ImaginativePRO Blog

HOW TO DETERMINE PRODUCT MARKET FIT IN YOUR INDUSTRY AND HOW TO MEASURE IT

The lack of market need is the main reason for startup failure. Product-market fit is one of the most crucial elements needed to create a successful business. It indicates that people are interested in the company’s product and are willing to pay for it because the offering is better than the other alternatives. Due to this reason, finding a product-market fit should be among the first and foremost objectives for your business.

Snapchat is an excellent example of a startup that managed to find product-market fit. This resulted in more than 293 million daily active users and $2.5 billion in annual revenue since its initial launch in 2011. In 2012 Snapchat users were sharing over 20 million images per day or about 231 per second. 10 million Instagram users, in contrast, were sharing only 25 photos every second. During the early stage, the target audience of the startup consisted of bloggers and students. Snapchat quickly became popular at colleges and high schools through word of mouth. The company was gathering customer feedback and constantly improving the application, which was important in reaching product-market fit. 

Let us take a closer look at the concept of the product-market fit and the practical steps required to achieve it.

Click To Enlarge

What is a product-market fit?

Product-market fit is the degree to which the product meets the target consumers’ needs and fulfills the market demand. PMF occurs when the business owner develops a solution that fills a certain market niche and evokes the desire to buy it. Product-market fit is not a constant state. Instead, it can be described as the continuous process of adjusting to changing client needs. 

The term was coined by the co-founder of Benchmark Capital, Andy Rachleff, and later popularized by entrepreneur Mark Andreessen, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. Rachleff’s idea was based on the study of the investing approach of Dan Valentine, venture capitalist and founder of Sequoia Capital. Andy Rachleff explains product-market fit as a combination of “the feature set you need to build, the audience that’s likely to care, and the business model required to entice a customer to buy your product.” Marc Andreessen  defines it as “being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.”

The alternative definition by Dan Olsen, the author of “The Lean Product Playbook”, says that the product-market is “meeting the underserved needs of target customers better than the competition”. Thus, we can summarize that product-market fit refers to the situation when the company provides value for a substantial number of customers who perceive the value with the effective delivery method, and differentiates itself from the competing companies. 

How to find a product-market fit?

The process of achieving a product-market fit differs for each company. Therefore, to create an outstanding product, you need to understand the problems your solution addresses and the issues your clients are trying to overcome with its help. So, the goal of finding product-market fit should be number one on your company’s priority list as it would dramatically increase the chances of business success. Despite the fact that the path to product-market fit is unique for each business, you can find it by focusing on the key areas and following several simple steps we will discuss below.

Click To Enlarge

Step 1. Determine your target audience

The first step in developing your product-market fit is to determine the target customers. They will represent the users who decide how well the product aligns with market requirements. The next task is to use market segmentation to later target customers more effectively by relying on their unique features, improving marketing campaigns and discovering more opportunities. Then you need to create buyer personas to ensure that your team’s efforts are tailored to your customers’ needs. Therefore, the main objectives of this step are to analyze your product or service, conduct a competitive analysis, segment your target market into several types of customers, and perform research.

Step 2. Talk to your customers

Gather feedback from your customers to identify their underserved needs and discover a suitable market opportunity. Determine the common challenges they face and how much they are willing to pay for you to solve their problems. The competition plays a huge role in the degree to which the product fits customer demands as they evaluate the solution in comparison to the alternatives.

If you want to improve the existing product, collect data from your sales and marketing departments to understand the recurring complaints. Face-to-face interviews are more effective than online surveys as they provide more useful information. 

Step 3. Define your value proposition

The value proposition is the most crucial aspect of your marketing message. It explains why your customers should purchase your company’s products instead of the competitors. A great value proposition is clear and understandable. The statement should be relevant to the target audience. Describe how your solution addresses customer problems and provide the set of advantages. To define your value proposition, you need to determine customers’ pain points, identify your product’s benefits, describe what value your solution adds to the market, connect it with the problems and make it unique.

Step 4. Specify your MVP feature set

The following step is to define the features that your minimum viable product (MVP) will include. If you add sufficient functionality to your product, you will be able to demonstrate the value to your customers, save time and money and leave space for improvement. MVP will help you determine the features your solution lacks or what can be done better. Moreover, you might understand that the customers will not use the specific function, so you can remove it. The primary objective is to continue adjusting the minimum viable product feature set until the potential customers approve it.

Step 5. Design your MVP

Once you have determined the MVP feature set, it is time to create the test version of your product, so your customers can provide feedback and valuable insights. Building the MVP prototype usually takes less time and effort than producing the working version of the minimum viable product. The prototype will brilliantly represent your product without the need to build it.

Click To Enlarge

Step 6. Test your MVP with customers and analyze feedback

The last step is to test the MVP prototype with target customers. The goal of MVP testing is to receive feedback from the audience, make improvements to the product and determine whether the idea is valid or not. The most efficient method of MVP testing is user interviews. First, provide the list of the problems your solution aims to solve and put open-ended questions to your customers. Then ask them to rank the issues and analyze their level of interest. Finally, present the MVP as the solution to the problem and offer people to try it. The other way to test your minimum viable product is to create a landing page demonstrating its features or promote the solution through advertising. This will help you to understand whether your MVP interests the target market. You can also test the prototype on crowdsourcing platforms. If the users like your idea, they would be willing to invest in the development of your product, so this would be the perfect indicator of the product-market fit.

After conducting tests: 

1. analyze the received feedback, 
2. identify similar answers and pay attention to common patterns, 
3. use the information received from the customers to modify the initial prototype and address consumer issues.

You might learn that a majority of your audience consider themselves too young or too old for your product. Then you can ask the respondents who they assume the product is intended for. The feedback will reveal how your product is perceived in the market. You might understand that your solution is more niche-oriented than you expected. In this situation, you need to return to step 1, review your customer profiles, and proceed from there. 

If the product is not right, but the audience is a fit, return to step 2 and gather feedback to understand what adjustments your customers would apply to your product to make it more appealing. Then, move to steps 3 and 4 to review your value proposition and minimum viable product features.

