Small and beautiful, high on the big, this is Taiwan

Taipei Notes: "This is not science," but this is the logic of Taiwan's smart hardware

Intelligent Feeder Bistro Pre-sale price of 199 U.S. dollars;

Sperm tester iSperm199 dollars;

Portable microscope Μhandy price 199 USD;

Children's smart watch jumpy pre-sale price of 99 U.S. dollars;

Smart Home Central Sentri pre-sale price of 299 U.S. dollars.

"It's so expensive, it's not scientific." The first time I heard the price of these products, I thought I heard it wrong. With the founders again, I found that I really did not hear wrong.

Originally I forgot, this is not Beijing, not popular free mode; this is not Shenzhen, there is no manufacturing advantage.

This is Taipei.

Although only a hurried four days, although only met a few hardware team, but the difference between smart hardware is still blowing, both fresh and curious.

Expensive, is my first impression of Taiwan's smart hardware. Moto 360 only to sell 299 U.S. dollars, Samsung Gear Watch sold 199 U.S. dollars, domestic 49 yuan socket, 99 yuan hand ring, 199 yuan watches a lot, the impression that the price of more than 100 dollars in hardware is really not too much. This is not science, as Taiwanese entrepreneurs see it. Μhandy and Isperm's founders were puzzled to say, "We are a knowledge-based economy."

It is no wonder that in Shenzhen can easily buy cheap components, in the mainland always find inexpensive equipment, in Taiwan it is difficult to imagine. In Taipei to have a 3D printer, laser engraving machine famous fab Cafe, has a children's shoes tell 36 Krypton, now Taiwan's culture hing, can buy a variety of cheap components taobao work. components, materials procurement of high prices, high time costs, coupled with the high cost of factory production, the cost is relatively higher.

In fact, the mainland hardware manufacturers are not unwilling to make money, just from the internet era on the popular "Free Mode", "wool out in the pig bear" logic deep-rooted, "user base" and "imaginary space" are to VC can not be less sharp weapon, so "hardware cost price, service charges" is the general trend, First to the low price for users, and then figure profit model. Not to do so, users do not buy, let alone to deal with competition. In Taiwan, this free model is hard to imagine. This time in Taiwan, Cheetah CEO Fu also told stories about their recruitment, everyone he interviewed the first question will ask "Your software free, how to make money," later explained tired, can only tell each other "this question in the mainland has no one asked, you also don't ask it?". Taiwan's industrial development of entrepreneurs, or sell goods, Tob thinking, it is difficult to understand the Internet "spend today's money, earn tomorrow's money."

If you understand what you can do, you have to be rich. In the mainland, product creativity has a good prospect, the wind is competing for money, project card position, development smooth, the giant Rob to send money. In Taiwan, taking money is not that easy. After 2000 years of economic crisis, Taiwanese people no longer trust money, banks or even real estate, and tend to invest in antiquities and antiques. Where money comes from tends to go where, the investment organization's money often does not come from the Internet, it is very difficult to throw into the Internet. In addition, Taiwan's investment in the overall trend towards the electricity quotient, games, advertising and other models have been validated, other TMT field entrepreneurs often can only find their own way to scrape up the first money to start. Taiwan's PC manufacturing industry, after the rise of the internet has not been able to develop a wave, did not like the mainland to develop a wave like Baidu, Ali, Tencent, the same well-known large companies, do not need to continue to plough deep mobile internet layout. Hardware entrepreneurship is different from software entrepreneurship, to find a few programmers job can be basically done, not only related to hardware and software, as well as production, manufacturing, sales, after the sale of the cost of the link. Taiwanese entrepreneurs are not so easy to get together with this start-up fund, how willing to burn money?

Low-price promotion can not go through, only through the product to attract users. Formally, Taiwan's smart hardware presents a small but beautiful, multi-functional features.

Whether this is the time I have been exposed to the intelligent feeder bistro, sperm detector isperm, portable microscope Μhandy, children's smart watch jumpy, smart home Center Sentri, or the previous understanding of the movement detection equipment gomore, have shown a small and beautiful characteristics. Completely original, there is no need to say. From the design, product logic to the use of the scene are emitting a small fresh temperament, a love of breath. For example, the Intelligent feeder Bistro has increased the cat face recognition function, the child Intelligent Watch jumpy the main parent-child interaction idea, all has the love. Smart Home Central Sentri want to do the user's home super housekeeper, like nest as logical, rather than forced to do smart home center; Gomore is not only monitoring the movement of data, but to find ways to give you the solution, but also very small and fresh. It is not that these Taiwanese projects will be successful, but they are always more than the mainland entrepreneurs generally think one step further, the product has a different temperament.

Investment Hard-won, iterative economic pressure, and make Taiwan's smart hardware universal multi-function. When I report Bistro, Sentri, jumpy, I always find it difficult to say a word clearly about the function of the door. Selling the business logic, so that entrepreneurs will always add new features, more demanding, hoping to meet the needs of more users experience. However, this will increase the risk and cost of product operation, after-sale and maintenance. But, because now their products are basically not shipped, the risk has not been revealed.

So the question is, is there a market for small, beautiful Taiwanese smart hardware?

As long as a good product, there will be a market, there will be people to pay, and location-independent. Taiwan, although only 23 million people, but look around the world, and what kind of smart hardware products can really have tens shipments. But Taiwan's external relations have not been interrupted, the Taiwanese people generally have an international vision, coupled with the minds of foreign people and the semiconductor industry in the era of accumulation and word-of-mouth, internationalization is easier than the mainland entrepreneurs.

However, the real restrictions on Taiwanese entrepreneurs may still be industrialized way of thinking, although do is to C products, but to B inertia is too strong, always unconsciously on the road to sell pure hardware products, 5% of the profit is enough, take it slow. In the "only fast-breaking" internet age, this is really unscientific.