Discussion of developing, building and marketing an intelligent refrigerator

Extract

[...] It lacks the ability to track what is inside it by weight and is more of a calendar and internet tool than an end to grocery lists, though it is well-established in a way that the smart fridge is not. A solution may be in allowing open source software into the system. Many recent online advances have come from allowing users to customize their experience in ways that are unpredictable, but, at first, key advantages will have to be ease of use, awareness and price point. [...]

[...] Setting them up in their own offices with discussion boards and a very complicated system of carrot and stick incentives that they could hack and crack to their own content at their own hours and (sort of) pace might create enough raw solution material that others could come in and aggregate the breakthroughs. Yet there is also the issue of customer testing and the isolates might struggle in meeting customer needs if even more interesting ideas are bouncing around. Even though it might seem counterintuitive, some of this can be solved by simply having senior management aware of it. [...]

[...] In home use to an extensive, long-term degree with an intense amount of features and an on-board ability to record what happens (like recording every keystroke) will lead to a product so wonderful that it can justify its expense to design and in a way that will translate for the consumer. To launch this product needs to be a lot like Apple. Anyone who sees it in a commercial has to want one and see how it will fit into their life and anyone who sees one in person has to want to leave with it. [...]

[...] Ease of manufacture cannot be the key determinant on this project because making it easily has little to do with whether an upscale refrigerator with new technological features will work. More fully, Speed to Market would compromise the thorough nature of the commitment to long-term brand development and sales that would be needed, Ease of Manufacture would risk diluting the freshness and power of the Smart Fridge and cannot be a determinant in this new product launch by a new company, especially since there's no pre-existing manufacturing process to disrupt (though it is true that most refrigerators are made in manufacturing plants that are owned by companies outside of the brands on them, but that still cannot be allowed to restrict the expanse and scope of the Smart Fridge). [...]

[...] So the sales pitch side of purchase intentions would, ideally, look like: 100% of the people in the United States have or want a refrigerator (there might be a few religious groups or such that do not have or want one, but they probably are statistically irrelevant) pretending that market share is equal (since to enter the market with a new refrigerator would mandate being able to make it onto the list of a dozen) means that a successful (in other words, properly marketed and funded, barring major debacles) launch would have to sell around 10% of those sold in the U. [...]