Netflix is a company that constantly adapts to changes, monitors trends and shifts in the market, and takes advantage of them. Netflix changed its business model multiple times, adjusting to user demand. In the early 2000s, Netflix achieved the product-market fit when the company positioned itself as the alternative to traditional DVD rental stores. Netflix started shipping DVDs by mail as part of its membership services and allowed clients to keep videotapes for an unlimited period of time. Later, when the DVD trend faded, the company turned into a subscription-based streaming platform and reached product-market fit owing to cheaper and better services. 

Step 7. Build the product and take it to the market

Prepare a product launch plan and create a marketing strategy to take advantage of the opportunity to promote your offering. The product launch event has a significant influence on market acceptance. It helps inform the clients that the product is available for purchase and introduces the solution to the market. With product launch, you will gather valuable information from early users, build anticipation and brand awareness. Create content that will align with marketing activities, such as landing pages, blog posts, and product tutorials. 

Click To Enlarge

Step 8. Improve product-market fit as you scale

Keep reviewing your product after it is launched. Take small risks and redesign the product in accordance with the customer base, competition, and the new needs of target audiences. Remove the elements that do not work, experiment with new functionality, and test the features on a small scale. Analyze qualitative and quantitative metrics, conduct customer surveys to adapt to changing market conditions, and stay ahead of the competition.

Product-market fit metrics and measuring

There are several quantitative metrics that will determine the percentage of customers who consider your solution as a ‘must-have’. We will discuss them further in greater detail.

Click To Enlarge

Growth rate

The growth rate will provide you with crucial information about your company’s performance over time. It is one of the essential metrics the investors examine before deciding whether to fund the company or not. To measure the product-market fit, you can analyze the growth in the number of users or revenue. The formula for calculating the monthly or annual growth rates is as follows:

Growth rate = (Period 2 – Period 1) / Period 1 * 100 

It is important to note that a high growth rate does not necessarily mean that you have achieved product-market fit (as it can be followed by a similarly high churn rate). Thus, you need to pay attention to various factors that may have led to this and take into account other metrics. In some cases, high growth rates can result from marketing activities and do not represent product-market fit. 

Churn rate

The churn rate is the number of customers who stop using your product over a certain time frame. With this metric, you can understand whether people are interested in your product or not. The churn rate varies depending on the type of business and its specifics. Newly established companies usually have higher churn rates compared to organizations that have been on the market for a longer time. You should inspect your monthly and annual churn rates to have a clear picture of your progress. The churn rate formula is: 

Churn Rate = (Lost Customers ÷ Total Customers at the Start of Time Period) x 100

Net promoter score

The net promoter score is a scale that ranges from -100 to 100. With this metric, you can estimate customers’ willingness to recommend your company’s products to other people. To calculate the net promoter score, you need to ask your customers a key question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend the product to a friend or a colleague?” Then the respondents are categorized into three main groups depending on the answer: promoters, passives, and detractors. Finally, you want to subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The final number will show you whether customers generally enjoy using your product. You may compare it to similar metrics in your industry and review it regularly to see if the satisfaction rate is improving.

Product-market fit examples

Now we will look at three successful companies that began their journey as startups but turned into global enterprises with a multi-million customer audience. We will consider how these companies managed to find their product-market fit and adapted to evolving market needs.

Spotify

The idea to create Spotify appeared after Napster’s collapse, and the sales plunge in the music industry as the users started downloading albums from illegal sources. Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek suggested the listeners the opportunity to consume high-quality music legally for a small fee. Now the platform has over 365 million active users.

The startup was created at the most opportune time when the other elements of product-market fit already existed. There was a target market with music listeners, distribution channels, and a lot of content. The platform provided consumers a way to listen to music without addressing any legal issues, resulting in a 20-30% annual growth rate.

Slack

Slack is a well-known messaging platform for business communication. Despite the fact that now Slack’s target customers are mostly enterprises, the company paved the way to product-market fit by targeting individual users. Between March 2020 and April 2021, Slack generated $902 million in revenue, but it all began with a startup that did not even have a sales team. 

At first, Slack’s founders were developing a role-playing video game. The messaging app was originally intended as a tool for internal communication. However, the team later realized that the solution perfectly fits into a free niche, while there are already many role-playing games on the market. The decision to give up the original idea in favor of better opportunity has brought over 12 million users by the end of 2020.

Google

In the early years, Google had a lot of competitors in the market. At that time, the search engines were making a profit from selling the advertising space next to search results. In 2003, Google leaders decided to introduce AdSense. This was a totally new concept that allowed to display the advertisements beyond the search page results. The technology analyzed the web pages and automatically displayed the relevant advertisements. 

Google discovered a gap in the market that no other search engine could fill and satisfied that need. In 2017, the annual revenue from AdSense amounted to $95 billion.

COMMENTARY:   Don Valentine, from Sequoia Capital might have coined the term "product-market fit".  While Marc Andreessen, from A16z popularised it as “being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” According to Andreessen, that is a moment when a product or service has its place in the market, thus enabling traction for the company offering that product or service.

 

Courtesy of an article dated April 4, 2019 appearing in CleverTap, an article dated Unknown appearing in Awware, an article dated June 16, 2021 appearing in HubSpot, an article dated February 18, 2017 appearing in Future.com,

 

STANDDESK: A DESK FOR STANDING OR SITTING THAT PROMOTES BETTER POSTURE, GOOD HEALTH AND COSTS ONE-FOURTH SIMILAR DESKS

Scientific research has shown sitting all day is terrible for your health. (Click Image To Enlarge)

FIX YOUR POSTURE WITHOUT GOING TO THE CHIROPRACTOR BY STANDING AT YOUR DESK.

A standing desk is the centerpiece in the workspace of the future. Scientific research has shown--in myriad ways--that sitting down all day is so bad for you that it can increase your risk of cancer.

The adjustable standing desk allows you to mix up your posture throughout the day, but top models cost as much as $1,600. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Clearly, it’s time to ditch the office chair, but standing desks can get pricey, especially the adjustable kind, which let you mix sitting and standing throughout the day.

