Crowdsourcing Is Redefining Markets and Social Networking

Recently, I have come to enjoy window-shopping at the crowdsourcing site www.kickstarter.com.  I love disruptive companies who have the courage to take a shot at seemingly impenetrable markets. One company that grabbed my attention (and many others as they have been the most successful kickstarter project to date) is OUYA.

OUYA is breaking into the video game console market which is absolutely dominated by XBox and Playstation. OUYA has a sleek design, is built on the Android platform, and will be completely open source. This company is redefining the console market by allowing the hardware to be modified, creating a marketplace and encouraging independent developers and mandating a try before you buy environment where, when a gamer is impressed with a demo, they can upgrade to the full version in-game. It appears that they have combined all of the best parts of the gaming console and mobile app markets.

Being part of a company focused on User Experience Design, I appreciate the effort that the OUYA team made getting top end talent to design the console and controller. User Experience goes well beyond Application, Mobile and Web design. Apple has set the bar for all product companies moving forward creating designs that are simply beautiful and beautifully simple. There is no doubt that OUYA has followed Apple's lead.

Does the market think OUYA can succeed? Well they have raised over six million dollars as of the end of July (with an initial goal of $950,000). They have content providers signing on as well as major game titles.

With the underlying philosophy that the costs of games and consoles should be going down as technological innovation advances (much as we have seen in television, video and mobile technology), OUYA looks to counter balance the escalating costs of gaming. For 99 bucks, you better believe they will move some product!

Should Kickstarter be considered a community site? Is this not Social Networking? The answer to both questions is a definitive "YES". You may not be sharing pictures of your vacation and the like button may read "Back This Project" but I assure you that the crowdsourcing movement carries the same social culture found in Facebook or Twitter.