Hardware is the new software.
Indeed it is.
A lot is going on in the world. Chaos, really. I mean—first with Flappy Bird being taken away from us (Why God, why?!), then Fallon taking over for Leno (Thank you God, thank you!). Things are changing. Even the Olympics aren’t the same. If I have to see one more aerial shot of Sochi beachfront during the WINTER Olympics, I’m going to turn off the TV faster than Bob Costas can say “pink eye”. Low blow—sorry Bob. But out of all the crazy, good, and not so good deviations that are taking place, I can tell you which is the most exciting: hardware. No, that was not a typo.
It’s like the late 90s all over again.
And I don’t mean that in a teenybopper kind of way (sorry to disappoint). Remember how exciting it was when all those companies were springing up out of nowhere, shaking up industries left and right? I’m talking about companies like Google and Xanga—which led to Myspace, Facebook, and…more Google. Then there’s the app gold rush that we’re still in the middle of right now. WhatsApp can thank the late 90s for paving the way to the $19 billion they just banked.
And that’s how we’ll look back on today in about 10 years.
That’s right. We’ll remember 2014 for more than just hipsters and selfies. We’ll think of companies like Vigo (a headset-like device that helps users from dozing off) and Petcube (a way to monitor and play with your pet remotely) as just a few of the pioneers from the hardware era.
What’s going on today?
Let’s take a look at the current landscape. The same kinds of developers who’ve been launching software companies are now switching to hardware. That in itself says a lot. Think about it—the talent that is known for industry disruption is now migrating.
Take Kickstarter for example. If you look on their site right now, there are 1,300 hardware projects listed (it was 1,299—but it went up by 1 while I was writing this post). And that number is only going to grow. Ever heard of incubators like 500 Startups or Y Combinator? Well, there are ones dedicated specifically to hardware, like HAXLR8R in San Francisco. The program sends hardware startup teams to China for 3 months to design, source, and build their prototypes—then return in search of financing.
If you don’t think that’s really cool—then this one-way, anonymous, online friendship of ours is never going to work.
But…why now?
You sound confused. Let me help. Right now, there’s a radical shift in the barrier to entry for hardware products. Supply chain provider companies are making the cost of manufacturing and risk super small, encouraging brilliant minds to ditch software for hardware. And as hardware becomes easier to produce, older companies like HP are bailing out because this brave new world is too fast for them (literary reference for the win).
Joi Ito, Director of MIT Media Lab, is well known for bringing science-fiction concepts to mainstream reality. In reflection of hardware being the new software, he explains:
“I don’t believe in futurists that much anymore—they are usually wrong. I’m calling myself a ‘nowist,’ and I’m trying to figure out how to build up the ability to react to anything. In other words, I want to create a certain agility.”
Sounds like we’ve got just the solution.
Surprised by your interest in the supply chain world? Learn more at news.elementum.com.