On Kickstarter, StandDesk's basic model costs less than $400. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The company has raised more than 10 times its funding goal since April 2014. (Click Image To Enlarge)

StandDesk, a new standing desk model being launched on Kickstarter (where it has raised more than 10 times its target since April), is a cheaper solution. The basic model, which has a simple automated system to raise and lower the desk at the touch of a button, starts at less than $400. Not quite as cheap as a cardboard desk, but not $1,600 either.

 

The creators say the lower price comes from designing a custom motor that doesn’t have as much extra lifting power as other standing desks. It’s only designed to lift 225 pounds--enough to hoist your computer and desk gadgets, though maybe don’t put every textbook you own on it. It’s a clean, simple design with no frills, just a smooth tabletop and a small control panel. Considering that I spend my days curled over my desk in a bizarre yoga pose called, “becoming one with the laptop,” I’m on board.

The desk raises and lowers at the touch of a button. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Clearly, it’s time to ditch the office chair. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Read more here.

COMMENTARY:   Steven Yu, the founder of StandDesk raised a total of $649,244 from 1,697 donors through Kickstarter.  The goal was to raise $50,000, but StandDesk raised over 12 times that.  Congrats to Steven Yu.  The first batch of pre-orders from the Kickstarter campaign are scheduled for delivery sometime in September 2014.    

According to the StandDesk website, you can still pre-order the StandDesk directly from them for $449.00 with FREE shipping.  Delivery in the fourth quarter 2014.  I assumed that these new pre-orders will be after the Kickstarter project donors receive theirs.  

I like what Yu is doing.  Let's just hope that he priced the StandDesk properly so they can generate a profit.  

Courtesy of an article dated May 12, 2014 appearing in Fast Company Design 

5 Great Ideas From 2014's Mobile World Congress

CELLPHONES? WE GOT THOSE. BUT WE'VE ALSO GOT SOME FUTURISTIC TECH, SOME UNEXPECTED HARDWARE, AND A VERY WELCOME REDESIGN OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL PHONES.

Barcelona's Mobile World Congress is the biggest annual mobile-only electronics show. This year, companies unveiled a whole bunch of perfectly marketable products, but here are the five that really cut to the heart of where mobile is headed next.

Click Image To Enlarge

Samsung Gear Fit

Like its competitor the Nike Fuelband, the Samsung Geat Fit has a pedometer, stopwatch, timer, and, unusual for fitness trackers, a heart-rate monitor. But like a smartwatch, it can connect to your cellphone and receive little bits of information, like missed calls, texts, app alerts, and updates. It also looks cool, with a stretched, curved screen that wraps around your wrist. Only problem: it's facing the wrong direction! The text runs perpendicular to your arm, rather than parallel, which might make it hard to read.

Takeaway: A welcome blend of the fitness tracker and smartwatch.

Click Image To Enlarge

Google Project Tango

Google's Project Tango has a depth tracker and visual sensors in a phone to track your surroundings. It could be used to create a really detailed indoor map, make complex augmented reality games, or even help visually impaired users better understand their environment. No word on release date or price or anything like that--this is all research.

Takeaway: A phone that sees the world even better than you can.

Click Image To Enlarge

Samsung Galaxy S5's Back

Samsung's obvious attempts to match the updates in the newest iPhone 5S (a fingerprint scanner, a new gold color).  But the biggest change might be one of the cheapest: a brand-new back.  Samsung's Galaxy line has long been dogged with the accusation that the low-cost plastic used in its body feels cheap and flimsy, not befitting a major manufacturer's flagship product. But instead of going the aluminum-and-glass route like Apple and HTC, Samsung's newest Galaxy S has a rubbery, rippled back, very similar to that of Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

Takeaway: The world's most popular Android phone may finally feel like it deserves the title.

Click Image To Enlarge

Nokia X

The new Nokia X makes sense when you see the big picture--longer explanation here--but it was still a surprise. The phone has a new kind of Android software, made by Nokia specifically for this line, and it blends the looks of modern-day Nokia with the compatibility of Android.

Takeaway: Nokia's first Android phone is like nothing else.

Click Image To Enlarge

Yotaphone

The Yotaphone's electronic paper screen or elecrophoretic display gives you a longer lasting, more comfortable reading experience even in bright sunshine.  The Yotaphone is basically, a phone and a Kindle in one. Why would you want that? Well, electrophoretic screens don't emit any of their own light, so they're much easier on the eyes than a regular smartphone screen.  Plus, they use hardly any battery life at all--YotaPhone says the electrophoretic display can get up to 68 hours of battery life, which is just nuts. Of course, you won't want to do much more than read books on the ebook-reader side; those types of screens are black and white, and can't handle video or images very well.

Takeaway: A smartphone and an ebook reader, all in one little package.

Courtesy of an article dated February 28, 2014 appearing in Fast Company Design 

THE U.S. MILITARY'S 'IRON MAN' ARMOR MAY BE ARMED WITH ON-BOARD COMPUTER, HEALTH MONITORS, AND LIQUID ARMOR, READY FOR TESTING IN AUG

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Oliver suits up in a futuristic combat uniform with a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit-like look at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The technology in Iron Man is getting a step closer to reality thanks to the United States military. The Army has commissioned a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), which would provide the wearer with superhuman abilities like night vision, enhanced strength, and protection from gunfire.

Each suit would have an on-board computer that would be able to instantly respond to certain situations and provide the user with enhanced situational awareness. According to the press release, the suit may use liquid armor, currently under development at MIT, which has the ability to transform from a "liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied." The goal is full-body ballistic protection, theoretically allowing the wearer to literally walk through a stream of bullets. A panel that rests against the skin would be able to detect and respond to the body's core temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, and hydration levels. The suit would also provide basic life support such as heat, air, and oxygen.

 

The Army isn't the first to be inspired by the technology in Iron Man. Elon Musk created a lab based on the movie using a Leap Motion controller, an Oculus Rift, and a projector. While he admits that the setup doesn't yet have much practical value, he believes that we're on the cusp on major design and manufacturing breakthroughs.  

If the new Army commando suit comes to fruition, it could be a big step forward for defense technology.he first prototypes for the US Military's Iron Man armor will be ready for testing by this summer, said the head of US Special Operations Command today.  At a special conference in Washington DC today, Defense Tech reports, Navy Adm. William McRaven stated that three unpowered prototypes of the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, are currently being assembled, with an expected delivery by June. The suit will undergo an evaluation period and hopefully be field-ready by August 2018.

