have received at least one message containing an attached photo of a splotchy, hours-old newborn. But for some parents, that type of digital birth announcement isn't nearly enough to do their child justice. Next come the slide shows, videos, Web sites and blogs devoted to babydom.
In Pictures: High-Tech Baby Gear
''New parents are the biggest inflection point, except for the teen market, when it comes to entering the blogosphere,'' says Tina Sharkey, chief executive of Babycenter.com. ''These people finally have a story to tell for the first time, news to share that keeps changing. It's a perfect platform for photos, videos and sounds.''
To record those precious memories, parents are investing by the droves in digital cameras and high-definition digital camcorders that cost more than $1,000. But for parents who want easy access to the Web, a tiny, durable and cheap camcorder like Pure Digital's Flip camcorder might serve the purpose--it includes software that automatically publishes video to sites like Google's YouTube. ''Some people like to keep controlled access to their baby, but we live in a culture where parents think they have bragging rights,'' says Sharkey.
There's no better audience for baby bragging than friends and family. That's why many moms and dads are setting family members up with Web cam-enabled computers or stand-alone video phone systems; this way, the interactive Baby Show can be broadcast on demand.
One popular way to accomplish this is with Apple's MacBook laptops, which houses a built-in camera called iSight and operates with the company's iChat software. However, both parties in the video conference need to own a Mac for this to work. Rather than investing in a new computer, products like WorldGate's Ojo video phone accomplish the same task without a computer.
Beyond using technology as a baby syndication tool, parents want to familiarize their tots with technology beginning in the crib. Technology can be soothing--parents are creating iTunes playlists for their iPods filled with upbeat or sleep-inducing music. They place the gadgets right into the cradle or playpen with a baby speaker system for mp3 players, such as Munchkin's iCrib device. Some toy mp3 players could become teething devices, such as the pink plastic teddy bear-shaped player from Baby Bidou.
Parents who want to give their infants a very early start in computers can purchase a special keyboard for pudgy fingers, such as the Comfy EasyPC, and software designed specifically for babies younger than 2 years. Parents who compose e-mails with their babies in their arms know how eager even 6-month-olds are to touch the keyboard. This special software genre known as lapware teaches babies that patterns onscreen change when the keyboard or mouse is touched.
But none of these baby-oriented uses of technology are must-haves. The most crucial type of baby tech is the kind that keeps kids safe and parents reassured. The No. 1 baby gadget all over the world is likely the baby monitor. More than 87% of parents surveyed by Mintel International reported owning one. Sales in the baby wellness and safety product category, of which monitors, baby thermometers and other health devices are a part, increased 8% between 2004 and 2006, according to the Mintel study.
Most baby monitors sold today are wireless. Some feature special digital bandwidth technology to filter out interference from other nearby baby monitors or household appliances, but only a few are video-enabled. Many parents invest in a video baby monitor to keep an eye on sleeping babies in a room across the house, but some use video monitors or Web cams to observe nannies and babysitters at work.
There are some surprises, though: One popular video monitor model, Summer Infant's handheld monitor, recently showed an Illinois mother an unexpected video feed. On June 10, her baby monitor began displaying video from inside the NASA space shuttle Atlantis. Her baby was still safe it its crib, but the monitor was picking up a wireless video signal being broadcast from a Web site.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/19/baby-technology-web-tech-cx_rr_0619babytech_print.html
Rachel Rosmarin, 06.19.07, 4:30 PM ET
What happens when gadget-crazy, Internet-obsessed, financially secure adults have babies? A new market is born.
U.S. parents spent $2.9 billion in 2006 on baby goods, and $337 million of that was directed at gadgets like monitors, thermometers and the like. Now a smaller, but growing, industry is leveraging the same technologies people rely upon for business and pleasure--such as Web video conferencing, wireless frequencies and digital media players--to aid in the displaying, entertaining and rearing of offspring.
Most people with an e-mail address have received at least one message containing an attached photo of a splotchy, hours-old newborn. But for some parents, that type of digital birth announcement isn't nearly enough to do their child justice. Next come the slide shows, videos, Web sites and blogs devoted to babydom.
In Pictures: High-Tech Baby Gear
''New parents are the biggest inflection point, except for the teen market, when it comes to entering the blogosphere,'' says Tina Sharkey, chief executive of Babycenter.com. ''These people finally have a story to tell for the first time, news to share that keeps changing. It's a perfect platform for photos, videos and sounds.''
