After appearing at CES earlier this year, KEECKER has launched its HomePod on KickStarter, looking to achieve a $100,000 goal. Founded by Pierre Lebeau, a former Googler, KEECKER is a new take on the idea of ConnectedHome, replacing all your TV Screens by a fully autonomous, smartphone-controlled robot.
Speaking with Lebeau about KEECKER earlier this month, he told me of his hopes to usher in the post-TV era that the Internet has already facilitated in the past 10 years. The hyper-media state in which we live means that additional screens are poised to arrive in the home, but KEECKER imagines a different future, in which your screen can move from room to room, beckoned via a smartphone application and guided via a 360° audio & visual awareness, and flexible via its 90° adjustable FullHD Projector (which projects with clarity indoors & outdoors with sizes up to 40 meters).
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KEECKER’s applications extend beyond televisions into other areas: home security, videoconferencing, parental supervision, smart lighting & more.
What I find most interesting about the Kickstarter campaign itself – beyond the product, which, I must admit, is quite tempting, even at a $4000 retail price tag – is that KEECKER may very well be the most expensive product crowdfunded to date. In total, it will take a little over 100 backers and less than 50 actual product pre-orders to complete the campaign. KickStarter isn’t just for watches and bracelets and other connected devices, which have ranged between $99 – $399 for the most part in the past – KEECKER shows that a small group of people with a vision ( and a decent understanding of hardware & software) can propel themselves onto the main stage in a matter of days.
Many thought that crowdfunding would disrupt the VC space; however, we’ve seen how crowdfunded campaigns get funded. The reality is that crowdfunding will disrupt distribution. KickStarter is the new BestBuy, and KEECKER is the latest high-end device to prove its value.
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