First we saw the rise of designey drawing tools on Kickstarter, then designey arts-n-crafts tools like that AtuMan hot glue gun. Now that second category has a newcomer: The $90 Arrowmax SGS Pro, a “smart mini electric engraving & polishing pen.”
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Aside from its size, to me it seems vastly inferior to a Dremel, particularly the bit about having to use a freaking smartphone to set the bit speed. But I guess people these days really like over-tech, magnetic charging cables and sleek form factors. At press time the SGS Pro had landed nearly $250,000 in funding on a $10,274 goal, with over a month left to pledge. I won’t be surprised if it hits the half-mil mark.
I think products in the above categories are pretty dumb, but I can’t deny the developers have a knack for correctly guessing what people will pay for, then producing it. The way they seem to tap into consumer desire reminds me of Jobs-era Apple. And while I don’t know how long-lived these tools will be—they all seem to be from companies you’ve never heard of–I don’t think the trend of people buying designey desk tools is going away anytime soon.
Source: core77