Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I received this "teaser email today: http://links.mkt2388.com/ctt?kn=1&m=2735925&r=MTgwOTM1MTgzMTcS1&b=0&j=NzgxMTAyODMS1&mt=1&rt=0
Anyone know what's up with this??

-=Art=-

Venson wrote:
The exact numbers would be lovely, but I think it will be a cold day in hell before Dyson goes public and they're otherwise unlikely to share such data with us. But to say that based on this, their fan sales are looking fairly positive for the moment. If they can carve out a certain niche with those eye-watering margins, it won't be a bad return on 3-year's R&D, building on the digital motor / airblade work. The 'halo effect' PR-wise has to be good for their overall profile and the other product lines also.

Yep, of all the feedback I've seen on the Dyson fan - blog comments, tweets on on Twitter, the most common self-congratual point is the correction that it actually still uses a 'fan blade', just one inside the casing. To be expected, but kinda missing the point that by 'blade less' they mean it doesn't have a large blade up top, spinning in a cage, chopping up the air that's 'thrown' at you. The smaller-sized digital motor makes this part-way feasible, but the additional (crucial) benefit is that overall construction puts out around 15 times more air force than it pulls in via that 'little blade'. That's quite difficult to get across to folks, hence why Dyson has put a lot of effort in to diagrams and animations. It's even supposed to 'feel' better in cooling, as the airflow is more uniform.

retardturtle1 wrote:

Hello turtle1:

If the Business Week article I posted above can be believed, the retail prices of the dyson fans, once they hit the big box stores in the USA, will be comparable to the current competition which sell for $70 or so.  That's a huge decline from the existing $300. 

Carmine D.

M00seUK wrote:

Hello Trebor:

The article is sub titled: Flaw as function.  Here is the crux of the story on the reason why.

Dyson says the device came out of a defect in the Airblade, the energy-efficient hand drier for public restrooms that his company, Dyson, launched in 2006. Despite its jet-like exhaust, engineers noticed that the machine was trapping a lot of air inside. "We had no intention to make a fan," he says. "But the failure made us curious. We asked, What could we do with this high-speed air?"

Dyson and his staff studied the air flow, which was akin to a comfortable breeze. They thought they could harness the wind, but it didn't really apply to any existing products. So they moved on to consider what other everyday household products could be improved if they generated a focused breeze. They decided on the typical electric fan, which uses rotating blades to hack air into pieces that are then propelled at an uneven pace.

Interestingly both the dyson Airblade and AirMultiplier resulted from research and products of other intentions/inventions:  The dyson digital motor [AirBlade] and hand dryer [Air Multiplier].  Business gurus who study and advise on such things, tell us that success with new product development and technologies is tricky if not done properly.  With the best long term results achieved when companies share the new technologies and products with consumers and receive feedback about them.  With the feedback incorporated into the final versions for market.  We were told that dyson did this with his vacuums and in fact used consumers to test and trial his vacuum wares before mass marketing.  We also know that he did not follow the same course with dyson's Airblade and Air Multiplier.

Carmine D.

For those interested, Lev Grossman, the inventions' editor for Time magazine, announces the top best inventions for 2009 in this video.

http://bx.businessweek.com/designthinkingsocialenterprise/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fspecials%2Fpackages%2F0%2C28757%2C1934027%2C00.html

No... dyson does not get mentioned, tho his bladeless fan was part of the mix for evaluation.  Scroll down to the block titled Video: Best Inventions for 2009 and click on more. 

Enjoy.

Carmine D.

Anyone really surprised by this ?

Dyson has not made anything that worked right since the dc07, and that was flawed. Welcome to the real world Mr inventor.

So how long will it take for the airblades to be sold on E-BAY at fire sale prices?

Why dont you guys try a reverse osmosis water system, Good luck, 

We told you so 5 years ago.

Hey DIB have you started your new management job at BURGER KING yet.

Dyson= FAIL

regards

MOLE

mole wrote:

Hello MOLE:

Interestingly, at least to me, dyson's USA site does not provide any prices for its AirBlades.  Instead after navigating through the ads and endorsements, the reader,buyer finally gets this suggestion if desiring to buy:

                                        Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer

                                                      Call 1-888-DYSON-AB now to order.

