Interview with CEO: Hardware start-ups have opportunities

(Liu, chief medical officer, Kowloon)

Domestic investment in the field of intelligent hardware is not many manufacturers, Tianjin, nine, a home. From 2011 to do with the ipad to connect the smart Sphygmomanometer, launched Ihealth series brand Intelligent Products, has been 3 years, the product also expanded to 5 categories more than 10, is a good market-oriented smart equipment manufacturers.

On Macworld Asia, I had a close 40-minute interview with the president of Liu. He talked a lot about the current understanding of the smart hardware market, and what they did, and it was very useful for startups and teams.

According to his experience, as long as the traditional hardware and smart equipment docking point, can give users the value of products, is a good idea, can be implemented immediately. Is the Chinese market immature? It does not matter, find the world's mature market to sell, quasi.

I have summed up his core points for these points:

1, the hardware and the Internet are very different, but the opportunity is also very big.

2, do smart hardware start-up to rely on time accumulation, trial and error.

3, to do medical equipment certification threshold.

4, to have an international perspective, the product to get a mature market to sell.

5, make a watch difficult in the definition of products, do medical equipment difficult in the portable.

In the beginning, he came straight to me about the difference between the Internet and the hardware industry: "When the internet is up, young people can finished it, because the internet is just a new way of information-making and socializing, without any other expertise." But the hardware involves the manufacture, the craft, the quality control many aspects, must rely on the unceasing trial and error and the experience accumulation to solve. ”

The implication is that although the smart hardware market is still a piece of paper, it takes effort and time to reach it.

Nine Ann since 95 to do electronic sphygmomanometer, accumulated 18 years, Liu that this is the advantage of the nine Ann. Now nine Ihealth brand has blood pressure, weight, blood sugar, blood oxygen, sports record five series, nearly 10 products. Annual sales of 50% to 100% growth. Their products are manufactured in Tianjin's own factory, the share second only to Omron.

(Nine-Ann wrist sphygmomanometer)

Certification threshold

Liu repeatedly mentioned the difficulty of medical product certification, the state Food and Drug Administration for different classification of medical devices different certification, if you do not have experience or background, certification time will be very long.

Sports Recorder certification will be simpler, but like sphygmomanometer, blood glucose meter products such as, get the U.S. FDA, European CE certification for at least six months to a year, China's certification to a year. If there is no experience and background of those who want to take these certification two years, three years can also be possible.

(AM3 Sports Watch)

Push Sports Watch

This time the nine Ann introduced is a can record the movement data the watch AM3, the starting point is sees now many movement bracelet, the watch data must transmit to the handset to see, they hoped that this data can see directly on the watch, also can with the handset synchronization.

The price is 599 yuan, cheaper than the Jawbone Up hand ring. The price set is not high, he said it is hope to popularize a little, this is also Ihealth's first domestic listed products.

It's hard to make a watch. Define Product

Liu that the difficulty in making a smart watch is: Define the product, how you define your product, define it and achieve it, so that consumers can be satisfied and consumers can accept it.

From the Research and development project to the launch of products, Liu that they will be a year to two years. The current team of software and hardware is close to 1:1, research and development team close to 300 people.

Nine Ann put a variety of different functions of health equipment and mobile phone with the same client, which will be in the future if the health screening platform to provide a basis.

Industry shuffle everyone has a chance

Hardware is the traditional hardware, now turned into hardware, APP, cloud, product form on the original hardware shape may be subversive, the industry shuffle, for all the people are the same.

On the rise of domestic wear equipment, he believes that the first step is to seize the moment. The second is to have a global perspective. "It's not just beginning in China, it's beginning in the world, so your product has a world-class product with innovation, just like we did three years ago in Silicon Valley," he said. "he said.

Small Team Global Vision

Now small companies and entrepreneurial teams are better suited to enter this field, without any baggage, can be fully defined by the future products. Because the rules of the game changed, not in accordance with the previous play, but the old company has baggage, the old company indulged in their original results, not a strong change of consciousness is not very fast.

"There is no need to be limited to the domestic market, the United States can, the United States is just beginning, and China has a strong hardware manufacturing advantage." "Liu said that the hardware and software combination of products only to start, watch, bracelet is not necessarily the real model, can be defined by you."

Looking for a way to start a business

What are the chances of comparison? Liu tells you to judge: The first step is to see if a product's hardware is connected to the iphone. After the second company has not added value to consumers, consumers can pay for these value-added. If this can be, the price generated by the original hardware prices will not be too big difference will not be a huge difference, you can start a business.

Sell the product to a ripe market

One of his important ideas is to sell new products to mature markets. After the introduction of electronic sphygmomanometer, they think that the U.S. consumers are more mature, we should do first in the United States, sure where the consumer mature to go, so in the United States to do first in the United States to set up a company.

Liu says their products are mainly sold to the United States, to be made in the United States to make this business model. To Europe, Asia-Pacific. Why not in the Chinese market, he thinks the domestic iphone popularity, user use proficiency is not mature enough.

Dream: Make a product explosive growth

Nine Ann Traditional business is in the domestic brand, do OEM in foreign countries. Ihealtch is now an independent company set up in the United States, hoping to change from a health-care company to an internet company. Now, he says, someone has defined them as internet companies.

Although there are nearly 10 products, but we have to wait for the market more mature, with better marketing methods to make a certain product explosive growth.

Data acquisition and analysis performed by different people

Referring to the application of large data, his understanding is to push the data to the cloud.

When I mentioned that there are manufacturers to large data model comparisons, Liu that this is not necessary, just to get everyone's health data collected on the line, the rest of the third party to do, which can produce the corresponding medical O2O service.

Bottlenecks in medical wear equipment: easy to wear

Liu thinks, now do medical intelligence equipment, how to make convenient wear is the biggest problem. "Do you see which medical device is very convenient to wear?" This is the biggest problem. "he said.

I immediately asked, is there a solution? He answered four words: he was exploring.

And nine health care president Liu talk to me about the feeling is that as an early start-up company in medical intelligence equipment, JIU an has also felt some confusion, considering that this field is full of opportunities, and that he has a certain sense of superiority in entering the threshold earlier, and is puzzled by the performance of the future market.