partnering with hackers

09/22/2004 06:39:00 PM
For a certain group of consumer electronics and computer purchasers, simply owning the device is not enough. They want to take it to pieces, hack the software, customize the look and make the product better. It has happened with Tivo, the iPod and almost every new device that comes along. There is a publishing industry devoted to these modifications and soon a devoted magazine, called Make, which will be launched by O Reilly in 2005.

Most manufacturers discourage this behavior, like car manufacturers who discourage modifications with the threat of a voided warranty. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a consumer electronics brand or a sub-brand to encourage the hackers. Something like an open source system that can get better the more the hackers and the hobbyists play with it. This is one obvious way CE brands can involve consumers as collaborative partners in the product and the brand.

As Scion found in the car market, the audience is out there, waiting.
http://make.oreilly.com/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/tivohks/

iPod pirate radio examples

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4107312

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/06/16/ipod_pirate_radio_bu.html
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