A Smart Key for your house
- Originated: September 25, 2011
- Updated: September 29, 2011
- Status: Open to Everyone (Join)
Project Score
Originator
House Smart Key
This is a smart key (like the ones for your car) that could be used on your house. I always seem to have my hands full when I get to the door and I have become hopelessly spoiled by my car's key, which allows me to simple put my hand on the door handle and have the car unlock itself, without taking the key out of my bag. This technology already exists and could be easily adapted to fit on the door of a house.
This idea would have very high start up costs, with a large investment in developing a prototype. In addition, there are several car companies that already have the technology and could easily copy the idea. However, there are no keys on the market already that mimic the smart key of a car (there are fingerprint scanners and code lock doors). The upside of this product is large, however, people with interest in this product are not likely to be price sensitive. Putting a new lock on your door is going to cost $200 anyway, upgrading to this new technology would be well worth it to many people.
The best way to get market penetration with this product would be to offer installation with purchase. We would need to make switching over to this new lock as simple as possible. Also, marketing the product to builders would help gain market penetration.
There are no current resources at the moment.
Originators
Adelaide Gay
Jeff Snell: This is a product that I believe could become a business. I would buy this product. However, it would need to be elegant in design and I would much prefer it ALSO work with my cars so I only had one 'key' in my pocket. Due to rolling encryption of these devices the vehicle manufacturers could be a significant competitor. Therefore, I would focus on developing the locks and the technology so that the auto manufacturers could then integrate into their existing code technology as well as selling them as stand alone products. I do not think prototyping would be as expensive as expected.
09-28-2011 @ 4:30 PM EDT · Comment
Adelaide Gay: Thank you so much for your feedback! I really loved this idea (I get really frustrated with having to put all my stuff down to unlock the house door) but did get hung up a bit on the idea of start up costs etc... One of the reasons that I liked the Concierge business was that I assume start up costs would be very little since you basically need people, the phone and the internet. Plus you can start with existing contacts and grow from there. The one thought I had was that it has been done before and is probably a mature market. I actually ending up pitching another idea in class on monday for a website (moviebuddy) that aggregates information from netflix, redbox, itunes etc... so that you can find the cheapest and most convenient way to watch a movie. I'm still sort of going back and forth in my mind on pros and cons of each idea, since we form project teams on Monday. Anyway, thank you so much for your input. Being able to have a sort of "universal key" for your house and car, almost like a universal remote, is a great idea! This is a great class and I really appreciate that Professor Kitchen sets us up with entrepreneurs that have experience and have been successful. So thank you!
09-28-2011 @ 8:16 PM EDT
Adelaide Gay created a project called House Smart Key.
09-25-2011 @ 10:15 PM EDT