The $70 Egg Tray and the Last Inch of Convenience

We’re on the brink of an explosion in home automation.  All of the technologies that make it possible are moving forward at light speed now.

The only question is:  how will it arrive?

The work we’ve been doing here on the future of the American Dream provides us with some insight into what the answer won’t be.

It won’t be: automation that solves the last inch of convenience.  For example, here’s a smart egg tray built by the company Quirky.

This egg tray actively measures the weight of each egg it holds, to find rotten eggs.

When it finds a rotten egg, it sends an alert to your iPhone.

Wait for it.  Here’s the price.

Ouch.  No sale.

The problem with this product isn’t only the price.   I’d expect nearly any new form of home automation to be expensive during the early phases of this technological roll-out.

The big problem with this is conceptual.  It’s a product that automates convenience.  The problem is that we are already very comfortable and the extra inch of convenience it offers the buyer is so small, it’s not worth even a dollar or two more than a standard egg tray.  Quirky isn’t alone in that.  The same conceptual problem is true with nearly every other form of home automation I’ve reviewed recently.

We don’t have a problem with convenience.

Our problem is achieving the American Dream and these products won’t help us do it.

JR

01. December 2013 by John RobbCategories: Food, HomeFree, Interior | 2 comments