We know that the original MSRP was $1400 and its cost to produce about $840.  If we can believe the Forbes article in March 2008, and Sir James who was interviewed for the article, 100,000 were sold up thru then and 1000 gifted away.  Haven't seen any updates here to those numbers and as M00seUK suggests we probably won't.  We can only speculate the reasons for the secrecy.  However, knowing what I have read and seen here about all things dyson, I presume if the sales of the AirBlades are doing well, we'd have the news reports, sales and revenue numbers and endorsements saying exactly what they are.  Draw your own conclusions.

I have yet to see any dyson AirBlade anywhere in Las Vegas and/or in my travels in the USA.  While dyson's site says the LA Dodgers in California bought and use them, the equally famous Anaheim Angels Stadium in Anaheim California does not.  As I mentioned, despite all the tourists, baseball fans, and travellers to Orange County CA for the Angels games, California Adventure and Disney Theme Parks nothing there about any dyson products.

Carmine D.

mole wrote:
Mole,

Well, I see you came up for some fresh air and some sunshine.  Don’t over doit so you don’t burn.

I like Sir James’ world.  I bet he sees plenty of "real-world" looking down while flying in his corporate jet...  even the dopes run Who-Cares Manufacturing, which sits adjacent to ‘Door to Door Offload $2000 Worth of Commodity-Crap on the Elderly’ Manufacturing, which of course leases property from ‘All Bagged Vacuums Choke’ Manufacturing, who (on a clear day) can look out their windows and see the corporate giant - ‘Stuck For An Innovation Answer’ Manufacturing.


DIB

DysonInventsBig wrote:

DIB:

Like it or not, and regardless of your ill-will and words toward dyson's competition, dyson's pricing is killing it with the competition.  At half the price and even less, not just on vacuums but dyson's other product ventures, dyson can't compete in the market place, except as a very small niche player.  This is not enough to sustain a company like dyson that wants to be on the forefront of technology with household products.  Dyson needs big sales to keep the dyson infra-structure going.  You don't like to hear that reality but such is the essence of product development and sales in today's world.  Only the strong survive, not the technologically/marketing skilled.  Remember halo.

Carmine D.

Carmine,

The adolescents, DIB and Mole, our acting up again!  Should we make them sit in opposite corners of the room?

Sir James may be in the realm of consciousness of those individuals/corporations without need to boast or prove anything to anyone. Hubris or Humility? It depends on the individual.  I can think of any number of entertainers/sports stars who are very quiet outside of their public profession. Miele does not publish any figures of profit/loss either. Think they're going under?  The brass "in your face", "look at me", "bow and scrape" attitude of those who suddenly acquire money is pretty much an American attitude.  They have money, not wealth. There is a difference.  Regardless of what you think of James Dyson's products or his prowess as an engineer, he does engage the world with grace and class.

In reflecting on the whole Dyson phenomena,  I think he made one major error in judgment which led to several others:

He failed to realize at the outset that his largest markets would ultimately be the US and Canada.

This consequently led to a failure to consider 1) how much more carpet Americans have in their homes 2) How hard Americans are on their vacuums and 3) insufficient prototype testing by American consumers.

He had the success in front of him with the original Fantom. Place the multi-cyclonic bin on the Fantom carpet head, use a larger diameter hose and wand assembly, and bigger wheels. Viola! The first Fantoms were very good vacuums. Lots of them still running today. More complex is not always better. The concession to a manual carpet height adjustment would have saved a lot of Rube Goldberg engineering.

Peace,

Trebor

Trebor wrote:

Hello Trebor:

WRT MIELE, if you view the MIELE video on its web site the narrative states that over 1 MILLION vacuum units were shipped from the German plant last year.  This does not count the outsourced MIELE models of course that are sold in various markets.  At least for vacuums, with one million units made and shipped from Germany last year, that's a perspective on how well its vacuums are doing globally, in a recession global market.

Also, I am taking the liberty of posting a link right from MIELE's web site under the heading Facts & Figures which gives financial data for all years from 2000-2008.  Enjoy.

http://www.mieleusa.com/about_miele/about_miele.asp?nav=1&snav=3&tnav=3&oT=202&benefit=92

Note too that the banner at the top of this site is the MIELE S7 line.

Carmine D.