Archive for 'connected devices' Category
CES is coming once again…
CES is less than two weeks away, and we’re expecting a strong emphasis on Health and Wellness this year. There’s a new and larger Digital Health Pavilion, where we will be exhibiting at booth 3031 in North Hall. (By the way that last link is worth clicking for the quite satisfying animation!). Also we’ll be taking [...]
Consumers showing growing appetite for health and wellness devices
A recent research report from IBM shows consumers are looking for information to help them lead healthier lives, and says that the corresponding market for devices that do this is relatively untapped. This trend explains why a slew of consumer product companies are looking to launch ‘health and wellness’ devices in the near future. As [...]
Google Health and PowerMeter are closing – 5 reasons this may not be a coincidence
Last friday Google announced that it is withdrawing two of its services – Google Health and Google PowerMeter. It’s no coincidence that these two have been announced at the same time….
Our innovative consumer product developments hit the market – Christmas present anyone?
We are delighted that two of our product innovation projects have made it to market in recent months. The Q2 Cube radio is based on our Iona internet radio platform implemented in a really novel way; it’s got no dial, no buttons and no display. Instead you tip it, tilt it or roll it to [...]
IFA 2010 – The end is near for consumer products companies
I’ve been predicting the demise of the consumer products company for a while now. It doesn’t make a particularly happy message for most of our clients, who are indeed consumer products companies. But, the industry is changing and firms can’t rely on innovative consumer product developments alone any more. The focus on growth by selling [...]
How personal is personal?
The second Cambridge Network Consumer SIG meeting was held last Wednesday night. The topic was personalised products, and there were excellent talks from P&G, Hypertag, Samsung and Tonejet followed by a lively discussion. Having been somewhat busy I’m a bit late to write a review as I did last time, and anyway Matt Scofield has done that very [...]
Is Apple the only viable platform for innovative mobile phone accessories?
Mobile phone accessories can be much more than simply a headset or handsfree kit. With the explosion of smart phones they can become the physical embodiment of an internet service that works in conjunction with an application running on the phone. This is what we were predicting with our Catchnet devices – the internet of [...]
Genuine products, genuine benefits
As counterfeiting becomes an increasingly widespread and serious problem, brands are considering implementing systems and strategies to protect their supply chains and ensure delivery of genuine products into the hands of their consumers. Can these investments deliver additional, genuine benefits to both the consumer and to the brand? That was the question posed at the [...]
Analogue radio: turn off, tune out, landfill
In my earlier post I expressed my extreme disappointment with the UK government’s proposals to turn off analogue radio in a “digital switchover”. In summary I said that (a) the idea is bad for consumers, (b) DAB isn’t much better (arguably sounding worse, for example) and (c) filling up landfill with perfectly good radios isn’t [...]
Cambridge ideas that could change the world!
I went to Robinson College last night for the “Cambridge ideas that could change the world!” event, the Cambridge Corporate Gateway open meeting. This isn’t a full write-up, but some take-aways, at least from my product innovation point of view. I’ve heard it said that these events can be somewhat inward looking. The word Cambridge does [...]
