Oct 11 2009
What you probably won’t see at CES
A hidden camera tour of Shanzai markets.
I have long been a fan of the more innovative bright and shiny products dangled in front of the consumer electronics enthusiast. I’ve been privvy to some things that should never have hit the market and others that caught on in marvelously successful ways simply because someone had the guts to introduce them. My travels have taken me to trade shows around the world, most notably Computex in Taiwan where I saw products that I knew would shape consumer electronics markets in the West.
But nothing can compete with some of the innovations I have been noticing online on http://www.shanzai.com. On this site is a video of a stealth adventure into the protected kingdom of Shanzai, the Mountain Bandits in China, renegade developers who are creating new products that may someday find their way to the North American market (provided they can pass US Customs, UL, FCC and other obstacles to commercial success in the West).
Looking at this video, the passion of the customers and the nature of some of the products on Shanzai.com make me realize how conservative we are in North America, testing, re-testing so no one takes it in the financial shorts bringing a chancy product to this market. Here for your enjoyment is a rare tour into the markets in Shanzai taken with a hidden camera. Some products are oddly charming, some are brute knockoffs of well established objects of desire (iPhones) but without a lot of the functionality. These are mashups of technologies and designs, new variations on a theme (made possible not by Paganini but by fully integrated CPU and chipset platforms that make the development of new mobile devices far less risky).
You probably won’t find these products on the show floor at CES because regulations, certifications and US Customs simply won’t let these electronic oddities into the US for sale, but someday compliant versions of some of them may find their way to your local retailer.
Consider this article to be an open invitation to the Mountain Bandits to join us at Lunch at Piero’s. I’ll provide you a demo table so you can showcase your products just because it’ll be fun. Contact me at patmeier [at] lunchat.com.
Nice to see, but out of date, according to the date stamp of 18h January 2007!
Very Simular to Hong Kong when I was there.
Unfortuantely this video doews not show any features that will not be at CES, it only shows some different phone types such as teddy bears.
No real inovation shown.