During the conference, McRaven emphasized the suit's potential to save lives.  He said. 

"That suit, if done correctly, will yield a revolutionary improvement in survivability and capability for special operators."

The TALOS was commissioned last October, and may one day be armed with its own on-board computer, health monitors, and MIT-developed liquid armor that can harden in a matter of milliseconds. The hope is to allow the wearer to walk through a stream of bullets — not unlike the Marvel superhero. 

Presently, 56 corporations, 16 government agencies, 13 universities, and 10 national laboratories are working together to develop the armor. McRaven wants to up involvement to include mechanics and craftsmen on the project, and may seek the authority to approach the Pentagon to distribute prize money for interested experts.

COMMENTARY:   If US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is looking for inspiration for its Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), it needs to stop talking Iron Man and start looking at this guy’s work.

Artist Alex Jessup has come up with some pretty interesting concepts.

Click Images To Enlarge

Courtesy of an article dated February 19, 2014 appearing in Alien UFO Sightings and an article dated November 1, 2013 appearing in Soldier Systems

TO LURE CUSTOMERS, DESIGN YOUR PRODUCT PACKAGING TO APPEAL TO ALL 5 OF THEIR SENSES, AND DON'T FORGET THE SOCIAL APPROACH

STUART LESLIE, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF 4SIGHT INC, OFFERS SIX TIPS FOR PACKAGING YOUR PRODUCT AND CAPTURING CONSUMER ATTENTION.

We know that consumer purchase decisions are often made quickly and subconsciously, but there are opportunities where it’s possible to influence a consumer’s perception of a brand. People often make buying decisions by using all five of their senses and once product designers discover what each of these sensory influencers are, they can develop packaging that strategically speaks to consumers at each stage of the decision-making process. It’s ultimately about designing a complete experience--one that supports the brand every step of the way.

Click Image To Enlarge

Consumers prefer their drinks not simply cold, but chilled to the perfect temperature, are taken through a progression of exercises that mimics the various points of contact that consumers have with a product.

We identify which bottle shape, size, color, material, and texture promises that sense of cold refreshment at first glance. As the test subjects move closer, details such as condensation and frost become evident and when they are handed several bottles, each chilled to the exact same temperature--but made of different materials, textures, shapes and finishes--they provide feedback on which one feels like just the right cold.

In the Sensory Lab, our process helps us ensure that at each stage of interaction with a brand, consumers receive the right information, enabling them to see, feel, hear, smell, and taste the value of the product. Here, we've identified the six stages that lead to a first purchase or a repeat purchase:

THE FIRST GLANCE

Click Image To Enlarge

POM Juice, the distinctive profile of the bottle featuring those fully rounded spheres, allows the distinct dark red color of the juice to catch the attention of a shopper. It promises a bold, robust taste.

Click Image To Enlarge

A new entry into the tequila segment, SX Tequila chose a distinctive, curvaceous bottle with smooth lines and frosted texture to communicate the sense of a smooth-tasting, chilled beverage.

THE INSPECTION

Click Image To Enlarge

Here, consumers take a closer look and this is where details begin to hint at tactile sensations. Flowing details etched into the structure of the Orangina water bottle strongly suggest the refreshment that the product provides.

THE PHYSICAL INTERACTION

Click Image To Enlarge

Next, consumers make that first physical contact and combine the visual with the tactile experience. When grasped, the gentle curvature of the Febreze bottle and the angled spray head convey the soft and pleasant aroma that will fill the air.

Click Image To Enlarge

The smooth, diagonal neck on the new Miller Lite Bottle promises a refreshing flow of beer while the bold taper from the neck to the body provides a strong and confident grip for the hand. Adding the texture of the hops etched in the glass provides further engagement.

THE OPENING

Click Image To Enlarge

When the consumer makes a physical step towards consumption or use of the product, there's another opportunity to solidify your brand's perception. When the foil cover is peeled off of a can of San Pellegrino, it offers the sensation of actually peeling fruit. It also incorporates a crinkling sound, which adds to the sensory experience at opening.

CONSUMPTION OR USAGE

Click Image To Enlarge

The point at which the product is consumed or used and here, all five senses can be at play.

Clinique's dark circle corrector containers offers a convenient applicator on the side of the container tip that provides for a clean usage experience and preserves the product for future consumption, as fingers do not contaminate the cream.

THE COMPLETION 

Click Image To Enlarge

There's another opportunity to create a pleasant user experience when the product is disposed of or put away for later use. Wrigley 5 Gum incorporates a lock feature and embossed details to convey a secure and clean resealable pack.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Oreo cookie package also utilizes the sense of sight with a resealable film to promise lasting freshness. Once the film is replaced after each usage, it recreates the look of a fresh, unopened package.

In The Sensory Lab, we’ve gleaned significant insight into how the five senses influence consumer decision-making at six pivotal points. Incorporating a similar approach in your design process will help insure your package effectively communicates key brand attributes at each and every point of influence.

COMMENTARY:  In a blog post dated September 10, 2011, I pointed out the importance of utilizing both a sensory approach and a social approach to marketing to the Millennial Generation, but this approach can apply to all generations.  As human beings we keenly rely on all five senses when interacting with the outside world.  We translate the signals that our five senses capture and communicate to our brain into some type of decision.  This includes making choices about everything, whether it is the clothing we wear, the food we eat, the medicines we take, the places we prefer to visit, and so forth.  So YES, the five senses enter into everything.  When combined with the decisions that we make subconsciously (another subject altogether) this is how humans react to marketing stimuli.  Although not mentioned in the aboe article, the social approach is also very important in making marketing decisions.  Today, we rely very heavily on the opinion of our friends and relatives in making a final purchasing decision.  This could be person-to-person opinions or indirect through product reviews often found online.  As marketers we must not only rely on the sensory approach, but not forget the poweful impact of the social approach in formulating our marketing strategies, programs and tactics.  

Courtesy of an article dated January 15, 2014 appearing in Fast Company Design

THE PEDALFACTORY DESIGNS THE SANDWICHBIKE, A BIKE WITH A FRAME MADE FROM WOOD, AVAILABLE AFTER DECEMBER 1, 2013

The Sandwichbike is a flat-pack wooden bicycle that can be assembled in less than an hour has gone into production.

