being able to keep an eye on the device alleviates any anxiety about leaving a
hot thing unattended in an empty house. It may be a niche appliance, but it’s a
well-formed product solution.
Figure 4.12: WeMo Crock Pot and smartphone app.
Mass-market consumers don’t necessarily lack the knowledge, skill or
imagination to solve their own problems. They may be perfectly capable of
doing so but simply lack the time or have other priorities. At best they might
only have time to solve a few of them.
There is a rich market for products that solve their problems for them!
What makes a good product?
Good products seem to appeal to common sense, and new good products are
often greeted with the reaction ‘well why didn’t someone think of that
before?’. But developing good products can be far harder than our 20/20
hindsight might lead us to think. This section looks at the general qualities of a
good consumer product before considering what features come with IoT.
The product solves a real problem people have (and
makes this clear)
Most products are acquired in order to solve a problem for the user. A good
definition of the problem, and the audience, are essential to creating a clear
value proposition. This is the definition of what your product does for people,
and why they might want it.
A clearly communicated value proposition is fundamental to user experience.
When people come across a product (or service), they try to form a quick
judgment about its purpose, and whom it is for. If it’s not immediately clear
what the value proposition is, it may be dismissed: either because it is too hard
to figure out, or because it does not appear to do anything of value for that
person at that time. Worse, potential users may wrongly assume it is able to
fulfill a purpose for which it is not really suited and waste time and/or money
on a fruitless endeavor. (You may be happy to take their money in the short