To record those precious memories, parents are investing by the droves in digital cameras and high-definition digital camcorders that cost more than $1,000. But for parents who want easy access to the Web, a tiny, durable and cheap camcorder like Pure Digital's Flip camcorder might serve the purpose--it includes software that automatically publishes video to sites like Google's YouTube. ''Some people like to keep controlled access to their baby, but we live in a culture where parents think they have bragging rights,'' says Sharkey.
There's no better audience for baby bragging than friends and family. That's why many moms and dads are setting family members up with Web cam-enabled computers or stand-alone video phone systems; this way, the interactive Baby Show can be broadcast on demand.
One popular way to accomplish this is with Apple's MacBook laptops, which houses a built-in camera called iSight and operates with the company's iChat software. However, both parties in the video conference need to own a Mac for this to work. Rather than investing in a new computer, products like WorldGate's Ojo video phone accomplish the same task without a computer.
Beyond using technology as a baby syndication tool, parents want to familiarize their tots with technology beginning in the crib. Technology can be soothing--parents are creating iTunes playlists for their iPods filled with upbeat or sleep-inducing music. They place the gadgets right into the cradle or playpen with a baby speaker system for mp3 players, such as Munchkin's iCrib device. Some toy mp3 players could become teething devices, such as the pink plastic teddy bear-shaped player from Baby Bidou.
Parents who want to give their infants a very early start in computers can purchase a special keyboard for pudgy fingers, such as the Comfy EasyPC, and software designed specifically for babies younger than 2 years. Parents who compose e-mails with their babies in their arms know how eager even 6-month-olds are to touch the keyboard. This special software genre known as lapware teaches babies that patterns onscreen change when the keyboard or mouse is touched.
But none of these baby-oriented uses of technology are must-haves. The most crucial type of baby tech is the kind that keeps kids safe and parents reassured. The No. 1 baby gadget all over the world is likely the baby monitor. More than 87% of parents surveyed by Mintel International reported owning one. Sales in the baby wellness and safety product category, of which monitors, baby thermometers and other health devices are a part, increased 8% between 2004 and 2006, according to the Mintel study.
Most baby monitors sold today are wireless. Some feature special digital bandwidth technology to filter out interference from other nearby baby monitors or household appliances, but only a few are video-enabled. Many parents invest in a video baby monitor to keep an eye on sleeping babies in a room across the house, but some use video monitors or Web cams to observe nannies and babysitters at work.
There are some surprises, though: One popular video monitor model, Summer Infant's handheld monitor, recently showed an Illinois mother an unexpected video feed. On June 10, her baby monitor began displaying video from inside the NASA space shuttle Atlantis. Her baby was still safe it its crib, but the monitor was picking up a wireless video signal being broadcast from a Web site.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/19/baby-technology-web-tech-cx_rr_0619babytech_print.html
Six High-Tech Disruptors Ready To Hatch
Emerging Technologies
Six High-Tech Disruptors Ready To Hatch
Clayton Christensen and Innosight 09.04.07, 6:00 PM ET
Oftentimes, technology is at the forefront of business disruptions. Mobile telephony, for example, has been a disruptive force for traditional wireline telecommunications providers. Silver halide photographic film is being replaced by digital photography.
Here we take a look at some promising emerging technologies. While great technology isn't enough, with the right business models, these technologies could be at the core of future disruptive change.
Is your business about to be torpedoed by a "disruptive attacker?" Click here to stay ahead of the curve with Clayton Christensen's, Strategy & Innovation newsletter.
Charging Wireless Gear Wirelessly
A physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is researching a process that would be able to charge electronic devices wirelessly, doing away with the array of various cords and chargers so many people are forced to cart around.
Professor Marin Soljacic recently released a paper, titled "Wireless non-Radiative Energy Transfer," that details how a specific magnetic field could be set up in a manner that would enable devices equipped with a special receiver to get a charge from a wireless antenna, doing away with the need to connect directly to a power source. The technology is still in its infancy and it’s unclear how expensive such a technology would be to roll out. Soljacic has begun running a series of tests at his lab.
Disruptive Sweepstakes
ePrize manages a portfolio of interactive promotions for a variety of large consumer-goods companies. Recently, the company launched a service, dubbed Caffeine, that would bring online promotions to small- and medium-sized business that up until now have largely been priced out of the sweepstakes business.
Much like Google's successful pay-per-click model, companies using Caffeine only pay when qualified customers enter their personal information. Caffeine pays for all of the sweepstakes items and handles all of the logistical and legal legwork behind the sweepstakes process. Sounding a disruptive alarm, ePrize CEO Josh Linkner told The Wall Street Journal that his company is "trying to democratize the promotions business."
A Polaroid In Your Cellphone?