PedalFactory claims the Sandwichbike can be unpacked and put together in just 45 minutes.   The company declares.  

"If you can make a sandwich, you can make a Sandwichbike."

Click Image To Enlarge

The single-speed bike is constructed from 19 parts that are packaged and delivered in a box along with the tools required to assemble it.

Click Image To Enlarge

The frame is made from panels of weatherproofed beech plywood and is held together by milled aluminium cylinders.

Click Image To Enlarge

Stainless steel spokes sit within the 26-inch tyres. The completed model weighs 17 kilograms.

Click Image To Enlarge

Pedalfactory was co-founded by designer Basten Leijh, who originally developed the bike with his Amsterdam design studio Bleijh for the 2006 International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan.

Click Image To Enlarge

The bikes are now available to order and the first deliveries in Europe will coincide with the official launch event, taking place in Amsterdam on Sunday. International orders will be dispatched early next year.

COMMENTARY:

Product launch Sandwichbike: innovative designer bike now in production

The Sandwichbike will be launched in Amsterdam on Sunday 1 December 2013. This innovative wooden bicycle that already drew unprecedented attention worldwide in the design stage is now being shipped.

Click Image To Enlarge

After a period of extensive research and development the bicycle has now gone into production. The Sandwichbike can be delivered worldwide from December 1, 2013 onwards. The prototype was recently exhibited at various fairs and websites and was an instant hit among bicycle lovers and design.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Sandwichbike is a unique product on all fronts: material, design and production method. Its distinctive frame is composed of two weatherproof beech wood panels. Its advanced production technology makes self-assembly easy while a high quality standard is maintained.

Click Image To Enlarge

Postal package

The bicycle is flat packed in a box containing the parts as well as all the tools needed. This creates a great unpacking experience. For enthusiasts, putting the bicycle together is part of the charm and the logistical benefits are huge as this enables worldwide delivery. Anyone from Amsterdam to Honolulu can receive a Sandwichbike by post.

Assembling a Sandwichbike is easy and takes less than an hour. "If you can make a sandwich, you can make a Sandwichbike."

Click Image To Enlarge

Pedalfactory

The Sandwichbike is a Pedalfactory B.V. product. Co-founder Basten Leijh (also: Bleijh Industrial Design Studio) designed and developed this bicycle. Leijh is an expert on bicycle design and innovation. Among many other product innovations Leijh developed a city-bicycle that could be locked by twisting the handlebars.

Now that's what I call a cool bike!!  !!@@!!

Courtesy of an article dated November 28, 2013 appearing in Dezeen

TWO COPER UNION UNDERGRAD STUDENTS DESIGN THE 'RAPID PACKING CONTAINER,' A CARDBOARD BOX FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

TWO COOPER UNION UNDERGRADS CONSTRUCTED A BOX THAT'S LESS WASTEFUL, EASIER TO PACK, EASIER TO OPEN, AND GOOD LOOKING, TOO.

While some companies, like Ecovative, are tooling around with highly sustainable alternatives to shipping products around the world, two undergrads have just reinvented the humble cardboard container itself to be more efficient.

Extremely wasteful, environmentally harmful, and hard to put together, the standard cardboard box is as much of a practical necessity as it is a bane to a country dominated by big box retailers, warehouse clubs, and free SuperSaver shipping. Where others looked at the ubiquitous cardboard box and saw a necessary evil, undergraduates Henry Wang and Chris Curro saw a problem that needed to be solved. Their solution? The Rapid Packing Container, a cardboard box for the 21st century that is not only less wasteful than traditional paper boxes, but which can also be put together in seconds and easily reused.

As students at the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at Cooper Union, Wang and Curro started by identifying a few key problems with existing cardboard boxes: they use too much material, they are hard to open, and difficult to pack. The design of the Rapid Packaging Container addresses all of this and more.

 

Some of that cardboard will inevitably be recycled, but not as much as anyone would hope: in 2011, only 37% of all fiber used to make new paper products came from recycled sources. That means that up to 63 billion cardboard boxes a year are made out of newly felled trees.

For the Rapid Packaging Container, Wang and Curro used about 15% to 20% less cardboard than traditional paperboard packaging, while maintaining a maximum 260-pound load strength. The Rapid Packaging Container gets away with using less cardboard thanks to the physical redesign.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Rapid Packaging Container's uses cardboard that when folded makes it strong enough to support the content of the box's load weight, even though tape might be the only thing holding it closed.  Wang and Curro realized that by designing their Rapid Packaging Container so that the bottom of the box was a single, structurally-sound piece of cardboard, they could eliminate a lot of waste.

This top-loading system also has another practical benefit: it's much easier to fold. All you need to do to fold the Rapid Packaging Container into the right shape, in fact, is take an unfolded box and press it into a custom jig, then close the top and affix it with the built-in adhesive strip . Comparatively, a regular cardboard box needs to be folded manually, and then reinforced with packing tape, which can be a cumbersome and error-filled process.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Evocative Rapid Packaging Container is a packaging dream for many companies. But the end-user design is delightful too. Instead of ripping open a taped-together cardboard box, opening a Rapid Packaging Container is as simple as pushing a tab on the top of the box and having the whole thing unfold itself flat again before your very eyes. Even better, it's fully reversible, meaning that if you receive one in the mail, you can just turn it inside-out for a label free box that you can then send to someone else.

According to Wang and Carro, the Rapid Packing Container already has a patent pending, and the clever design duo are currently looking for manufacturing partners. Anyone else hoping that a company like Amazon invests to make the Rapid Packing Container the cardboard box for the 21st century?

COMMENTARY:   I have a feeling that the U.S. Post Office and Amazon are going to be calling these two young college students about producing and using the new Rapid Packing Container cardboard box much sooner than anybody every though. 

