We have been very excited about the incoming Omate Smartwatch of course we have backed the kickstarter project with our own cash.
As the project reaches its $720k stretch goal we spoke to Nick at Omate about the project and how its different from the Goliaths Samsung, Apple, Sony and Google. What we should be excited about and how it will stand out from the crowd.
So here is the interview :)
The Kickstarter campaign has been a fantastic success - and you have received a lot of support from around the media. Do you feel any pressure to deliver when you will always be compared to the Goliaths ?
The response from the media and supporters has been fantastic. We've always known we've got a great product. So we love product comparisons because there's where we win, quite literally hands down.
Have you gained enough experience from this venture to start slating a follow up device to this smartwatch ? With additional features you couldn't fit into this cycle ?
We've collected plenty of great ideas and usage wishes. That's one of the reasons we chose to launch with Kickstarter - it's not only crowd-funding, we also want to show and confirm our thoughts that there's a new way to develop products - the crowd-supported way. We've engaged with the supporters actively and this TrueSmart is already improved with new features such as the Sapphire Crystal glass (the best scratch proof). Of course there also some ideas which couldn't fit into this project since we are on a firm schedule to ship to developers in October and users from November. Currently all efforts are focused on this Kickstarter. Once this finishes, we'll immediately look at the crowd ideas and start making plans - new products as well as cool accessories for TrueSmart!
What has surprised you most from the kick start campaign, were you confident of hitting target so quickly ?
Honestly, while we were confident of our product strength and pricing, we never dreamed of such an explosive start for TrueSmart. Achieving the funding goal in less than a day - it means so much to us. It's a start-up dream come true after a long path of more than a year developing this generation leap forward to Smartwatch 2.0. Also it benefits us and everyone a lot that we were able to get started with manufacturing plans on the 2nd day already. .
#truesmartmywishapp Contest on G+ seems to be going well, have any turned your head yet ?
Yes, very much. All the ideas are fantastic. It just shows how everyone wants to use the Smartwatch differently. It's going to be a challenge for the Goliaths to cope with this new product type - very different usage for each and everyone, very different apps. That's why fast and responsive companies like Omate can deliver very well. We'll be making some of the app wishes come true on TrueSmart. Winning apps will be announced before the Kickstarter closes ends next week - you'll be the firsts to know.
Biggest challenges in production so far ?
The biggest challenge must be fitting the Sapphire Crystal glass into the production schedule. We've got all our production plan worked out, and had to make significant changes for the Sapphire Crystal glass. Luckily the Sapphire Crystal technology partner colleagues are also a Kickstarter fans - they can see how the users were so excited about the Sapphire Crystal glass. We've got fantastic support from them all the way, first priorities and they did it. Even rounding the edges of the Sapphire Crystal according to our design. Everyone knows Sapphire Crystal is the hardest material (next to Diamonds) so kudos to the experts that achieved this beautiful piece of work with the Sapphire Crystal glass. You see, once again crowd-support does add magic!
Where will the retail units be sold ? Online only or via independent sport shops or via Best Buy bricks and mortar ?
Once the Kickstarter project campaign closes, our team's (Media & Community) first task is to build, open and operate a webshop to support users with accessories and parts. Eventually you'll be also able to order TrueSmart on our webshop (after we've finished shipping to the Kickstarter supporters). This guarantees that TrueSmart, accessories and parts will always be available to all supporters anytime and anywhere in the world. We are also launching a distribution and partner network that will see TrueSmart in local sales channels including Online, Independent, Sports shops and also large retailers. We will be working with the best distributors so we can rely on them to setup the network of sales points while we focus on product innovation. Our first distributor has already been appointed - ADMEA - for France and Spain. Thirdly, we are also in discussions with Carriers/Providers.
Would you consider the kickstarter model a 'beta' like OUYA did ?
Absolutely not a beta. TrueSmart is proudly the flagship, the first breakthrough, the first of its kind redefining a new generation of Smartwatch 2.0. Other products including our next models will never replace its position as the Worlds First Smartwatch with Sapphire Crystal Glass; World's First Smartwatch with Google Play App Store; Worlds First Dual Core Smartwatch; Worlds First water-resistant Smartwatch that is both standalone and companion. It's a legend.
You're close to the end of the kickstart campaign now. What would you say to those sitting on the fence, thinking of backing your smartwatch ?
Our start-up is led by founders with credibility and experience in the industry and backed up by a team with expertise that industry insiders are able to see. The result is that you can see the access to high technology that we have is not "normal" - example the super new 28nm dual core processor that we are able to use before others, the Sapphire Crystal glass, the ultra-sensitive touchscreen. We are pioneering in this new wearable segment with you and we thank you all for your great support. High technology leaders are supporting us so do not worry too much.
Marketing against the big boys is tough for anyone - would word of mouth incentives be one way to increase sales, how will you promote the watch going forward - obviously having plenty of fans helps.
