A: Hi Kate . B: Just just carry on . A: Okay , carry on .
A: Alright um
A: this is the beginning of the third meeting , the conceptual design meeting .
A: Um our agenda should be um that we're opening the meeting ,
A: I have A: the minutes from the previous meeting are on the shared f drive at this point .
A: Um and we should each have a presentation to make .
A: Um we have certain decisions to make
A: and we have forty minutes total .
A: It's twenty five after two at the moment ,
A: so forty minutes is five after three ,
A: um which I'll be keeping an eye on the clock for us .
A: Okay .
A: Um there are the decisions we have to turn to ,
A: but we'll come back to them in a minute
A: after I take us to the minutes of the previous meeting .
A: Right um
A: as we remember , I opened the meeting ,
A: the four of us were present ,
A: the meeting the first meeting's minutes were reviewed
A: and approved .
A: Um Sarah , you presented a marketing research report
A: um which pretty much rep represented that fifteen to thirty five year olds uh it has to be hand-held , power , channel , volume , number keys , possibly a speech recognition .
A: And then Steph did a second presentation
A: um that those functions plus streamlining them with big user-friendly keys that were easy to use .
A: I think all of us agreed with those things .
A: Kate presented a working design of going after going over the basics on the whiteboard
A: um that it should be a simple mass-produced device , because of the twelve and a half Pence cost .
A: Um but we did talk about possibly using rechargeable batteries
A: and having a docking place as a selling point .
A: Um and the new requirements that it for be for T_V_ only
A: um and that it include the l so slogan and colour of the uh corporate design be included . Um the corporate image .
A: So
A: we agreed that the target market would be fifteen to thirty five with more money than sense , that were decision makers .
A: Alternatively it would be a manufacturer to enclose it with the T_V_ ,
A: but it still should meet those parameters .
A: Um and that the function we agreed was volume , power , numbers , enter , channels , a way to move between channels , easy to use and hand-held .
A: Um at that point we agreed that Sarah would look at the current cost of competition , what what do the current ones sell for .
A: Um and Steph was gonna look at ec ergonomics .
A: Kate was gonna look at cost and feasibility of the various possibilities that we discussed .
A: And I was to type up these minutes
A: and work on the final report .
A: Is this a fair presentation of what our last meeting was ?
C: Yeah .
C: Yes .
B: Mm-hmm .
A: Okay .
A: Right . So
A: we're ready to close that
A: and go back to our That one .
A: Right .
A: We're up to the point of the A: Go back .
A: Um the three presentations .
A: So we're going to pull the plug on me
A: and turn to Sarah .
A: Is that okay ?
A: Is that alright with everybody else ?
C: Yep .
B: Mm-hmm . A: Especially since Kate asked to be last . A: Sarah , I'm sorry if I misspelled your name ,
A: I didn't know whether it was S_A_R_A_ or S_A_R_H_ .
D:  I respond to either .
D: No worries .
A: You respond to whatever you get , huh ? A: Okay .
A: Um , did you do your Hit C: Yeah , A: Ah ,
A: there it is .
A: Ta-da .
D: Okay ,
D: first thing I want to address is um one of the points that Florence brought up ,
D: which was uh current cost of the competition devices ,
D: similar to the ones that Stephanie uh showed us
D: and and they're uh twenty to sixty Euros , depending on uh branding .
C: Right .
D: Some of them that have a higher brand recognition are on the more expensive end .
D: But I think that with the current um price that we're searching for , we're well within , even on the lower end , of the uh of the market .
A: Mm 'kay .
D: But I'm going to move on to more interesting um more vibrant things .
D: So ,
D: I investigated the remote control market in greater detail ,
D: and my uh the theme of what I was to work on was uh trend watch .
C: D: And C: A: 'Kay .
B: Sorry . D: C: A: C: B: I'm glad to see the marketing budget is being so well spent on  . D: A: D: I know that you all are a distance from cutting edge marketing research ,
B: D: so you know ,
D: I'm just gonna try to cloak it in really professional terms here .
D: What's hot ,
D: fruit and veg . Spongy .
C: B: D: And this is all over the catwalks , Paris , Milan , and I'm talking about clothing , furniture , shoes . B: D: This is really interesting change from past years ,
C: D: because it is much more organic ,
A: Mm .
D: um some would say approachable .
D: And I think if we're to refashion our view of what we want in a remote control , we should perhaps think about incorporating technologically interesting fabrics and some of the bold colours into a simple handset .
D: So . D: I also did a little research
D: on um what again are the most important priorities in uh decision making about uh purchasing .
