Ever had a device that was *almost* perfect, except for that one stupid flaw or defect (like a misplaced pause button, lack luster UI design, or sad battery life)?

Ever wish you could help design the latest and greatest gadget? Enter crowdspirit.org.

Although not a new concept (companies like elephant design/cuusoo in Japan have been doing it for quite some time), there’s a new player in town for consumer electronic crowdsourcing … crowdspirit.org. They now have a blog and FAQ, as well as some other information currently on their site.

What is “Crowdsourcing?”
“Crowdsourcing” is a neologism for a business model that depends on work being done outside the traditional company walls: while outsourcing is typically performed by lower paid professionals, crowdsourcing relies on a combination of volunteers and low-paid amateurs who use their spare time to create content, solve problems, or even do corporate R&D. The term was coined by Wired magazine writer Jeff Howe and editor Mark Robinson in June 2006.

You can find out how it works, but here’s the general idea:

Step 4
Customers purchase products thanks to the CrowdSpirit Supply chain. The community ensures the product support and recommends products to retailers.

Personally, I’m not quite sure on the business merit of this idea, as there are not enough low level details provided yet … but this page, eludes to that fact that your contribution does came with some sort of compensation (for certain participants and roles); crucial to the success of the idea. Why else would someone sign over IP rights?

You can join crowdspirit.org (for free of course).

Hopefully the first prototype will be up soon.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Gadget, HodgePodge, Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.