EEVblog > EEVblog Specific

EEV Blog 106 - Top 5 tips to bring your product to market

(1/5) > >>

Simon:
Well thanks Dave for tackling a subject I started on the forum with a video post.

Now that I know how patents work, yea agreed a waste of time. I found all of your comments interesting and probably true. I don't think though that open source is always the way to go. In my case I'm designing for a few old boys that can't get enough of their vintage cars. So opens source is no help as really they just want to buy the thing knowing that it is bullet proof end of.

I'm actually aware that there is another person who has been trying to do the same thing as me but has never achieved it so really the last thing I need to do is "give it away".

I did cling to the idea of a MCU, in the beginning I had the choice of analogue or MCU and while I did throw an analogue version to paper I always preferred the MCU version as i knew it was more difficult to duplicate and it left more headroom for development. That headroom has already been taken up and now MCU control is the only way. Having said that it's not a complex design and really if a chinese manufacturer got hold of it (not that it's worth them bothering due to the tiny market) it would be easy to guess the basic principles the circuit works on and rebuild it.

I think my main advantage is touching on the "national pride" (ahem ahem do we still have that ?) in having a product designed and built in the UK.

Advertising yes a waste of time (baring a bit of fun) if you hit a niche market I think word spreads.

Well thats all from me, anyone else got experiences with designing something they want to market or have any ideas on copy protecting

jahonen:
I posted this some time ago. But, in the end, if someone really wants to make a copy, he eventually will, regardless how much effort you put to the copy protection.

Cyclone III LS seems pretty good, but I think that in this case, the cost increase is not justified. Multilayer board with all the critical traces buried inside is also a nice obstacle for average hacker, and it becomes even better when using "BGA"- or "QFN"-style components.

Regards,
Janne

EEVblog:

--- Quote from: Simon on August 22, 2010, 07:09:54 am ---Now that I know how patents work, yea agreed a waste of time. I found all of your comments interesting and probably true. I don't think though that open source is always the way to go. In my case I'm designing for a few old boys that can't get enough of their vintage cars. So opens source is no help as really they just want to buy the thing knowing that it is bullet proof end of.

--- End quote ---

Sure, no point in open source if it offers no advantage in your particular market.
Markets are as infinite as products are.

Dave.

Simon:
@ Jahonen

Yes I remember that post. The 4 layer board is a good idea, but then that certainly means having it made by a board manufacturer and i expect more complex assembly ?

Simon:

--- Quote from: EEVblog on August 22, 2010, 08:31:22 am ---
--- Quote from: Simon on August 22, 2010, 07:09:54 am ---Now that I know how patents work, yea agreed a waste of time. I found all of your comments interesting and probably true. I don't think though that open source is always the way to go. In my case I'm designing for a few old boys that can't get enough of their vintage cars. So opens source is no help as really they just want to buy the thing knowing that it is bullet proof end of.

--- End quote ---

Sure, no point in open source if it offers no advantage in your particular market.
Markets are as infinite as products are.

Dave.

--- End quote ---

I just have to hope the guy that is also trying to build the project is not savy enough to understand micro controllers, hopefully he's some old boy to whom transistors are a novelty

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page