Courtesy of an article dated January 6, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design

LG ANNOUNCES THE 'G FLEX', A SLICK SMARTPHONE WITH A CURVED 6-INCH OLED DISPLAY, BUT LACKS TRUE INNOVATION

LG announces 'self-healing' G Flex, calls it first 'real' curved smartphone -The Verge (Click Image To Enlarge)

LG's G Flex, the company's first smartphone with a curved OLED display, may have leaked via press renders and Argentinian TV shows before its eventual announcement, but today marked the first time we were able to see the device for ourselves. LG held a press conference in South Korea to announce launch details and provide us with an opportunity to see just how that curved screen works out in practice.

LG G Flex front view (Click Image To Enlarge)

Before you even notice the curve, you'll be taken aback by the sheer size of the G Flex. At 6 inches from corner to corner, the display beats out colossal rivals such as the HTC One Max despite having a comparatively low 720p resolution. While LG says the curvature of the screen makes viewing movies more "immersive," the size is likely to play a far stronger role in achieving that goal. In general use, we didn't find that the curve made much of a positive or negative impact either way.

LG G Flex side view. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Resolution aside, the display itself is as high quality as we've come to expect from LG in other regards. We found the G Flex impossible to use one-handed, however, and the screen's shape makes the phone even more difficult to pocket, if anything. Next to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus (below), which placed slightly curved glass in front of a standard OLED display, the arc is far more pronounced; this is thanks to LG's flexible OLED and curved battery technology. 

LG G Flex comparison to smaller Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone with 4-inch flat display (Click Image To Enlarge)

Otherwise, the industrial design is little to write home about: the G Flex looks just like a blown-up G2. Unfortunately we were unable to test the phone's most outlandish feature — its "self-healing" back cover — as LG representatives wouldn't let us scratch the device. As such, all we have to say about the phone's plastic build is that the "Titan Silver" finish is slippery and incredibly prone to picking up fingerprints.

LG G Flex close-up of OLED display (Click Image To Enlarge)

LG provided us with the following video demo of the truly flexible nature of the G Flex:

Ultimately the G Flex comes off as a proof of concept as much as anything. Although flexible screens may play a big role in the future, it's hard to consider phones like the G Flex and Samsung's Galaxy Round an effective application of the technology.  LG isn't even attempting to position the G Flex's display as an innovation that fundamentally enhances the smartphone experience — instead, the device is likely to appeal only to those who appreciate the tweaked form factor.  And even if that's you, you might be out of luck; the G Flex comes out in South Korea on November 12th, but nothing has been announced for other regions.

Update: LG officials have said that the company is working to release the G Flex globally. It's not ready to announce any specific availability information, but LG says it's making progress in bringing its flexible phone to the United States, Europe and China "as soon as possible."

COMMENTARY:    It's unfortunate that the LG G Flex smartphone, and Samsung Galaxy Round, for that matter, developed curved phones primarily for esthetic reasons, instead of leading the way in innovative technology, solving a real need in the marketplace, or disrupting an industry.  The iPhone was the first smartphone to utilize a touch screen and iOS operating system with its touch graphical user interface.   That was true technological innovation and disrupted the entire smartphone market.   These two curved phones are neither.  

LG G Flex vs Samsung Galaxy Round (Click Image To Enlarge)

In spite of the shortcomings of designing a curved smartphone, the LG G Flex will probably appeal to consumers who want a an extra large display, adequate display resolution, and a very fast microprocessor.  The fact that the LG G FLex is an Android phone, will not hurt either, since it provides owners with access to 800,000 apps to choose from.  That's a huge plus.

The LG G Flex and Samsung Galaxy Round are both configured with the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor, the first mobile processor to hand the iPad4's A6X (with its quad-core PowerVR SGX 554MP4 GPU) its graphical hat.

The A6X has consistently been the fastest ARM processor when it comes to graphical throughput since its release last November.  It's finally been supplanted, even if no real Snapdragon 800 products exist yet.

It is not known what effect the Snapdragon 800's impressive speeds will have on battery life. Qualcomm said to expect thermals that compensate for the chip's increased zippiness, but unfortunately didn't provide the number of hours (or more) it would take to actually test this.

Courtesy of an article dated November 5, 2013 appearing in The Verge, an article dated November 4, 2013 appearing in Engadget and an article dated June 18, 2013 appearing C|NET   

APPLE UNVEILS TWO NEW IPADS: A 5TH GEN 1-LB, ALUMINUM iPAD AIR AND 2ND GEN iPAD MINI WITH RETINA DISPLAY AND A-7 CHIP

Apple CEO Tim Cook holding the new 1-Lb iPad Air tablet at the San Francisco unveiling on Tuesday, October 22, 2013. (Click Image To Enlarge)

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, Apple held a new product unveiling event before the press at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center For The Arts.  Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about Apple's recent product releases and its quest for new product innovation, then turned the microphone over to Phil Schiller, Apple's V.P. of Global Marketing, who introduced the press to the iPad Air, a 5th generation iPad equipped with a 9.7 inch retina display, the new 64-bit A7 microprocessor and weighing only 1-lb, and the 2nd generation iPad Mini now equipped with a 7.9 inch retina display and new 64-bit A7 microprocessor. 

 

Apple CEO Tim Cook was joined on stage by marketing chief Phil Schiller, iTunes head Eddy Cue and software chief Craig Federighi, who took turns demoing new products. As always, the audience was filled with tech notables, including Path CEO Dave Morin, Flipboard co-founder Mike McCue, former Apple CTO Avie Tevanian, and Apple board member Bill Campbell.

iPad Air 

Click Image To Enlarge

Apple unveiled the iPad Air, the fifth generation of its iPad tablet.  The newly named iPad Air features a design that's reminiscent of the iPad mini released last year.  It's thinner and lighter than prior versions, and features a smaller bezel, which shrinks the footprint of the tablet down without compromising on screen size. Apple says it's 20 percent thinner at only 7.5mm thick, and weighs just 1.0 pound (28 percent less than the previous iPad). The screen remains the same; it's a 9.7-inch Retina Display with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. This is the first major redesign of Apple's flagship tablet since the iPad 2 was released in March 2011.

 

The iPad Air features the 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion coprocessor found in the iPhone 5S, which Apple says is 8 times faster and has 72 times better graphics performance than the processor in the original iPad released in 2010. It also has a 5-megapixel iSight camera and FaceTime HD front-facing camera and 10 hour battery life. Apple says the iPad Air has twice the data transfer rate on Wi-Fi thanks to new MIMO 802.11n support, but it doesn't support 802.11ac.

