Technology vs Profit

I recently saw an article on xtra.co.nz about a brand of Oakley sunglasses that had been developed to work with a mobile phone. The brand is called Razorwire.

Razorwire sunglasses work with Bluetooth technology allowing for handsfree communication. It allows the wearer to make and receive phone calls 33 feet (10 metres) away from a compatible mobile.

Razorwire follows the success of another brand called Thump, which could play digital music. The market had already been tested and showed that it was a product that people wanted to buy. The Razorwire brand can be sold in places that would not usually stock sunglasses, which opens the brand up to a larger section of the market.

How much technology that is developed actually makes it into the marketplace? I am sure that the majority of products are only released if they can make a profit.

While I do believe that there would be a market for such a product that, Oakley’s would be crazy not to exploit, it does lead me to wonder how much new technology is based around profit.

http://oakley.com/o/o2261d