Last week, an engineer mentioned his Harmony remote to me. He really loved it and was one of those passionate early adopters. I remembered that they had more humble beginnings, so I went back and did some quick research. Use this for a great case study of the power of design.
Harmony began as Easy Zapper in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Ontario around 2000-2001. In 2002, they were selling the remote pictured, the Harmony Easy Zapper, for $200. It featured all of the technical features that today's users rave about: activity-centered control, easy programming of the remote via a PC and constantly updated software. However, the one big thing it lacks is style: it looks like a Radio Shack bought electronic project box from the 1980s.
Someone else saw the same glaring problem: Logitech. Logitech bought the company in 2004 for the small sum of $29 million. According to their 2005 annual report, "The first Harmony remote to leverage Logitech's renowned design expertise, [the Harmony 880] features a large color screen and comfortable sculpted buttons." That focus on design is what has lead to the 2005 Logitech Harmony 880 pictured here. It retailed for $250.
Here's the kicker: In 2011, Harmony contributed $164 million in revenue and a profit of $57 million to Logitech's empire.
To those who are not familiar with the product, I have a later version, the 550, which retails for around $100. The quality design is evident just picking it up. It has a substantial weight, tight tolerances, no sharp flash around the plastic parts. Moreover, the higher quality (i.e. more expensive) manufacturing is clear: metallic painted plastic and soft-touch painted shell with an acrylic window separated by a line of vacuum-plated trim running through it. That's a lot of operations and assembly by the standards of a remote control that is normally squeezed out of an injection molding machine, stamped with a logo and screwed together over a PCB and some silicone buttons.
(more...)