We have a different view towards marketing. It is not merely the word of mouth, yes we count on our users to do that. But the big boys know how to do use word of mouth too and some of them are already doing that eg. with smartphones, hiring troops of bloggers and commenters to spread word of mouth for their products, and sometimes negatively attacking each other in social media. We go beyond word of mouth, we engage. We have a vision to build the best product and pace ourselves in always improving the product always, engaging the community allows us to be very accurate with our product in meeting and exceeding user needs. And the fact that we can move faster, respond earlier, dedicated to work harder added with the energy of the user, the resulting a product that is way ahead of the big boys. With a far better product, accurately meeting/exceeding user needs, tuned and tweaked by users - the word of mouth and the support from community just comes naturally. A lesson we took from David, to battle the Goliaths.
You will be compared to Pebble as that too come from Kickstart, what did you learn from them or have you done things your own way ?
In terms of product, we've done things our way. You can see our product is totally different, an entire leap forward, not an incremental improvement. In terms of running a Kickstarter project, there's one thing we want to do very differently - delivery. That's why we set such a delivery schedule, could be one of the fastest in Kickstarter history. We wanted to make a statement that a Kickstarter projects can deliver on time and can be deployed. We learnt by making sure we have a strong operational team in place, including manufacturing and logistics experts. Before we submitted the project, we sat everyone down and ran through the schedules and many what-if scenarios - a deep look at "can we deliver in October" Only when we got everyone on the team was satisfied we can deliver, and are committed to delivering on time and quality, we set the delivery as October. It's an intentional statement, a dedication.
Which application of use should we be getting excited about with Truesmart ?
The freedom to be everywhere and anywhere with your smart digital life on your wrist. No more "where's the phone". No more missing phone calls because your phone is in the living room while you are making breakfast in the kitchen. And when you lose your phone (touch wood, hope it doesn't happen to you, but it does happen), no more panic no more disaster because you still have your TrueSmart.
Any exclusive info you have we can shout from the blog would be cool too :)
We are championing openness and transparency with our community, so a lot of news are announced as and when we have them. What we can offer the blog is a look behind the scenes, we think it could be interesting how the name TrueSmart just came up barely weeks before the Kickstarter while the name Omate and the development has been for more than a year. Click here to see the document for a brief story about the TrueSmart name.
Thanks Nick, very interesting and we wish you and your team all the best !
Again if you want to get in touch with Omate then you can via the links below, you can still get involved by helping the project on the official kickstart page - the link is Kickstarter campaign for Truesmart
Google+ : +Omate TrueSmart
Facebook : www.facebook.com/omatetruesmart
Twitter : www.twitter.com/omatetruesmart
Website: www.omate.com
The response from the media and supporters has been fantastic. We've always known we've got a great product. So we love product comparisons because there's where we win, quite literally hands down.
Have you gained enough experience from this venture to start slating a follow up device to this smartwatch ? With additional features you couldn't fit into this cycle ?
We've collected plenty of great ideas and usage wishes. That's one of the reasons we chose to launch with Kickstarter - it's not only crowd-funding, we also want to show and confirm our thoughts that there's a new way to develop products - the crowd-supported way. We've engaged with the supporters actively and this TrueSmart is already improved with new features such as the Sapphire Crystal glass (the best scratch proof). Of course there also some ideas which couldn't fit into this project since we are on a firm schedule to ship to developers in October and users from November. Currently all efforts are focused on this Kickstarter. Once this finishes, we'll immediately look at the crowd ideas and start making plans - new products as well as cool accessories for TrueSmart!
What has surprised you most from the kick start campaign, were you confident of hitting target so quickly ?
Honestly, while we were confident of our product strength and pricing, we never dreamed of such an explosive start for TrueSmart. Achieving the funding goal in less than a day - it means so much to us. It's a start-up dream come true after a long path of more than a year developing this generation leap forward to Smartwatch 2.0. Also it benefits us and everyone a lot that we were able to get started with manufacturing plans on the 2nd day already. .
#truesmartmywishapp Contest on G+ seems to be going well, have any turned your head yet ?
Yes, very much. All the ideas are fantastic. It just shows how everyone wants to use the Smartwatch differently. It's going to be a challenge for the Goliaths to cope with this new product type - very different usage for each and everyone, very different apps. That's why fast and responsive companies like Omate can deliver very well. We'll be making some of the app wishes come true on TrueSmart. Winning apps will be announced before the Kickstarter closes ends next week - you'll be the firsts to know.Biggest challenges in production so far ?
The biggest challenge must be fitting the Sapphire Crystal glass into the production schedule. We've got all our production plan worked out, and had to make significant changes for the Sapphire Crystal glass. Luckily the Sapphire Crystal technology partner colleagues are also a Kickstarter fans - they can see how the users were so excited about the Sapphire Crystal glass. We've got fantastic support from them all the way, first priorities and they did it. Even rounding the edges of the Sapphire Crystal according to our design. Everyone knows Sapphire Crystal is the hardest material (next to Diamonds) so kudos to the experts that achieved this beautiful piece of work with the Sapphire Crystal glass. You see, once again crowd-support does add magic!Where will the retail units be sold ? Online only or via independent sport shops or via Best Buy bricks and mortar ?
