Startup Idea of the Day: Desktop Tamagotchi

Perhaps you don’t remember one tiny little toy which was pretty much everywhere in the late 90s — the たまごっち, or in plain english: the Tamagotchi. For those of you who don’t remember this (pretty much everyone who was not a child at the time) this is a small device with a screen of a calculator, whose main purpose is to be a “virtual” pet. In other words: you have to feed it, play with it and wash it. And yes, it has notifications if you fail to take care of it (albeit with very different moral consequences than what taking care of a real pet would have).

Actually I did have one of those. It was of a dog, and was also shaped like one. I remember that it was fun to play*. After this my mother had to get up early in the morning to take care of it… I remember I stopped playing with it after I saw another kind at school who had one tamagotchi with 30 animals available in it.

But what I am about to say might shock you — perhaps it is the time to bring the Tamagotchi back? Something that is more in touch with the zeitgeist. Something that grown up people can also use and enjoy. Something like Clippy, but with an advanced AI and a suite of productivity tools.

Imagine that you can use your microphone to talk to it and it can talk back; play games with it, ask it about the weather… Imagine a Google Now with a face and personality. The possibilities are limitless.

Please, someone build it!

*for a day