The concept of Open Hardware arrived even on the Economist’s pages too.
Companies, for their part, say an open approach can help them get to market quickly with products that give customers what they want—without the need for market research. Such advantages, they say, outweigh the drawbacks of exposing what are usually seen as corporate secrets.
In some ways, open-source hardware is a throwback to the 1970s and 1980s, when early computers were sold in kits or shipped with schematic diagrams to make it easier for users to customise them. But the open-hardware trend has been reborn in recent years, thanks to the rise of the internet and the success of open-source software. Some enthusiasts point to 2005 as a crucial year: that was when work began on devices such as the RepRap (a rapid-prototyping machine that will, its makers hope, be able to replicate itself) and the TuxPhone, an open, Linux-powered mobile-phone. It was also when Sun Microsystems, a computer-maker, decided to publish the specifications of one of its microprocessors, the UltraSPARC T1.
Open-hardware business models are difficult to understand, because by turning users into product developers, they turn tradition on its head, says Eric von Hippel, professor of innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author of “Democratizing Innovation”. That makes it necessary for companies to consider the users’ motivations too, he says. “The users have a built-in business model—they build to satisfy themselves,” he says. “The business model is ‘I can get stuff for myself, I can get a better design and I can benefit.’ The innovation is paid for within the activity itself.”
As well as tapping a valuable new source of ideas, an open approach can also lead to savings in market research, as users act as focus groups, indicating what new features they would like (and then helping to develop them).
Going open-source may also help to keep customers. “Once you’ve opened the guts of a machine, you’re a much more loyal customer,” says Mr Talley, who got a Chumby for Christmas. Sun says the primary advantage of open-sourcing the designs of its processor chips is an elusive marketing boost to its other products, such as server computers. “It builds a community that will buy our hardware,” says Sridhar Vajapey, who runs Sun’s OpenSPARC program.
An alternative approach is to make money from something other than the hardware. Chumby Industries, for instance, expects to make most of its revenue by piping advertising to its devices. “It’s a traditional media model, only with user control,” says Steve Tomlin, the firm’s founder and chief executive.
Some examples of Open Hardware that can be found in the article and in the comments are:
via | Ponoko
Tags: Economy, Open Hardware