Once the Kickstarter project campaign closes, our team's (Media & Community) first task is to build, open and operate a webshop to support users with accessories and parts. Eventually you'll be also able to order TrueSmart on our webshop (after we've finished shipping to the Kickstarter supporters). This guarantees that TrueSmart, accessories and parts will always be available to all supporters anytime and anywhere in the world. We are also launching a distribution and partner network that will see TrueSmart in local sales channels including Online, Independent, Sports shops and also large retailers. We will be working with the best distributors so we can rely on them to setup the network of sales points while we focus on product innovation. Our first distributor has already been appointed - ADMEA - for France and Spain. Thirdly, we are also in discussions with Carriers/Providers.
Would you consider the kickstarter model a 'beta' like OUYA did ?
Absolutely not a beta. TrueSmart is proudly the flagship, the first breakthrough, the first of its kind redefining a new generation of Smartwatch 2.0. Other products including our next models will never replace its position as the Worlds First Smartwatch with Sapphire Crystal Glass; World's First Smartwatch with Google Play App Store; Worlds First Dual Core Smartwatch; Worlds First water-resistant Smartwatch that is both standalone and companion. It's a legend.
You're close to the end of the kickstart campaign now. What would you say to those sitting on the fence, thinking of backing your smartwatch ?
Our start-up is led by founders with credibility and experience in the industry and backed up by a team with expertise that industry insiders are able to see. The result is that you can see the access to high technology that we have is not "normal" - example the super new 28nm dual core processor that we are able to use before others, the Sapphire Crystal glass, the ultra-sensitive touchscreen. We are pioneering in this new wearable segment with you and we thank you all for your great support. High technology leaders are supporting us so do not worry too much.
Marketing against the big boys is tough for anyone - would word of mouth incentives be one way to increase sales, how will you promote the watch going forward - obviously having plenty of fans helps.
We have a different view towards marketing. It is not merely the word of mouth, yes we count on our users to do that. But the big boys know how to do use word of mouth too and some of them are already doing that eg. with smartphones, hiring troops of bloggers and commenters to spread word of mouth for their products, and sometimes negatively attacking each other in social media. We go beyond word of mouth, we engage. We have a vision to build the best product and pace ourselves in always improving the product always, engaging the community allows us to be very accurate with our product in meeting and exceeding user needs. And the fact that we can move faster, respond earlier, dedicated to work harder added with the energy of the user, the resulting a product that is way ahead of the big boys. With a far better product, accurately meeting/exceeding user needs, tuned and tweaked by users - the word of mouth and the support from community just comes naturally. A lesson we took from David, to battle the Goliaths.
You will be compared to Pebble as that too come from Kickstart, what did you learn from them or have you done things your own way ?
In terms of product, we've done things our way. You can see our product is totally different, an entire leap forward, not an incremental improvement. In terms of running a Kickstarter project, there's one thing we want to do very differently - delivery. That's why we set such a delivery schedule, could be one of the fastest in Kickstarter history. We wanted to make a statement that a Kickstarter projects can deliver on time and can be deployed. We learnt by making sure we have a strong operational team in place, including manufacturing and logistics experts. Before we submitted the project, we sat everyone down and ran through the schedules and many what-if scenarios - a deep look at "can we deliver in October" Only when we got everyone on the team was satisfied we can deliver, and are committed to delivering on time and quality, we set the delivery as October. It's an intentional statement, a dedication.
Which application of use should we be getting excited about with Truesmart ?
The freedom to be everywhere and anywhere with your smart digital life on your wrist. No more "where's the phone". No more missing phone calls because your phone is in the living room while you are making breakfast in the kitchen. And when you lose your phone (touch wood, hope it doesn't happen to you, but it does happen), no more panic no more disaster because you still have your TrueSmart.
Any exclusive info you have we can shout from the blog would be cool too :)
We are championing openness and transparency with our community, so a lot of news are announced as and when we have them. What we can offer the blog is a look behind the scenes, we think it could be interesting how the name TrueSmart just came up barely weeks before the Kickstarter while the name Omate and the development has been for more than a year. Click here to see the document for a brief story about the TrueSmart name.
The TrueSmart revolution has started. The truly smart Smartwatch 2.0 is here. You've made it possible. Now together we shall continue our march forward. Smartwatch is not a product defined top-down by the big brand Goliaths. Smartwatch has grown bottom-up from users with a user defined change in use of technology. With every new change, there will be supporters and naysayers. Leave the naysayers behind and welcome warmly those with open minds - for these countdown days to a mega successful close to the Kickstarter campaign, and then also beyond - welcome all open minds to join TrueSmart
Thanks Nick, very interesting and we wish you and your team all the best !
Again if you want to get in touch with Omate then you can via the links below, you can still get involved by helping the project on the official kickstart page - the link is Kickstarter campaign for Truesmart
Google+ : +Omate TrueSmart
Facebook : www.facebook.com/omatetruesmart
Twitter : www.twitter.com/omatetruesmart
Website: www.omate.com