Phil Schiller, Apple V.P. Global Marketing, explains why the new iPad Air is so thin (Click Images To Enlarge)

The iPad Air will be available in silver and white and space grey and black color options starting at $499 in dozens of countries on November 1st. An LTE version will be available starting at $629. Apple is also keeping the geriatric iPad 2 in the lineup for $399. All of the new iPads will be shipping with iOS 7.

iPad Mini 2

iPad mini with Retina display and 64-bit processor coming in November for $399 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Apple's worst-kept secret and one of its most momentous announcements of the day has just been made: the iPad mini is getting upgraded with a new Retina display. The new screen's resolution is 2048 x 1536 — matching that of the latest 10-inch iPads — and the processor powering it is the same 64-bit Apple A7 chip as in the iPad Air and iPhone 5S.

Available in November for $399 with Wi-Fi or $529 with mobile data, the new mini is more expensive than its direct predecessor, but the first-gen device is being kept around as well. The 2012 iPad mini gets a price cut, now costing $299 and acting as Apple's entry-level tablet device.

 

The 2013 iPad mini will be available in either a white and silver color combo or a space gray and black pairing. One of the subtler upgrades on the list of changes is the addition of a new 128GB storage option — that will set you back $699 on the Wi-Fi mini or $829 if you want a mobile connection as well. Apple's being unusually cagey with the timing of the new iPad mini's release, identifying it only as "later in November," but Tim Cook closed off today's presentation by promising that all the new products will be available in time for the holidays.

Phil Schiller, Apple V.P. Global Marketing, alks about the new iPad Mini with retina display at the San Francisco unveiling (Click Image To Enlarge)

Alongside the refreshed 7.9-inch iPad mini, Apple is introducing a new set of colorful Smart Covers, costing $39 each, and more expansive wraparound cases that cost $69. 

The new iPad Mini comes with a 7.9 inch retina display with a resolution of 2048x1536 and 326 pixels per square inch. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The new iPad Mini is equipped with the A7 chip with 64-bit architecture which is 4X faster, has 8X faster graphics with 10 hours of battery life. (Click Image To Enlarge)

iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 With Retina Display Prices and Specifications

Click Image To Enlarge

Full-Size Tablets Compared - iPad Air vs The Competition

Click Image To Enlarge

This iPad Air comparison chart includes Google's Nexus 10 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Mini Tablets Compared - iPad Mini 2 vs The Competition

Click Image To Enlarge

COMMENTARY:   In his overview of the iPad, Tim Cook said Apple has sold 170 million tablets since introducing the “magical device” three and a half year ago. 

Investors have been clamoring for Cook and Apple to speed up their new product rollout schedule to boost sales growth and fend off rivals from Amazon to Google to Samsung in the two markets where it gets about 70 percent of its sales: smartphones and tablets. Amazon, with its Kindle, and Google, with its Nexus, already offer high-definition displays in their small screen tablets, and Samsung beat Apple to market with its release last month of a smartwatch called the Gear that works with its Galaxy phone.  Analysts don’t expect Cook, who last month introduced the new iPhone 5s and  iPhone 5c as well as a faster iMac desktop, to unveil a smartwatch until next year.

Ovum analyst Jan Dawson praised Apple for adding the most advanced tech to its iPad Air, saying,

“The iPad Air is a good enough boost to the previous version to trigger good upgrade sales and get iPad shipments growing again, which was a key objective for this launch.”

But Apple’s pricing across the iPad line may not woo users away from lower-priced tablets built around Google’s Android operating system.

Milton Booty, a technology analyst, said in an email statement.

"This is the clearest statement Apple could have made that it is only interested in competing in the premium tablet space. The yawning gap between the specs of the cheaper iPad Mini and iPad 2 and the new iPads signifies that it is only willing to compete at the lower price points with older models. This leaves a huge chunk of the tablet market unserved by Apple while others such as Google, Amazon and a raft of others aggressively target the sub-$400 market. This reinforces our view that Apple’s share in tablets will continue to fall as Android’s share rises over the coming years.”

How Apple Created The Lightest iPad Yet

Just 7.5mm wide and weighing one pound (20% lighter than the iPad 4), the iPad Air is the thinnest and lightest full-size tablet Apple has ever created.   To get an idea of the magnitude of this accomplishment let's look at a comparson of the dimensions of the iPad Air and its predecessor the iPad 4.

Dimensions

iPad Air: 240x169.5x7.5mm, weighing 478g
iPad 4: 241.2x185.7x9.4mm, weighing 662g

If you were wondering how Apple's engineers were able to achieve this, it comes down to good ole fashioned design ingenuity and innovation.   

• Thinner Bezel - The bezel around the iPad Air display is 7.5mm thick compared with the iPad 4's 9.4mm bezel -- a reduction in the bezel of 43 percent.
• Aluminum Chasis - The iPad Air kept the lightweight aluminium chassis of the iPad 4, but due to a thinner and lighter A7 microprocessor chip and thinner bezel, the aluminum chasis is also thinner and contributes to the overall lower weight. 
• A7 Microprocessor - The iPad Air is equipped with the new A7 microprocessor chip with 64-bit architecture which is blazzingly fast:  Processes data 4 times faster than the A6 chip and displays graphics 8 times faster.  Apple was also able to shrink the down the process with which the A7 chip was made from 32 nanometers to just 28 nanometers--remember, the smaller a chip is, the less electricity it needs to run--meaning that, not only is the A7 chip powerful enough to drive an iPad's Retina Display, it's more power-efficient too.
• Power Saving Retina Display - The iPaid Air is rumored to be using Sharp's indium gallium zinc oxide or IGZO thin-film transistor display technology (or something like it). IGZO allows more light from a display's backlight to shine through to the pixels of the screen to produce a brighter display without draining excessive power from the battery. During the iPad unveiling event, Apple quietly made mention in their presentation unveiling the new iPad Air and Retina iPad mini that both devices used "improved backside illumination."
  