D: Fancy .
D: Functional is out .
D: And f the fancy , and that's exactly the term , I'm I'm thinking polished , elegant , you know , kind of innovative , but a cut above .
D: This is twice as important as the next finding ,
D: which is technologically innovative .
D: This is interesting ,
D: 'cause I think in the last meeting we were talking about technology as being so important ,
D: but maybe what's innovative is having it simple with um with uh technologically superior fabrics or uh , you know , designed in interesting substances .
D: Ease of use . Again , pretty low ,
D: I mean it's the top three ,
D: but each of the uh fancy and technologically innovative are far more important .
D: So
D: I think we should cloak the streamlined remote control device in a series of fruit fruit themed sleeves .
C: B:  I think that's a good idea .
D: Y yeah , you know B: Don't you ? C: Yes .
A: It sounds like the the uh covers that they use for the remote , you know , your t your cell phone .
D: Exactly . Exactly .
D: I was thinking though that instead of having something uh like patterned , you know , so , you know , something similar to a summer dress . you know , it would have like fruit and veg , is that we actually make these spongy .
A: Mm .
D: They could be ini
D: initially I thought we could start with kind of um fruit that would suit kind of uh a long uh hand-held , so banana , pineapple and pear .
D: Um it could actually the sleeve could take up a lot of the development
D: and the remote control , we'd just need to get reductionist on it . C:  D: They could be interchangeable ,
D: they're spongy ,
D: that goes back to ergonomic ,
D: and the youngsters love 'em ,
D: fun for the whole family , everyone can have their own .
D: So what we're talking about is changing . this concept .
D: Everyone has a T_V_ remote ,
D: but then we add in the fact that they could each have their own individual fruit .
C: D: That's what's hot on the catwalks . D: So ,
D: this is my D: This is what I'm thinking .
A: Hmm .
C:  A: Uh-huh mm .
A: In most families , don't isn't the remote is a remote .
D: Y yeah ,
D: but I think I think what this would allow is perhaps a person in the family who had the most opinion about it D: we all need a remote ,
D: but the person who is really perhaps active in personalising , I'm thinking the teenager , the someone fifteen to thirty five would go out and get this additional thing the same way as you mentioned that people would get the cell phone covers .
A: Mm .
C: So when your dad's sitting there , overriding your decision , going no we're gonna watch this , you can bring out your own remote and be like zap , no we're gonna watch this .
D: Yeah .
D: W and plus I think A: Mm . Well
D: Uh yeah .
A: actually some households do have three and four T_V_s
C: D: Yeah .
A: and they would have a remote for each one ,
A: so .
D: Yeah . So
D: this is an idea
D: and I I D: you know ,
D: this is exactly what the research has uh has shown .
D: So I really open this up to uh any other feedback . This spongy fruit and veg .
B: Yeah ,
D: Thanks .
B: I I think we're gonna have some trouble when we get down to the component design on this .
D: Alright .
C: Yep .
B: Spongy is gonna be difficult , I'm afraid .
A: Hmm .
C: And as for as for um well budgeting as well , if we're gonna have lots of different interchangeable components .
A: Hmm .
A: D: I I just have my ear to the market , guys .  C: Is this to the market ?
B: Yeah , I mean basically
B: we can make these things out of wood , titanium , plastic or rubber .
B: I suppose rubber is the closest to spongy ,
D: Is spongiest , yeah .
B: yeah .
D: That would add B: I was thinking titanium myself .
C: I was thinking titanium ,
C: I was thinking it's just C: I have been influenced by pictures of iPods ,
D: Mm-hmm .
C: and they're also minimalist and shiny .
D: D: They are
D: and they they would fulfil the uh first um priority ,
D: which is fancy .
D: I think many of us would associate those with fancy .
D: Something else we could do is uh call it something that's fruit and veg oriented .
D: We could call it uh  The name .
A: Are we talking about the device itself or the c or a cover for the device that would be an interchangeable cov cover as a separate product ?
D: Well
D: it would be uh a a very simple product
D: that would have a spongy sleeve that would be interchangeable . So A: Perhaps perhaps that desi that particular suggestion needs to go back to management
C: Yeah ,
C: but it's kind of pointless ,
C: isn't it ?
A: and perhaps go to another group to actually design as a separate product .
C: Yeah .
D: That , you know , that might be C: Let's delegate . A: Wo would that be agreeable ?
D: And then we could keep it titanium .
