Looking At Copycat Tech
As tech clones pop-up around the globe, VPS.NET asks “where is the originality? and are tech copycats unique to the industry?”
If you look at the new releases in both hardware and software across the tech world today, there is a striking feeling of “sameness.” It’s common to see a good idea or a design principle replicated across numerous companies and manufacturers. Suddenly the market is flooded with copycats. It’s easy to see why this is not good for innovation or the future of the industry.
Wannabe Snapchat
You don’t have to look far for examples of this. Just recently we’ve seen the third iteration of “disappearing” stories with WhatsApp’s release of Status, a “feature that lets users share photos and videos in a montage format for up to 24 hours before they disappear.” This is not the first but the second time a Facebook-owned property has copied Snapchat’s disappearing stories format.
When Instagram announced the feature in August of last year—and faced widespread accusations of being a shameless copycat—company execs were defensive about the “copying” charge and said they saw nothing wrong with the move. Instagram product boss Kevin Wall was quoted as saying: “[We] built on a format that Snapchat invented, it’s a format, [and] we believe that format will be universal.”
Wannabe Beats
Other examples include the number of headphone companies that release models extremely similar to the best-selling Beats models. The fact that nearly all smartphones look the same, and the number of live-action cameras that look extremely similar to GoPro are just examples of a trend that doesn’t seem to be going any place soon.
The question is why is this happening? And what can both the hardware and software industries do to drive more innovation? Finding out what is at the root of this seemingly risk-averse attitude is key if consumers are to remain excited and engaged in new product releases and roll outs.
Where’s the Originality?
It’s true that gadget and tech companies need to please their shareholders by rolling out products they know will sell. This could potentially be the reason behind their decisions to play it safe more often than not. But it wouldn’t hurt their brands to roll out experimental concepts, too.
In fact, as one writer said at TechCrunch—it might even help their brands. “Think if you’re an engineer at Motorola or Samsung or even a Kickstarter-bound startup. You’ve no doubt created a fantastic widget or gizmo bound for market. It’s buttoned-up, proper and bound to be loved by a wide swath of consumers. But along the way, it was likely a product design derivative that deserved more attention. Perhaps this version of the gizmo wouldn’t be a bestseller but with a little work, you, as a rockstar engineer or designer, could have turned it into a fantastic product and wished you could have shown it off just for funsies. But alas, you’re bound by an NDA that required you to burn all prototypes and early designs. Concepts can be outlets for engineers and designers.”
Industry Standards
In fact, automobile companies have been doing this for ages, in the form of production concepts that are made public despite not necessarily making it into the final vehicle. It helps consumers and industry watchers get a sense of the company’s vision and stance on innovation. It also gives competitors some motivation to up their game.
That’s why the industry should applaud attempts by companies like Motorola, who just unveiled a slew of concepts during its Mobile World Congress event including a Moto Mod VR headset, a photo printer, and a LED panel that’s interactive. Though these features may or may not ever make it to market, they demonstrate that Motorola is pushing the envelope and not simply looking to other brands and manufacturers for innovative ideas. The rest of the industry would do well and follow suit. After all, we don’t need another carbon copy smartphone on which to broadcast our disappearing stories.
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