Jawbone UP, UP and away innovation?

Recently the Jawbone UP has been released and among a flash of controversy the general review is the same, no Bluetooth causes it's demise. Fast Company Design says yes. But does it? No.

What typical innovation but more specifically NPD experts know is that version 1 is seldom "the breaker." Now what is important is that "breaking" is the key to innovation as described by Schumpeter who is the originator of the word and the specifier. Did iTunes break the model of music distribution? Yes. Is Jawbone's UP breaking the model of sleep management and training? No. Therefore there is no other way than to wait for version 2 to determine UP's validity and efficacy.

As early as 2006 previous research with Fujistu the OM system was developed to address the same problems and that of e-health. The result, a fully integrated system for the “gaming” of heath and monitoring, but far too ahead of the marketplace.

Does this mean UP is a failure? Hardly. Looking at the competitors there is little cause for alarm and certainly UP v1 will not be the last we see of the product. The big question is, can they crack the Bluetooth issue? Should they NEED to? No there are better interface solutions. Will the public accept that? Here is the question to be answered.

design R&D means whole new classes of ROI

Often it is the simplest of design queues that can transform an entire category of objects and object interaction. Take for instance the square slide model, which can be seen on the new class of windows phones as well as PULSE the rss news reader developed by alphonso labs and 1st debuted by Steve Jobs for the iPad2 launch.

Originally "designed" possibly as early as 2000 w/Fukawasa's info bar phone which is now in the MOMA collection uses a particular design aesthetic which now drives a newer version of the phone and which dovetails into the slide interface model which has been patented, licensed and of course now protects a substantial ROI for the companies involved in the commercialization of the design.

The complete article here has an excellent video in Japanese of the InfoBar phone and the UI interface along with the original designs and background. Summary: Design &D leads to proper ROI when combined with IP protection steps and a continuing commitment to new product development rollout.