Sony is a massive company. One which has its hand in all kinds of products within the consumer electronics range. It’s interesting then to think about Sony starting up a crowdfunding program which seeks to grab support from the community of fans and enthusiasts of Sony products, because this isn’t typically something you see from large corporations. Earlier this week though in Japan, Sony kicked off if its first ever crowd funding program called First Flight. Just like with other crowdfunding programs, First Flight would obtain funds from backers who are interested in certain products, which Sony could then use for the continued research and development of those products leading eventually to completion and release.
At the moment Sony has only a few products which First Flight is crowd funding, one of which is called the FES watch, (Fashion Entertainments Watch) which is already available to be pre-ordered. The FES Watch is a watch with an epaper display and wristband which gives the consumer a multitude of options for customizing the look and design of the watch as a whole. You can see the examples from the gallery of images below which display a fraction of the possibilities as it’s stated to have 24 different customizable pattern options. While at current Sony’s First Flight program is very limited, there is huge potential here for Sony to create some truly amazing products.
Even though Sony likely doesn’t need crowdfunding to bring new products to market, it’s not a bad idea when you think about the possibilities it could open up. Consumers have the opportunity to not only voice which products interest them the most, but display that interest by actually backing the campaigns for these products. Just like with the FES watch, Sony could end up introducing other new products like new smartphones or wearables/smartwatches which grab the most attention, and by doing so give consumers the power in basically shaping which products make it to market. Although the FES watch is the only product within the list that is close to a wearable at the moment, who knows what possibilities could pop up in the future. This could be the start of a new wave of mobile related devices from Sony which are essentially hand picked by the consumers which would buy them.
