It all started with Lulu. Just like Amazon, you can browse and buy books. With a difference – you can also sell your books. I’m not referring to old used books, I’m referring to books you wrote. From your sofa, you can sell hardcopies worldwide. And you can do the same with cds!
And then, Cafepress. You can upload books, cds but also t-shirts, cups and all sort of objects. From designer to customer. No zero-added-value intermediaries, no hang-arounds.
So, when will 2.0 make it to consumer electronics?
For example, a gifted user can design a toaster set from his/her home, and sell it worldwide. As long as creators have the right tools to communicate with manufacturing plants, it is possible. And technology is there, off-the-shelf. That’s products on-demand, that’s world 2.0.
Actually, major manufacturers do not manufacture anymore. So what’s the difference? And many already let you customize your product, like Dell or Apple computers. So, why do not take it to the next step? Why do not let customers directly define the products? Millions spent in focus groups, market research and strategies… why don’t let the market define the products they will buy in the first place?
And then, we can take it to a real 2.0, where products are defined collaboratively. But that’s been enough for a first post…
What do you think?
April 20, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hi Pau. Looking forward to see the future!
May 1, 2007 at 11:01 pm
as long as they are willing to pay for premium prices…
May 4, 2007 at 3:19 pm
a lot big interesting very much.
May 4, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Ah yes there is designing the toaster and then there is imaging the toast:
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/target_hops_on_overwhelms_trendy_toast_bandwagon_with_pop_art_toaster__6174.asp
I want to be able to have an online toaster with social networking (everyone else in
the neighborhood is making whole wheat toast – I’ll make some too) and also customized
toast, where I can be charged extra for the latest toast patterns – kinda like overpriced
ring tones for my toaster. Then I’ll be happy and the world will make sense.
May 5, 2007 at 2:37 am
I’m not sure what n8 is talking about – I mean Pau’s post is clearly about toasters
and not toaster accessories. Yes there will be Toaster Accessories 2.0 and they
will bring goodness to our communities but the fact is Toaster Accessories 2.0
won’t get any market traction until Toasters 2.0 are solid. So yes a giant web form
letting me inflict my design ideas directly on some manufacturing line would be
awesome: I mean I’m thinking two giant, loaf sized slots for toasting a whole unsliced
loaf all at once with an embedded optical sensor to ensure toasting perfection and
the whole thing covered in long gray fur and with rows of red LEDs glowing inside. That
feels like the 21st century.
May 5, 2007 at 2:57 am
Boldlentil, the LED thing exists already!
http://mocoloco.com/archives/001849.php
And what about an ‘ionizing’ sensor?
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825196.100
n8, networked toasters are THE thing!
May 5, 2007 at 3:33 am
By the way, I said a toaster, but it could very well be an iron…
Look at these customer needs, and tell me you would not get revolutionary new concepts!!!
http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/search/label/Extreme%20Ironing%20Competition
May 14, 2007 at 5:50 pm
World 2.0 websites are rapidly proliferating:
http://www.zazzle.com/
(cafepress like)
http://www.blurb.com/
(lulu like)
June 10, 2007 at 3:15 pm
[...] you can see, world 2.0 is at the next [...]
July 5, 2007 at 12:44 am
It looks like the fully customizable toaster is out there waiting for us…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/472097903/
July 5, 2007 at 12:49 am
[...] Or even better, let the customers do the D. That’s World 2.0… [...]
July 18, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Here another example of ‘the users design’ ‘the users then buy’ and ‘the freak teenager becomes millionare’
http://mophie.com/about/theatre/
October 16, 2007 at 10:28 am
Check out this open-hardware concept:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19581/?nlid=604&a=f
November 7, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Yet this one:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19678/page1/
March 31, 2008 at 11:58 pm
[...] following example has little to do with technology (well, besides the relationship with customized toast images proposed by boldlentil), but I think it is very [...]