当婴儿用品遇到高端机器人技术

    Baby Gizmo的舒尔茨相信公司的名字帮助了4Moms。她说：“如果他们叫做2Dads，可能就没有这么好的效果。母亲总是愿意听母亲的。”

    即便如此，高科技产品已经把男人们带入了这个以母亲为绝对主体的市场。舒尔茨说：“你给一个父亲展示Origami，他们会说‘看这个’。头灯可以自动开关。我丈夫邀请邻居们都来看。它激发了他们的男子气。”

    尽管在购买婴儿产品时，母亲有着最终决定权，不过父亲同样也有话语权。舒尔茨说，小孩的母亲如果知道丈夫会带着孩子去散步，可能就会更倾向于购买高科技婴儿车。她评价4Moms说：“结合了机器人技术的童车显得时髦出众。”

    舒尔茨说，尽管Origami一切都很好，却有一个设计上的瑕疵。它的倾斜角度很小，这让小孩难以在车里小睡一会，（尽管它配备了一个摇篮供婴儿使用）。她说：“仅仅由于这一点，他们就失去了很大商机。”

    从水暖产品到婴儿用品

    索恩和前风险资本家戴利原本并不打算进入这个过渡拥挤的婴儿用品市场。他们创建公司时，只是想借处理器价格跳水之机，制造电子产品（处理器价格从2003年平均14美元降到如今的70美分）。

    这两人认为水暖产业已经过时，难以创新，所以他们发明了一个配有遥控温度调节的淋浴设备。他们认为配件发烧友可能会喜欢它，不过在匹兹堡展销会上，老年人和母亲们蜂拥来到他们的摊位，让他们大感意外。因此索恩和戴利抛弃了之前设计淋浴设备的构想，制造出一个沐浴嘴盖，如今仍然受到母亲们的欢迎。

    朋友们说他们疯狂地发明新产品。他们相信他们的眼光，但是当他们带着新产品Clearwater 婴儿澡盆的原型来到2006年奥兰多的青少年产品展销会（the 2006 Juvenile Products Trade Show）时，他们也知道，自己面临着来自成熟竞争者更严峻的挑战。他们设计的婴儿澡盆能够控制水温，让清洁的水持续流动。

    戴利说：“我们认为很难同一个没有知名度，也从未做出一个产品的公司做生意。”索恩插嘴道：“而且老实说，我们不知道怎么样做产品。”

    但是婴儿澡盆立刻引起了轰动。戴利说：“Babies 'R Us告诉我们他们想要那个澡盆，放在在280家门店销售。”

    同一年的另一场展销会上，戴利说他看到一个推销员演示一款高档童车的折叠和打开过程。他觉得有些不对劲，却说不出具体是什么。于是他站在那儿，花了差不多一个小时，看着她一遍遍重复那些步骤。

    然后他想通了：她需要同时用手和膝盖来完成这些动作。在超市停车场的人行道上，一位母亲怎么能做到这些呢？

    他走向索恩，把它拉到一个安静的角落，低声对他说：“自动折叠婴儿车。”

    Schultz of Baby Gizmo believes the company's name has helped 4Moms. "If they had called it 2Dads, it would not have done as well," she says. "Moms listen to moms."

    Even so, the high-tech products have drawn men into a market that is overwhelmingly mom-centric. "You show a dad the Origami and they say, 'Watch this.' The headlights open and close on their own," Schultz says. "My husband invites the neighbors over to see it. It taps into their manhood."

    Even when moms make the final purchasing decision on baby products, dads also have influence. Schultz says mothers of young children may be more likely to buy a high-tech stroller if they know their husbands will take the baby for a walk. "They are smart to stand out with robotics," she says of 4Moms.

    For all the things it does well, the Origami has one design flaw, says Schultz. It only reclines a few inches, making it hard for a child to nap, (although a bassinet attachment is available for infants). "They have lost a big portion of business by that feature alone," she says.

    From plumbing products to baby gear

    Thorne and Daley, a former venture capitalist, didn't initially set out to enter the overcrowded baby products market. When they started their company, they just wanted to create electronics that would take advantage of the dramatic drop in processor prices (down from an average of $14 in 2003 to 70 cents today).

    The duo thought that the plumbing industry was overdue for innovation, so they invented a shower attachment with a remote-controlled temperature adjustment. They figured gadget guys would love it but were shocked when seniors and moms flocked to their booth at a Pittsburgh trade show. So Thorne and Daley abandoned their plans for the shower attachment and introduced a bath spout cover, which they still market to moms.

    Friends told them they were crazy to invent a new product. They believed in their vision, but they say they knew they'd face an uphill battle against more established competitors when they carried a prototype of a new product, their Clearwater Infant Tub -- which circulates clean and temperature-controlled water -- to the 2006 Juvenile Products Trade Show in Orlando.

    "We thought it would be hard to do business with a company no one had ever heard of and that had never made a product before," Daley says. Thorne interjects: "And to be honest, we had no idea how to make the product."

    But the bathtub was an instant hit. "Babies R Us told us they had to have it and put it in 280 stores," Daley says.

    That same year, at another trade show, Daley says he watched a salesperson demo the folding and unfolding of a high-end stroller. There was something unsettling about the sight. He couldn't put his finger on it, he says, so he stood and just watched her repeat the process for about an hour.

    Then it hit him: She had to get on her hands and knees. How could a mother do that on the pavement surface of a supermarket parking lot?

    He walked over to Thorne, directed him to a quiet corner and whispered to him: "Power folding stroller."