B: Yeah . B: W w would it be helpful if um I described the components a bit ,
B: because I think it would give you um maybe bring this discussion back to Earth of what we can actually physically do .
C: Yeah , maybe .
C: Or A: Do you wanna be next or you want Kate to go next ?
C: I think possibly it might be more useful if Kate went next .
A: Okay ,
A: we'll move the C: Um B: C: You can even have them in different flavours as well . C: So that if you just wanna sit there and chew on the remote , it could be like pear flavour ,
D: Yeah .
D: Or s or smelly . Scratchy
C: yeah . Scratch and sniff . D: Uh well
D: I was really thinking a lot about the I_ uh the iMac kind of gel gem tone .
B: Right , well
D: It's hot on the streets , guys .
B: I I I think some of this um C: B: you're gonna be a little disappointed with some of the things I have to tell you ,
B: but I'm afraid this is the real world . B: So um
B: I've been looking at the the basics of how these devices actually have to work in order to operate ,
B: and I've had some discussions with the ma manufacturing division ,
B: who have told me what's actually available , you know , what the current state of the art in components is , and some of the exciting new things they've got ,
B: but I'm not sure that it's quite what you want
B: um . Now
B: this isn't a very good overhead ,
B: but this is just to show you ,
B: this is the innards of a remote control um .
B: I really need a pen or something
B: but uh B: does my mouse work ?
B: No .
B: Um oh
B: yeah ,
B: can you see my little mouse pointer ?
A: Mm .
B: Right .
B: This is this is the a a a remote that's been opened up
A: Mm .
B: and that's the the back of the interface .
B: And this is a push-button one ,
B: so you see these little little buttons here , they're little rubber rubber buttons
B: that go through onto the the board at the back
B: and they push these buttons here .
B: Um and we B: that's the basic construction that we've got to got to accommodate .
B: We got to have something that pushes the little buttons
B: that um talk to the chip
B: that encodes the message
B: that sends the the message to the receiver .
B: So um
B: I wan I wanna go through not not just addressing the um uh the the points that you made , Sarah ,
B: but um doing my presentation in the order I wrote it .
D: B: So first of all um I wanna talk about what possibilities we've got for the energy source .
B: Um we can have your bog standard double double A_ batteries in a replaceable um little compartment .
B: We can have a hand  D: C: A wind-up .
B: sorry B: a wind-up , yeah ,
B: which I think is quite an interesting concept for a  sorry for a remote control ,
D: A: D:   B: but i it maybe is doesn't quite go with the um the fruit and veg .
A: B:  Um one that one that I think is quite interesting is the kinetic energy source ,
A: Alright .
D: A: Remember ,
A: we only have forty minutes
B: where um you you actually get the energy by moving the device ,
D: Mm .
B: which is quite a ni a nice and neat one .
A: Hmm .
B: You have to B: it means that if it's sitting there for a long time it probably won't work ,
B: but you have to sort of throw it between your hands every now and then ,
C: B: it'll work .
D: Hmm .
B: Or we we had talked about solar power ,
B: but I thing that we agreed that that's not so good in the dark .
A: Mm .
B: Now
B: I'm afraid this is the options we've got on on the case .
B: It can be made of plastic , rubber , wood o if you like , or titanium .
D: Hmm .
C: B: Um and the nearest we've got to st to spongy there I guess is rubber ,
B: but um I'm gonna come back to the advantages of titanium ,
D: Hmm .
B: and basically it can have a flat surface , a curved surface or a double curved surface ,
B: but I think if we wanna use standard components , we're gonna have difficulty with anything much beyond that .
D: Hmm .
B: Okay ,
B: what does the interface look like ?
B: Um well
B: push button , that's that's the one we're all familiar with . B: Um we can have scroll buttons
B: and the the scroll button can incorporate a push ,
A: Hmm .
B: so you can have it like on a mouse
B: where you can use it to go up and down , change volume or channel or something like that
B: and push to select something .
B: Um you can have multiple scroll buttons ,
B: um this is maybe getting a little bit complicated ,
B: but um it's it the technology is there .
B: And we can also incorporate an L_C_D_ display in the remote ,
B: but this will increase the cost .  B: Um the electronics that actually makes the device work , we've basically got three , simple , regular , advanced ,
B: and the price goes up as we choose each of this .
B: If we want the nice cheap one , the simple , then we can only have push buttons .
B: All the other fancy interface designs go out the window , I'm afraid .
B: Um pay a little bit more for a regular chip and you can have scroll buttons .
B: If you want the advanced chip it obviously costs more ,
B: but it that's what you need if you want the L_C_D_ display .
