
Entrepreneurs Find Gold in Gadget Startups  - peter123
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/03/changing-econom.html
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Tichy
One problem I see is that most gadgets could just be replaced by a modern
mobile phone. For example the fitness thingy from the article: what does it do
that an iPhone app couldn't do with a nicer interface? Same for internet
radios - an iPod touch is just 200$.

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imp
"Today with a guy or two, a good idea and about $1.5 million you can get a
contract manufacturer in Asia to do your gadget."

So probably not very easy with only a few thousand in investment, but I guess
somewhat reasonable.

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nitrogen
It's possible to mock up a hardware design in software (just look at console
emulators). That gives one a cheap way to demonstrate ideas that can be used
to attract investors. Plus, the software version is a useful platform for
testing new ideas and identifying hardware bugs.

If your hardware idea is radically different from any existing device (rather
than using software to make the hardware unique), you can still use physical
models to simulate actual mechanical inputs (like accelerometers). Otherwise,
you can just find an existing hardware platform and hack it to run your
software.

