Competition
The products that are highlighted will help inform our final design (e.g., case aesthetics, features, selection of materials used to construct the case) and serve as a guide for determining the price point and developing a marketing strategy, e.g., which on-line stores could be used to sell the Z Clock. I have grouped these products into three categories for purposes of convenience:
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1. Other Clock Designs That Incorporate Levitation
There are two types of clocks in this group. I like Flyte's clock and find it very engaging. Although it is very reminiscent of an earlier magnetic clock, TimeSphere Clock, I wouldn't think buying Flyte's clock would preclude also purchasing the Z-Clock given the strikingly different manner in which the two clocks use levitation. Tony Adams' levitating NIXIE tube platform is more a NIXIE tube clock than it is a clock that uses levitation to tell time; if one likes NIXIE tubes perhaps this clock would have greater appeal.
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2. Other Modern Novelty Clocks That May Appeal to the Same People Who are Attracted to the Z-Clock
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This is a very large group of clocks and it serves to emphasize that there appears to be a large market for people who collect “modern novelty clocks”. Within this group are clocks that make time easy to determine by using a variety of displays (e.g., NIXIE tubes, LIXIE display, flip dots, cathode ray tube, LED digital word display, digital elastic membrane) as well as clocks that disguise time by using intricate, microprocessor-controlled, color patterns that require considerable effort to decipher (they make counting a pulsing sphere seem easy). These clocks will be found in the homes and offices of people who happily identify as geeks and collectors of unusual time pieces and/or functional objects. They range in price from $100 up to more $7,000. Some of the lower priced clocks are available as kits. I have elected to show only those clocks that are of greatest appeal to me. Some are purchased through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on-line shop. Others are found at a variety of mainstream on-line shops, e.g., ThinkGeek, ETSY, eBay and Amazon.
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3. Non-clock Levitation-based Products That May Appeal to Same People Who are Attracted to the Z-Clock
This is a broad class and represents items ranging from pens to illuminated clouds and almost everything in between. But, within this group, there is a subset of products that are worthy of consideration as competitors to the Z Clock. As for category 2, above, these items will likely have their greatest appeal to the population who identify as geeks and collectors of interesting technology-based objects.
