Marketing survey for class... need YOUR help!

[m3avrck]

Ok so for my entrepreneurship class at Cornell I’m on a team developing a new type of device that could be considered a hybrid pda/laptop/tablet pc. In order for us to effectively design the device, we need to get a better understanding of the market and what features should/not be included in the device.

If you can take a few minutes and fill out our marketing survey <http://www.cilon.com/survey/> that would be much appreciated! And who knows, if all goes well, this product may actually be developed and if it is, I’ll be sure to let you all in on the details and special discounts. Thanks!

[Moses]

Filled out the survey. Seems like a very cool product! Good luck.

[m3avrck]

Thanks! It definetly has a lot of potential, let's see what we can do with it.

[Overpaid Slacker]

If the device was as slick and well thought-out as the survey, I might be helpless to resist. Just make sure it can produce images. Good luck.

JP

[m3avrck]

What do you mean produce images? As like on the LCDs?

[Overpaid Slacker]

M3avrck- if you're going to push periodical/magazine content, it's got to be able to repro the pictures/illustrations in a near-photographic quality. Produce meaning display, not reproduce, like printing (necessarily).
For example, would the recent Excellence article about Olsen's car have been nearly as cool w/o the photos? Not nearly.
As an aside, I did a lot of the content/IP work for early eBook-type stuff. I knew it'd never fly b/c it just wasn't fast/slick enough. You need almost instant access (like leafing through a mag. to find the article/picture you wanted to show your friend) as well as quick-loading images as closely related to the text as possible.
All of the foregoing is not an expert opinion in any sense, just MHO.

Best,
JP

[m3avrck]

Thanks JP! These are the same issues we were looking at and the reason we will feel eBooks will eventually make a come back, with a properly designed device.

Not only is this device eBook oriented, it is also functions as a PDA and a host of other cool things.

If you have any more opinions, anyone included, feel free to express them. All are being taken into account. Thanks!

[Overpaid Slacker]

m3avrck --
On further reflection, perhaps if you're pushing periodical content, you can make the device capable of displaying thumbnails (8-10 at a time) of the pages for a given article, so you can see all the pages at a glance, and select the one you want to jump to. From there, you can "leaf" forward or back.
JP

[m3avrck]

Yup, slacker, we are working on similar methods... the thumbnail one is definetly a little different than one of other ideas but it does sound like a good one. Thanks guys!

[cowtown]

What you're doing is exactly what I want in my next PDA - a huge foldable screen and lots of memory.

[m3avrck]

Awesome man! Hopefully we'll be able to help you out with our device *crosses fingers*

[cowtown]

m3avrck, is this project for an MBA course, or undergrad?

I remember doing a remarkably similar web survey in one of my MBA courses. The MessageMaster, the answering machine with virtual mailboxes and intelligent call forwarding.

Sure enough, something very similar came out about a year later. But we had all gone on to "real" jobs by then. Ahhh, missed opportunities.

[m3avrck]

Undergrad course, but its in the business school, and so they are grad school students in it. Yeah it's a great opportunity and one I don't want to pass up.