Taking something old and making it new….
The age old question, are there still any original idea’s out there? Sometimes it’s a tough one to answer. There have been billions of people whom have lived before us and there are over 5 billion currently on the earth today. So to really come up with a brand new concept or idea is really a rarity. Often I’ve had friends and family tell me they’ve come up with the greatest new idea, but then get disappointed when they see their idea either being manufactured or they see it written about on the Internet. What you need to ask yourself though, is this concept or idea solving the issue that instigated your inspiration. In other words, is your idea actually being utilized or applied in the real world. Is your idea being used, sold, or applied in any industry or business? Is your idea useful to others, does it solve a need?
But what if you can’t invent cold fusion? What if your just not that creative or inspired? Maybe your thinking too hard, perhaps answers are in everyday things we use or employ in our lives. Often it is said that necessity is the mother of invention. However there are other factors as important as just coming up with a solution to a problem. It’s called production and distribution! If you don’t create it you can’t sell it. If you can’t sell it then why create it?
The simple cold reality is that your invention or idea needs to be realistic. It needs the ability to fit into some type of business model of distribution and sales. The true potential of your product is dependent on it’s retail appeal. One such example that I found recently was what we all know as a flashlight.
Flashlights were invented in the late 19th century. A gentleman by the name of Conrad Hubert applied for the first patent with the US patent office in 1903. The first flashlight was surprisingly similar to the version we see today.
Naturally you’d think that flashlight designs would change drastically in the next 105 years, and there is no question that there are hundreds if not thousands of variations and concepts of the original flashlight. But strangely the cylinder design is still the most common version being sold today. Therefore the following question begs to be made, “If everyone has been selling the same version of this product for the last 105 years, what possibly can be done to make this product appeal as something new and fresh?”.
There are hundreds of competitors out there right now attempting to do so. The hottest and perhaps most economic and efficient version of the flashlight is the new LED technology. LED’s are electrical diodes that
are similar to electrical transistors. They produce very little heat, and can last for long periods of intense use. The problem in the past was the cost of producing these LED’s which were very similar to semi conductors. As we’ve seen with increased competition in Asian markets, these lights and the technology to
produce them have advanced significantly, along with reducing their cost to the average consumer.
Therefore the appeal of LED lights has picked up significantly over the past 10 years and there are new versions of these lights coming out each day. One version of this light is produced by a company called, Outback Flashlights, they manufacture a similar LED flashlight with nice shiny LED bulbs, and they are similar to many of their competitors. They’re put together exceptionally well and from what I know the company has had very few returns for quality issues. The difference with this company is that they offer a product with a RAINBOW of options.
In other words they appeal to our vanity! Sure they are still great for the glove box, camping, boating, hiking, power outages, weather related disasters, 72 hour packs, etc.
But now they appeal to our vanity. They come in pretty floral wraps, multiple colors, sports logo’s, custom designs. In other words they’re finally more interesting then just a gray or black colored cylinder with a light at the end of it!
Again, new idea’s maybe just a twist of an old idea. It’s just a matter of how it’s presented to the end consumer.
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