A company founded by private investors who acquired some of Polaroid’s technologies during bankruptcy is trying to bring digital printing to the handheld device market. Zink has developed a special paper that can be housed in cellphones or digital cameras. When activated by heat, dye in the paper that had been colorless transforms to produce full-color images.
According to MIT’s Technology Review, a 2-by-3-inch photo could be produced in less than a minute. Zink estimates that print capability could be added to a device for about $100, while a camera and printer would cost about $200. Much like Polaroid made money on its photo cartridges--and as Procter & Gamble's Gillette famously makes loads of cash on its razor blades--Zink plans to rake in profits on its special photo paper, which would retail for about $2 for 10 sheets.
The (Auto) Doctor Is In
As automobiles have become more complex, computer-based diagnostics have replaced old-fashioned, tire-kicking techniques. In response, mechanics have purchased a host of complex, electronic tools and companies like General Motors' OnStar now offer remote, onboard computer assessments.
However, few low-cost diagnostic options are available for consumers hoping to debug their car the same way that they might debug a computer. The SAM system by Smart Auto Management seeks to provide this service with an ATM-style drive-through booth that will scan and assess over 2,000 onboard diagnostic codes in the space of 10 minutes for less than $15.
The system then provides a comprehensive report that points out potential faults in each of the car systems, from engine to chassis. These systems should be appearing in Jiffy Lubes, Kwik Kar stations and selected gas stations in 2007.
Print Your House
If everything goes according to plan, one of the largest printers in the world will soon be rolling into Los Angeles this August. After it is bolted in place, the printer will construct the shell of a full-sized house in less than a week with minimal human intervention. The eventual goal: to use rapid-set concrete to print shell houses in 24 hours that require only electrical and plumbing installation.
The inventor, Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, sees multiple applications of the technology, from emergency shelter construction to low-waste civil engineering projects. If successful, such contour-crafting machines could provide a cheap, convenient way to build some of the concrete structures used in major construction projects.
Here Comes The Sun
Conventional photovoltaic cells that produce solar power are similar to the high-grade silicon semiconductors used in computer. While research has led to ever-more efficient power conversion from silicon, solar-grade silicon is expensive and relatively fragile.
That’s why researchers are pursuing next generation "thin film" solar technologies to generate power. Many thin film techniques also provide greater flexibility, enabling the manufacture of solar cells directly into glass, other building materials and even plastics and fabrics. Leading thin film technologies (including low-cost organic polymers) are nearing market viability; venture-backed companies are breaking ground on massive factories to produce them.
Look for thin film cells to start picking off market niches in which their flexibility and cost advantages outweigh their inferior power production relative to silicon.
Excerpted from a recent issue of Innovators' Insights. For more analysis from Clayton Christensen's Strategy & Innovation and Innovators' Insights. Click Here.
Clayton M. Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and the co-founder of Innosight LLC, a Watertown, Mass., innovation consulting company.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/31/christensen-emergingtech-google-pf-guru_in_cc_0904christensen_inl_print.html
Six High-Tech Disruptors Ready To Hatch
Clayton Christensen and Innosight 09.04.07, 6:00 PM ET
Oftentimes, technology is at the forefront of business disruptions. Mobile telephony, for example, has been a disruptive force for traditional wireline telecommunications providers. Silver halide photographic film is being replaced by digital photography.
Here we take a look at some promising emerging technologies. While great technology isn't enough, with the right business models, these technologies could be at the core of future disruptive change.
Is your business about to be torpedoed by a "disruptive attacker?" Click here to stay ahead of the curve with Clayton Christensen's, Strategy & Innovation newsletter.
Charging Wireless Gear Wirelessly
A physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is researching a process that would be able to charge electronic devices wirelessly, doing away with the array of various cords and chargers so many people are forced to cart around.
Professor Marin Soljacic recently released a paper, titled "Wireless non-Radiative Energy Transfer," that details how a specific magnetic field could be set up in a manner that would enable devices equipped with a special receiver to get a charge from a wireless antenna, doing away with the need to connect directly to a power source. The technology is still in its infancy and it’s unclear how expensive such a technology would be to roll out. Soljacic has begun running a series of tests at his lab.
Disruptive Sweepstakes
ePrize manages a portfolio of interactive promotions for a variety of large consumer-goods companies. Recently, the company launched a service, dubbed Caffeine, that would bring online promotions to small- and medium-sized business that up until now have largely been priced out of the sweepstakes business.
Much like Google's successful pay-per-click model, companies using Caffeine only pay when qualified customers enter their personal information. Caffeine pays for all of the sweepstakes items and handles all of the logistical and legal legwork behind the sweepstakes process. Sounding a disruptive alarm, ePrize CEO Josh Linkner told The Wall Street Journal that his company is "trying to democratize the promotions business."
