I wrote about these guys back in October… google “how quirky could fail”.
My problem then (and I haven’t checked in for a while) is that they give a token amount of involvement to the user. I think people will ultimately want to be more involved in the product they make, rather than just giving it a name, downselecting a couple of concepts, etc.
You see it in the different types of clients consultancies get. You have the larger companies where the program manager has seen the ‘magic’ of product development so many times that it isn’t as special, and is more focused on hitting dates. On the other hand you have first timers who just have an idea and some cash. They embrace the process and get a lot more out of it.
Ultimately, I think a business model that will let consumers act as the latter will succeed. It will bring them joy.
All Quirky has done has streamlined a sales funnel. They get paid for ideas, pick which one they want to do (they only take the community vote as an ‘input’; allowing them to build the cheapest, most low-risk product), then keep a little too large of the portion of the proceeds.
I think they are a sign of something special, and if they shift gears now they could be that something special.
But not yet.