Why The Cool Stuff Doesn’t Get To The U.S.
I stopped reading Engadget and Gizmodo because they were always talking about cool cell phones and other gadgets that I just knew were never going to make it to the United States, much less Utah. I was sick of hearing about the cool stuff in South Korea and Taiwan. It was making me jealous and there was nothing I could do about. NewsFactor Network has the reason why those cool toys don’t make it to us:
I always thought that the demand for bright pink phones with fur wasn’t high enough, now I realize that companies try things in their country first to make sure they’ll fly here. Here are the reasons cool gadgets don’t make it to the States:
Work out the bugs: Manufacturers like to release products in their home countries to work out the bugs and product defects. It easier to deal with them before exporting them to the States.
Test demand: They want to release a small batch of a product to test the market. Just because the consumer testing says there’s a demand, doesn’t mean there really is one.
Sometimes it just won’t work: Some products don’t work as well in the States as they do in other countries because our systems (telecom companies, broadband companies, etc.) are different.
Consumer VS. Business: Japan gadget sales are driven more buy consumers, whereas businesses are the driving factor to gadget sales in the United States.
The Best Vs. Good Enough: Other cultures are more willing to pay a premium for the best, fastest and smallest, whereas the perception of the United States is that we want something that is “good enough.â€
Horrible Profit Margin: The cost of exporting products is steep and can cut profit margins down to nothing.
Difference in Patent Law: Since our patent laws are so different, it creates a huge workload to export technology and try to protect your patent in all the countries.
I always felt like manufacturers in other countries underestimated our respect for smallest and fastest, but that is only one factor in the huge equation. It feels so much better to know the reason that I can’t get that cool ultra-tiny GPS phone from Europe.