A Polaroid In Your Cellphone?
A company founded by private investors who acquired some of Polaroid’s technologies during bankruptcy is trying to bring digital printing to the handheld device market. Zink has developed a special paper that can be housed in cellphones or digital cameras. When activated by heat, dye in the paper that had been colorless transforms to produce full-color images.
According to MIT’s Technology Review, a 2-by-3-inch photo could be produced in less than a minute. Zink estimates that print capability could be added to a device for about $100, while a camera and printer would cost about $200. Much like Polaroid made money on its photo cartridges--and as Procter & Gamble's Gillette famously makes loads of cash on its razor blades--Zink plans to rake in profits on its special photo paper, which would retail for about $2 for 10 sheets.
The (Auto) Doctor Is In
As automobiles have become more complex, computer-based diagnostics have replaced old-fashioned, tire-kicking techniques. In response, mechanics have purchased a host of complex, electronic tools and companies like General Motors' OnStar now offer remote, onboard computer assessments.
However, few low-cost diagnostic options are available for consumers hoping to debug their car the same way that they might debug a computer. The SAM system by Smart Auto Management seeks to provide this service with an ATM-style drive-through booth that will scan and assess over 2,000 onboard diagnostic codes in the space of 10 minutes for less than $15.
The system then provides a comprehensive report that points out potential faults in each of the car systems, from engine to chassis. These systems should be appearing in Jiffy Lubes, Kwik Kar stations and selected gas stations in 2007.
Print Your House
If everything goes according to plan, one of the largest printers in the world will soon be rolling into Los Angeles this August. After it is bolted in place, the printer will construct the shell of a full-sized house in less than a week with minimal human intervention. The eventual goal: to use rapid-set concrete to print shell houses in 24 hours that require only electrical and plumbing installation.
The inventor, Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, sees multiple applications of the technology, from emergency shelter construction to low-waste civil engineering projects. If successful, such contour-crafting machines could provide a cheap, convenient way to build some of the concrete structures used in major construction projects.
Here Comes The Sun
Conventional photovoltaic cells that produce solar power are similar to the high-grade silicon semiconductors used in computer. While research has led to ever-more efficient power conversion from silicon, solar-grade silicon is expensive and relatively fragile.
That’s why researchers are pursuing next generation "thin film" solar technologies to generate power. Many thin film techniques also provide greater flexibility, enabling the manufacture of solar cells directly into glass, other building materials and even plastics and fabrics. Leading thin film technologies (including low-cost organic polymers) are nearing market viability; venture-backed companies are breaking ground on massive factories to produce them.
Look for thin film cells to start picking off market niches in which their flexibility and cost advantages outweigh their inferior power production relative to silicon.
Excerpted from a recent issue of Innovators' Insights. For more analysis from Clayton Christensen's Strategy & Innovation and Innovators' Insights. Click Here.
Clayton M. Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and the co-founder of Innosight LLC, a Watertown, Mass., innovation consulting company.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/31/christensen-emergingtech-google-pf-guru_in_cc_0904christensen_inl_print.html
Monday, October 1, 2007
IPhone: It's The Features, Stupid!
Unsolicited Advice
IPhone: It's The Features, Stupid!
Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak 06.22.07, 6:00 AM ET
The iPhone is the most anticipated new product launch in recent years, and the most important for Apple since the original Macintosh. Even before consumers have started camping out in front of Apple stores, branding experts--both the self-anointed and the publicly acclaimed--have trumpeted it as the dawn of a new golden era of branding.
Except research indicates the opposite. A recent study by Compete Inc. asked 680 potential iPhone shoppers this question: "How important would each of the following be on your decision to purchase an iPhone?" The results were revealing:
Price of the device: 81%
Performance of the phone: 77 %
Battery life: 76%
Overall ease of use: 75%
Design/look of device: 46%
Ease of using touch screen: 45%
Ability to synch device with music collection: 44%
Wi-fi: 37%
Ease of accessing e-mail: 37%
And, in last place: The fact that Apple makes the device: 32%
You mean, all the anticipation is about the actual, physical product and its features--and the Apple brand is at the bottom of the list, less than half as important as something as banal as "battery life"? After all, conventional marketing wisdom says that some time around 1980, consumers stopped buying products and started buying brands instead. And no brand has been more vaunted than Apple.
