Chinnovation

or Chinese innovation.

i visited a friend recently.
he had returned from a trip to the US, and was showing some of his shopping there.

these were Chinese products, LED based lamps.
of was a stick on - that could be put inside cupboards.
another was a hand charged torch light.
a third was a candle [wax] lamp.

the candle lamp had real was [vanilla fragrance] and an LED lamp.
the lamp would flicker and also create the illusion of a normal wick burning. if you did not know that it was electrically operated, you cannot tell the difference.

three interesting aspects of this:
1. the finish was very good. no ragged edges, pleasant colors and very low power consumption - LED lamps.
2. they were all Chinese made designs
3. they were very cheap. the candle lamp was about Rs. 20, the cupboard lamp was about Rs. 40. [USD 1.00]

i had read the book Tigers at your doorstep on Chinese innovation going beyond the cost / price based competition alone.

this was very interesting - to see that simple applications of simple technology. no risks on either front. but creating immediately appealing products and making them affordable.

consider this with the sharper image products..

something to think about.