Design your own consumer electronics

In most cases, personalisation means that you can change only a small part of a product. Your personal cover of a computer notebook (HP offered this a while ago), engraving your name on a gadget (Apple) or transform your own photographs into products (powered by dozens of websites). A new small startup, Bug Labs, offers to design your personal computer device. They use a modular approach, the base is a Linux computer that you can adapt to your own wishes. The base can be extended with smaller modules that add functionality like GPS, sensors, screens and other input devices. Also, the software within the system is completely open, new functionality can be easily added (if you're a Java expert, that is). Ultimately, a development platform emerges where parties can sell and buy new software components.

Although it is likely that this computer product has little appeal to the masses (most people will think integrating modules is just too complicated to build a computer), the concept behind it could be very powerful. Will this start a new trend in consumer electronics? Mix and match your own consumer electronics from small enough parts that are being integrated by yourself or the company. An approach that brings interesting questions to the table with regards to branding and marketing. I am curious to see if new companies emerge in the coming years that will materialize on the possibilities of producing single products based on individual requirements. Some parts will be standardized anyway, but smart production techniques should surprise us in the future.