Could it be that great brands are the product (no pun intended) of something other than branding? In fact, they are! What's more, branding and great brands are made of altogether different stuff. Branding seeks to transcend tangible benefits, or even compensate for their absence. But great brands are built from the inside out, on tangible benefits. Branding seeks to create reality through perceptions, engendered by compelling communications.
Great brands, meanwhile, are the result of compelling products and services. The exception--a few image-driven categories such as beer, liquor or fashion--only proves the rule.
For those with a stake in selling marketing communications, branding is a convenient confusion of cause and effect. But brands such as Apple didn't become great because of good ads. Rather, the unique and differentiated propositions of the products made for good ads. Macintosh computers really are more beautiful inside and out: easier to use, and better to look at.
A brand is neither a goal nor a means, but a result of consistent delivery against a differentiating, relevant benefit. A brand is not an end in itself, and it doesn't even provide a hedge against future bets.
Case in point: Apple's flops, such as its early 1980s Lisa computer, its highly-hyped Newton PDA and the Motorola/Apple RokR iTunes phone. The Lisa was done in by a high price, the Newton by weak handwriting technology. Most recently, and most to the point, the RokR flopped because of mediocre software and hardware design. In each instance, the Apple brand was only as good as the product.
Great products speak for themselves. Not by coincidence, the iPhone ads are as straightforward as a product demo can be: a hand in front of a black background operating the device. Could Motorola or Nokia get away with this? Hardly. What sets the iPhone apart is its unique design and the promise of new features and a new standard in usability.
Those features better work--and wow--because a brand, even one with Apple's vaunted reputation, won't carry the day by itself.
Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak are partners at Reason Inc., a marketing-strategy consulting firm that works with clients in a range of categories, including media and entertainment, financial and professional services, packaged goods and the public sector.
IPhone: It's The Features, Stupid!
Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak 06.22.07, 6:00 AM ET
The iPhone is the most anticipated new product launch in recent years, and the most important for Apple since the original Macintosh. Even before consumers have started camping out in front of Apple stores, branding experts--both the self-anointed and the publicly acclaimed--have trumpeted it as the dawn of a new golden era of branding.
Except research indicates the opposite. A recent study by Compete Inc. asked 680 potential iPhone shoppers this question: "How important would each of the following be on your decision to purchase an iPhone?" The results were revealing:
Price of the device: 81%
Performance of the phone: 77 %
Battery life: 76%
Overall ease of use: 75%
Design/look of device: 46%
Ease of using touch screen: 45%
Ability to synch device with music collection: 44%
Wi-fi: 37%
Ease of accessing e-mail: 37%
And, in last place: The fact that Apple makes the device: 32%
You mean, all the anticipation is about the actual, physical product and its features--and the Apple brand is at the bottom of the list, less than half as important as something as banal as "battery life"? After all, conventional marketing wisdom says that some time around 1980, consumers stopped buying products and started buying brands instead. And no brand has been more vaunted than Apple.
Could it be that great brands are the product (no pun intended) of something other than branding? In fact, they are! What's more, branding and great brands are made of altogether different stuff. Branding seeks to transcend tangible benefits, or even compensate for their absence. But great brands are built from the inside out, on tangible benefits. Branding seeks to create reality through perceptions, engendered by compelling communications.
Great brands, meanwhile, are the result of compelling products and services. The exception--a few image-driven categories such as beer, liquor or fashion--only proves the rule.
For those with a stake in selling marketing communications, branding is a convenient confusion of cause and effect. But brands such as Apple didn't become great because of good ads. Rather, the unique and differentiated propositions of the products made for good ads. Macintosh computers really are more beautiful inside and out: easier to use, and better to look at.
A brand is neither a goal nor a means, but a result of consistent delivery against a differentiating, relevant benefit. A brand is not an end in itself, and it doesn't even provide a hedge against future bets.
Case in point: Apple's flops, such as its early 1980s Lisa computer, its highly-hyped Newton PDA and the Motorola/Apple RokR iTunes phone. The Lisa was done in by a high price, the Newton by weak handwriting technology. Most recently, and most to the point, the RokR flopped because of mediocre software and hardware design. In each instance, the Apple brand was only as good as the product.
Great products speak for themselves. Not by coincidence, the iPhone ads are as straightforward as a product demo can be: a hand in front of a black background operating the device. Could Motorola or Nokia get away with this? Hardly. What sets the iPhone apart is its unique design and the promise of new features and a new standard in usability.
Those features better work--and wow--because a brand, even one with Apple's vaunted reputation, won't carry the day by itself.
Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak are partners at Reason Inc., a marketing-strategy consulting firm that works with clients in a range of categories, including media and entertainment, financial and professional services, packaged goods and the public sector.
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