With the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, Apple has been able to finally ditch the much thicker and power-draining A6 microprocessor.  The 64-bit A7 chip that Apple debuted with the iPhone 5s has powerful enough graphics in its default configuration to handle a 3-million-pixel-plus Retina Display. Apple was also able to shrink the down the process with which the A7 chip was made from 32 nanometers to just 28 nanometers--remember, the smaller a chip is, the less electricity it needs to run--meaning that, not only is the A7 chip powerful enough to drive an iPad's Retina Display, it's more power-efficient too. 

Courtesy of an article dated October 22, 2013 appearing in The Verge, an article date October 22, 2013 appearing in The Verge, an article dated October 23, 2013 appearing in Business Insider, an article dated October 24, 2013 appearing in The Gazelle, an article dated October 22 2013 appearing in Mashable, an article dated October 22, 2013 appearing in Forbes, an article dated October 23, 2013 appearing in The Inquirer, an article dated October 22, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design

HOW A SWEDISH ARCHITECT TENGBOM, HOPES ITS "SMART STUDENT UNIT" PODS WILL SOLVE THE HIGH COST OF STUDENT HOUSING

A few years ago, Swedish student housing company AF Bostäder stuck a young woman from the city of Lund inside a tiny house-box--not even 10 meters squared. (Click Image To Enlarge)

HOUSING IS EXPENSIVE.  SO WHY NOT HAVE STUDENTS LIVE IN CUBES THEY CAN AFFORD? THAT'S THE IDEA BEHIND THE "SMART STUDENT UNIT." 

A few years ago, Swedish student housing company AF Bostäder had a young woman from the city of Lund inside live in a tiny house-box--not even 10 square meters large--to test the idea of a cheap, cheerful, and environmentally friendly “smart student unit" that included a toilet, kitchen, and bed.  Linda Camara of Tengbom Architects, the company behind the 2013 iteration of the living pod--a petite vision in pale wood offset with lime green plant pots, cushions and stools, says. 

“I think she still lives there.” 

It was to test the idea of a cheap, cheerful and environmentally friendly "smart student unit" that included a toilet, kitchen, and bed. (Click Image To Enlarge)

"I think she still lives there," says Linda Camara of Tengbom Architects, the company behind the 2013 iteration of the living pod--a petite vision in pale wood offset with lime green plant pots, cushions, and stools. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The premise for the cube, which has been in the works since 2007, is reasonable enough -- students live and die on cheap housing, but everyone needs a toilet. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The premise for the cube, which has been in the works since 2007, is reasonable enough: students live and die on cheap housing, but everyone needs a toilet. It’s taken six years to whittle the tiny houses down to the current cross-laminated wooden test model form. The large kitchen was squirreled away in the original blueprint, but Tengbom redesigned it as the prime area after student feedback. The current space-efficient design, complete with a patio and vaulted sleeping area, lowers standard rent rates by 50%--music to the ears of any economically bereft twentysomething.

It’s taken six years to whittle the tiny houses down to the current cross-laminated wooden test model form. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The current space-efficient design, complete with a patio and vaulted sleeping area, lowers standard rent rates by 50%--music to the ears of any economically bereft twentysomething. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Swedish housing regulations require student apartments to cover a minimum of 25 square meters, but Tengbom’s cubes, designed for students at the University of Lund, are the first known exception. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Swedish housing regulations require student apartments to cover a minimum of 25 square meters, but Tengbom’s cubes, designed for students at the University of Lund, are the first known exception.  Camara says.  

“We have a huge lack of student units in Sweden.  Social sustainability is to get more cost-efficient buildings fast and with high quality.”

"We have a huge lack of student units in Sweden," says Camara. "Social sustainability is to get more cost-efficient buildings fast and with high quality". (Click Image To Enlarge)

The units are built with cross-laminated wood sourced from Martinsons, a local manufacturer. (Click Imge To Enlarge)

The small surface area of each unit, combined with minimal transportation costs for local renewable construction materials, drives down the units’ carbon footprint. (Click Image To Enlarge)

And students won’t be freezing their socks off. "To endure the Swedish winter we need to insulate them," says Camara. "Cross laminated wood is enough for other types of houses or in warmer climate". (Click Image To Enlarge)

The units are built with locally sourced wood. The small surface area of each unit, combined with minimal transportation costs for local renewable construction materials, drives down the units’ carbon footprint. And students won’t be freezing their socks off.  Camara says.  

“To endure the Swedish winter, we need to insulate them.  Cross laminated wood is enough for other types of houses or in warmer climate, and the final version must last for 100 years at least.”

Each cube arrives on site as an Ikea-style flat pack--the test model took less than a week to put together.

Camara and the team at Tengbom will roll out a mini village in 2014, with an initial test run of 22 units arranged in blocks of eight. She’s thinking of ways to develop the project so tiny towns pop up on university campuses across Sweden, although Camara can’t promise that every unit will come with the swish green hammock hanging from the kitchen’s pseudo-ceiling in the prototype. She says.  

“The design you see here is like a concept car.  This is the dream version--and we will fight to make it real.”

The current smart student unit prototype is available for viewing until December 8 at The Virserum Museum in Sweden. For the Swedish students holding keys to the inaugural cube rollout, pooping, eating, and sleeping like a high-functioning hamster could be the new definition of the good life.

COMMENTARY:   The rapid rise in housing construction costs has driven up housing prices everywhere, not only in Sweden, but in all developed countries.  This often means higher rents, and Sweden is proof of this trend.  Linda Camara of Tengbom Architects, the firm that designed the first prototype for the "smart student unit" pod, appears to be on the right track.  I like minimalist design, functionality and practicality of the pods.  It is probably too confining for some individuals, but would be a perfect place for deep concentration and studying.  I could certainly see how some universites might flock to such a concept.  The shift to smaller, minimalist apartments is already here, especially in countries with high population densities and a lack of living space.  The pods do not take up a lot of room, and if each unit could be pre-fabricated, could be easily constructed by a couple of people in just a few days.  The units should be comfortable in both winter and summer, so they will require good insulation to keep the people cool in summer an warm in winter.  Looking forward to seeing the production model, and the finished product on university campuses throughout the world.   Linda, good luck to you.   

Courtesy of an article dated September 17, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Exist