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Innovating over the airwaves
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22/05/2008
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Innovation is not just about new technology: it can be about adapting existing technology for a different market, at a price that makes sense
There’s a new kind of consumer on the block, who at first glance seems to be a marketeer’s nightmare: technology-unaware and gadget-unfriendly – with only a passing knowledge of the Internet.
But every target audience has its needs. And Cambridge Consultants – which sponsors the New Product category in the forthcoming Innovation & Design Excellence Awards (iDEA) – has helped to develop a demonstration product for this most unpromising of niches.
The Iona Cube is a radio; an internet radio. Further than that, it’s an internet radio that requires no knowledge of the internet, wireless protocols or anything else remotely technical.
Internet radios are nothing new, but existing products are aimed squarely at tech-heads: they are commonly based on bespoke chips and revel in their status as complicated ‘gadgets’. They are unashamedly expensive.
“We wanted an internet radio that was low cost and accessible,” says Duncan Smith, head of consumer products at Cambridge Consultants. “It’s aimed at people like my Dad.”
The Iona Cube was designed to be affordable and easy to use. The radio, which plays only four stations, has no buttons. Stations are loaded via USB port (the most complex operation required), and changed by standing the cube on different faces. Volume is adjusted by turning the cube clockwise or anti-clockwise. The device is switched off by setting the loudspeaker side face down.
Smith is proud that Cambridge Consultants developed no new silicon for the product. Instead, it took an existing chip from the mobile phone industry – which is produced at huge volume – and adapted it for use in this radio.
This breakthrough in approach also led to the development of the RadioPro platform – the underpinning technology for the Iona Cube, which is owned by fellow Cambridge company CSR, a world leader in wireless technologies such as Bluetooth. The platform is based on two CSR chips – UniFi, a single-chip WiFi solution; and its Multimedia Application Processor (MAP).
“We use CSR’s chips, which are excellent – but designed for the telecoms industry,” says Smith. “One thing we are good at is taking commodity technology from one industry and using it elsewhere. This was about clever re-use of general parts – and clever software.”
The software had to be clever in another way, as it had to fit into a very small space – where it its original guise if could spread out across a Pentium chip.
Adapted technology
Adapting existing technology keeps the cost down, while the design ensures that the interface is appropriate for the target audience. Adding other freely available technologies – such as accelerometers – and wrapping it in an eye-catching industrial design helped it to develop the demonstrator technology that was showcased at the CES event in Las Vegas last year.
“It’s about innovative design and answering the needs of the consumer,” says Smith.
Several CES visitors expressed an interest in the demonstrator technology – and Smith says that the company is keen to develop it further.
“Lots of people at CES liked it,” he says. “It’s not based on unreal technology – it’s a combination of RadioPro technology and motion sensing technology. There’s no leap of faith needed.”
Far from simply proving a concept, Smith believes that the work it has done on the Iona Cube is a real step towards opening up internet radio.
“If internet radio is really going to take off, it needs to be cheaper,” he says.
He says that the potential is already there: there are thousands of radio stations worldwide, many of them available on the internet. A device like Iona Cube allows access to all of them – as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection.
“You could take this device to Shanghai and still access the same stations,” he says. “It’s a truly global product.”
For Cambridge Consultants, innovation is as much about the method as it is about the creativity of the engineers that develop the product. It is a combination of technology, structure and the right creative people.
“Innovation does not have to be about new technology and new features,” says Smith. “It can be about hitting a new price point, or making a product accessible enough.”
* Cambridge Consultants sponsors the ‘New Product’ category in this year’s Innovation & Design Excellence Awards (iDEA 2008).
Medical connections
WiFi has uses beyond the frivolity of listening to your favourite radio station. One future application of this type of technology is to connect personal medical information to the internet.
Cambridge Consultants has demonstrated its Vena platform, which allows medical devices such as blood pressure monitors to transmit data wirelessly. It allows people – especially those with chronic conditions – the chance to monitor their own health accurately.
Using low-cost wireless technology, it will allow devices to deliver medical readings to a central monitor in the home, or to an online health record such as Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault. The Vena software solution could be added to a medical device for as little as US $10 (£5) – and could be available by the end of this year.
“The idea of an internet-enabled product is meaningless unless you think of something to do with it,” says Smith. “Before, it would have cost you lots of money and power to connect to the internet – but not any more.”
Cube questions
Q: There are thousands of radio stations available. Why only four on the Iona Cube?
A: Radio listeners have very conserative needs, says Smith, and tend to listen to the same stations. Once they decide which stations they like, they stick with them. For this reason, he says, a choice of four stations was more than enough. The main variation is in types of listener – so he envisages differently coloured radios, such as one for sports fans, one for classical music buffs, and so on.
Q: What’s the underpinning technology?
A: CSR’s UniFi chip, developed for its VoIP (Voice over internet Protocol) applications– allowing you to hear Skype calls in your mobile earpiece – is the basis of this technology. Instead of using an expensive ARM core, or a specifically designed chip, the Iona Cube uses existing technology “that’s already a good way of connecting audio to the internet” says Smith.
Q: What’s to prevent it becoming a fully commercial product?
A: The technology behind the device is already well-proven. But, says Smith, customising it to applications and optimising it is not trivial. Making a commercial product is certainly achievable “with some work”, he says.
“Concept products are fine, but turning them into mass produceable, reliable, fully completed and validated products takes a lot of skill.”
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Cambridge Consultants
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