Connecting and being connected is so everyday that it is has become expected. Ubiquitous. Even demanded. The trend of creating connected devices or popularly known as ‘appcessories' is affecting nearly every market - from a pharmaceutical company that wants a wireless inhaler to measure compliance, to a sporting goods manufacturer wanting to offer performance/technique tracking, or a lighting and heating controls company aiming to enable smart homes and offices.
Cambridge consultants, world's leading product design and development firm has come out with the top 10 things companies need to consider when creating connected devices.
1. Define Minimum Viable Product: An uncompromisable set of written down statements or parameters that fulfils ergonomics, product design and customer needs allowing companies to remain in control of development costs for eg, functionality, weight, size, user frequency.
2. Electronics: There's no point designing something small and beautiful if companies can't produce working electronics that can fit inside. For developing unique products, companies need to go beyond tried and tested original design manufacturer (ODM). Instead they should look for development partners that can ‘bend' the laws of physics to realize the ‘wow' factor in the new product.
3. Interaction and user experience: Map out the desired user experience -from first use to everyday use to end of life - before embarking on the product design. Any device must convey brand values and the message a company wishes to deliver - be that quality, reliability, robustness, fun, discreetness or professionalism.
4. Power and batteries: Simply changing the frequency of blinking LED can double a battery life. Therefore knowing which optimization gives the greatest benefit to the device is valuable. This is where the system architect comes in - they will make sure the company's development budget is spent in the areas where it has the greatest effect.
5. Radios and antennas: To push the performance of a device, custom design antennas can increase the communication range and reliability while keeping the size minimal. Radio users need to take note of legislations that require them to operate and schedule time to perform compliance testing via certified test house.
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