Here is how Best Buy can squash you. This is a proposal I made to Best Buy when I was employee. Luckily for this industry, they didn’t bite. (True story.)
In order for any industry to cross the chasm into mainstream, there needs to be a killer app. If you haven’t read “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore, then do so. The “industry” in this case is integrated consumer electronic systems.
Best Buy, the No. 1 company on the CE Pro 100, has the killer app… its purchasing power.
If Best Buy says to a flat panel manufacturer: “We will buy XXX containers of TVs if you put a blue LED button on the back. When someone presses and holds the button, it goes into pairing mode (think Bluetooth pairing). The ZigBee channel opens and will pair with a remote that is also in pairing mode. The TV sends its User Interface and its communication commands to the remote control via the wireless protocol and now the Best Buy remote has bi-directional control.”
This proposal would leverage existing CEMA standards and all Best Buy needs is have someone like Logitech to OEM a remote control that is proprietary to Best Buy. This remote has a blue button that puts the remote into pairing mode as needed. An app is also an obvious need.
If Best Buy makes the same deal with many other devices and BOOM… you have an integrated system that is truly plug and play. The system can throw in a little network device that goes online and looks for updates that are pushed out to remotes and devices on the network. Best Buy could even sell lighting control, thermostats, garage door openers, washing machines… you name it… and each one has a blue button on it.
Now Best Buy “owns” the customers.
SEE RELATED: CE Pro 100 Brand Analysis
I bet the first comments to this post are going to be about how to integrate non-blue-button devices into the system. The argument will be something like: “We have these shades that are contact closure or RF or IR or IP or RS232 (for example). There is a lot of legacy and non-blue-button devices that will make this whole thing come apart.” For the outer ends of the bell curve, yes. For the majority of consumers, no.
What will happen when a standard like this kicks in is that all the other mainstream players will want a blue button. The biggest impediment to mainstream sales in this industry is that it is a pain in the ass to use the crap we sell. Once the main stream has an easy solution, customers and manufacturers will jump on board.
From a customer standpoint, even “Apple haters” probably have an App from the Apple App Store on their phone.
On the manufacturer side, I can foresee companies like Hunter Douglas will quickly put a blue button on its shades. Eventually, even begrudging manufacturers will jump on the bandwagon… they will have to if they want marketshare.
Once Best Buy crosses the chasm… it’s game over.
Luckily for the industry, Best Buy didn’t bite on my proposal!
