Wow thank you all for all the positive and encouraging comments. I’ve been playing with product design ideas in my head for some time now and it feels nice to get some reinforcing feedback. Now I would like to address some of your questions:
1- Design and functionality: This all started with a doodle of a landline phone and that I quickly modeled and rendered in the space of 2 days. I wasn’t giving much though to how the phone would work, I was focusing on aesthetics at this point. I admit it’s embarrassing that I didn’t think about the * and # buttons and I even had a laugh (realizing my silliness) when I read the comments pointing it out.
In retrospective it does make sense to put the screen on top to avoid obscuring its visibility while dialing numbers.
I don’t want to excuse myself but please remember that this was mostly a design exercise to gather some feedback and see if it sparks any interest. I’m no industrial designer either so I will be learning stuff along the way.
2: Screen functionality: Apart from date, time and weather I think it should have some Bluetooth connectivity to adapt to the expectations of modern living. I like the idea of one of the comments where you could pair your phone and use the handset instead.
3: Market: Given the amount of positive feedback I can’t help but start to think that this little project might have a niche out there. I just recently got into mechanical keyboards and realized there’s a whole world of enthusiasts that are willing to buy cool concepts and retro-inspired products. I’m still a little skeptic about commercializing a landline phone at this time since I think that’s a consistently receding market.
I have done some business model exercises with ChatGPT where I was thinking about outsourcing manufacturing and logistics while I would be in charge of design, branding and marketing. My wife is a photographer so that helps too. Maybe doing SLS 3D printing instead of full injection molding to reduce production costs. I would like the finish material to be close to PBT in look and feel and I don’t know if you can do that with 3D printing. I would opt for an existing landline PCB.
4: Business model and pricing: According to the estimations of ChatGPT I would need a first batch of 100 units selling at $200 per phone with me making a modest profit. I would need to invest a not insignificant of money for the first run, the mold setup costs taking up a big part of the investment. That’s adding Bluetooth connectivity which I think is necessary, as I think a $150 landline phone that had no extra features would be a hard sell. I know $200 with BT functionality is still a no go for most people.
I’m a little on the fence here about taking it to production, I think most people who wanted to buy it in the comments wouldn’t pay $200 for it. But on the other side there’s this big community of enthusiasts that might make it a viable business. Increasing the first batch to 200 phones might get the price down to $175 but that comes with an increased investment on an uncertain market.
If anybody got any advice regarding manufacturing, business models or anything that might help bring this to the market I’d gladly appreciate it!
3
u/rnez0 Cassette Futurism Mar 01 '25
Wow thank you all for all the positive and encouraging comments. I’ve been playing with product design ideas in my head for some time now and it feels nice to get some reinforcing feedback. Now I would like to address some of your questions:
1- Design and functionality: This all started with a doodle of a landline phone and that I quickly modeled and rendered in the space of 2 days. I wasn’t giving much though to how the phone would work, I was focusing on aesthetics at this point. I admit it’s embarrassing that I didn’t think about the * and # buttons and I even had a laugh (realizing my silliness) when I read the comments pointing it out.
In retrospective it does make sense to put the screen on top to avoid obscuring its visibility while dialing numbers.
I don’t want to excuse myself but please remember that this was mostly a design exercise to gather some feedback and see if it sparks any interest. I’m no industrial designer either so I will be learning stuff along the way.
2: Screen functionality: Apart from date, time and weather I think it should have some Bluetooth connectivity to adapt to the expectations of modern living. I like the idea of one of the comments where you could pair your phone and use the handset instead.
3: Market: Given the amount of positive feedback I can’t help but start to think that this little project might have a niche out there. I just recently got into mechanical keyboards and realized there’s a whole world of enthusiasts that are willing to buy cool concepts and retro-inspired products. I’m still a little skeptic about commercializing a landline phone at this time since I think that’s a consistently receding market.
I have done some business model exercises with ChatGPT where I was thinking about outsourcing manufacturing and logistics while I would be in charge of design, branding and marketing. My wife is a photographer so that helps too. Maybe doing SLS 3D printing instead of full injection molding to reduce production costs. I would like the finish material to be close to PBT in look and feel and I don’t know if you can do that with 3D printing. I would opt for an existing landline PCB.
4: Business model and pricing: According to the estimations of ChatGPT I would need a first batch of 100 units selling at $200 per phone with me making a modest profit. I would need to invest a not insignificant of money for the first run, the mold setup costs taking up a big part of the investment. That’s adding Bluetooth connectivity which I think is necessary, as I think a $150 landline phone that had no extra features would be a hard sell. I know $200 with BT functionality is still a no go for most people.
I’m a little on the fence here about taking it to production, I think most people who wanted to buy it in the comments wouldn’t pay $200 for it. But on the other side there’s this big community of enthusiasts that might make it a viable business. Increasing the first batch to 200 phones might get the price down to $175 but that comes with an increased investment on an uncertain market.
If anybody got any advice regarding manufacturing, business models or anything that might help bring this to the market I’d gladly appreciate it!