So we’ve all been there. Reading the tiny print on the back of a box of Lean Cuisine, trying to figure out how long to microwave, at what power level, when to stir, etc. Isn’t the purpose of frozen meals is to make our lives more convenient, not more complicated?
Enter Smart Microwave. Hold up a box of Fish Fingers to the barcode reader, and Smart Microwave does the rest. If your food needs to be stirred at some point, Smart Microwave will alert you via its display screen and automated voice. While you are waiting, you can read useful sponsored information related to your meal, such as coupons, special promotions, and recipes, on the microwave’s display screen.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
As resident expert of microwave sales (who says I don’t have a niche), here are the first hurdles I see:
The entire technology can’t cost more than $15 to produce to be adopted on a mass scale. Most microwaves cost around $60 now, and the high-end ones (that cost in the hundreds) are used by suburbia to cook or reheat meals like pasta, chinese food, and peas, not to cook TV dinners. Your target is probably closer to middle America and college students, and for that this is something that saves a few seconds and won’t be worth much more than the “Wow” factor.
As for the promotions, recipes, and coupons: Isn’t that what mobile devices are going to be doing in a year or so? If not, wouldn’t the high-end consumer of this already have a computer nearby for that? The microwave just isn’t a gathering place or a reading place. You set it and walk away until it beeps for you.
Unless you’re stoned and waiting for popcorn.