Porn for the product developer

Although Engadget editor Peter Rojas‘s site often talks about “gadget porn” when showing off the latest unboxing shots of the newest gadget or pics from every conceivable angle of some unreleased gizmo from a trade show, I think his latest venture with Dave Winer and Jason Calacanis may be the closest thing yet to true gadget porn.
Porn, after all, is merely watching two (or more) people trying (or in most cases simulating) making babies. Therefore it would follow that gadget porn should be two (or more) people making gadgets. This podcast is exactly that, especially for all of you frustrated product developers out there. Peter, Jason and Dave engage in a 30 minute conversation about their “dream podcasting device”. Key likes and dislikes are hashed out, and at the end a pretty workable functional specificaiton for a device that clearly doesn’t exist has been created. What’s more in a few short days they will have even created a rough idea of how big the market is (hint: look at the comments of the posts and check out the linking blogs in Technorati). Having a hard time understanding what customers want: this is a perfect example of what’s out there if you’ll just know how to listen.
But if you think you’re done at the listening part, you’ve missed half the point. After you listen, you have to be ready to talk. If you think Peter, Dave and Jason gave up valuable information in this podcast, imagine what they would do if they met someone who would actually help them get one step closer to realizing their idea!
This is one of many examples of the growing support for the idea of social production of physical products. What was once solely the realm of software and other soft goods (art, music) is now making its way into the world of real, tangible manufactured goods. This meme seems to be starting with high tech electronics, which only makes sense given their close relationship with the open source software that powers many of them, but I predict that it will quickly catch on in other areas. The value to the users is too great (getting exactly what you want). The value to the manufacturer is overwhelming (the wisdom of crowds). The trick will be learning to listen and engage with this crowd. Are you ready to do it? If not, listen to a little porn to get you in the mood 😉