B: And the manufacturing devision tell me that they have recently developed um sample sensor sample speaker devices .
B: Now
B: I don't know what that is ,
B: but I think they think it's quite important
B: and we might want to incorporate it somewhere .
B: Um ou our real expertise is in push buttons , I have to say ,
B: but maybe you think that's old technology . D: Mm .
B: And well
B: I I think we've got two options .
B: We can either go for a really cheap model ,
B: keep all of the costs down ,
B: um which means a flat plastic case with an ordinary battery and simple push buttons .
B: Or we can have something that looks a bit nicer ,
B: I think it , um won't necessarily l uh look like a pineapple ,
B: but um that may or may not be a good thing .
D: C: B: Sorry .
B: Um but it could have an L_C_D_ screen
B: and it could have multiple scroll buttons ,
B: and it could have the the company's new development of the um sample sensor and speaker . B: So ,
B: thank you .
D: That sounds good .
D: Any idea  you
D: you mentioned that there would be a cost difference .
D: Um do you have any idea if if this could if the fancy model could be done in twelve Euros fifty ?
B: Yeah ,
B: I'm afraid I don't have that information available .
B: Um manufacturing didn't actually give attach any prices to any of this , I'm afraid .
A: Hmm .
D: Hmm .
D: Because , you know what , I'm being quite serious when I say that that um the things I mentioned are hot .
D: But I think the important thing might be to choose one .
B: Yeah mm-hmm .
D: You know , if if what you're telling me is is um some of these things aren't just f aren't feasible , maybe we could something about naming ,
D: we could call it , you know , Blackberry .
D: That's uh C: Bear bear in mind it has to be the colours and styles of the company ,
C: so what I had been thinking was something chunky and yellow and plastic with black buttons with a logo on it .
B: Banana ?
D: Alright ,
D: well
D: let's see then .
C: But um
C: I I don't know how important that is to keep it exactly the colours of the Real Reaction company .
D: Yeah .
C: It's just what I'd understood we'd be doing .
D: Yeah .
C: That's before I heard about all this hot tips about the future , fruit-wise .
D: But yeah ,
D: I'm trying to streamline mine a little bit .
B: We we could we could do um a double curved rubber one ,
B: which would allow um say a banana ,
B: but um unfortunately I see from my notes that if we do that , we have to have a push button as the interface ,
D: Yeah .
B: we can't do anything fancier .
D: Hmm .
C: Shall we wait 'til I've 'til I've showed you what well , my extensive presentation on what sort of interfaces are available .
B: D: Yeah .
D: Mm .
B: Yep .
D: Thank you , Kate .
A: Thank you , Kate .
D: Mm .
C: You did seem to include just in more detail what I've got though .
C: So so mine's a bit pointless .
C: Right . B: C: F_N_ and F_ eight , did you say ?
A: Yes .
B: A: There we go .
C: I don't have it on mine though .
B: D: Oh
D: I think um Florence resolved it by
B: I If you do F_ uh F_N_ F_ eight again , it's it'll A: Do it again .
D: F_ eight again .
A: Keep doing it until you get it in both A: you get it there ,
B: I think it yeah , you you will do an A: you get it yours without that one ,
A: and then you get it with both .
C: Should I do it again ?
D: Maybe .
A: Yeah .
B: A: This time it should come up both .
C: Right then .
C: I don't actually have a huge amount of different information then what Kate says ,
A: Okay .
C: just that my method was to look at the , well , my my inspirations ,
C: which was a big collection of lots of different models of remote controls and other things that use a similar sort of thing , including M_P_ three players , uh like you know , hi-fi remotes , not just television and these things .
A: Mm-hmm .
A: Mm .
C: Uh having a think about the feature of ea the features of each ones ,
C: um what functions we actually need ,
C: and then how to group and arrange these on the actual the actual plastic or rubber hand-held piece .
C: Uh I've been especially interested in the iPod style scroll wheel ,
C: which C: Well ,
C: I couldn't find a C: the picture of the iPod w only linked to a web browser ,
C: so I couldn't copy and paste it ,
C: but it had a similar thing to this thing on the right .
C: It has uh scroll wheels without without a display ,
C: but they they scroll like a computer mouse .
A: Hmm .
C: So I was thinking that uh um a really simple a really simple interface with just a couple of scroll things on it um
B: Hmm .
C: and then instead of a display the display could appear on the television screen .
C: Like I guess an existing Sky or cable one does .
C: Like , you know ,
C: you press enter
C: and it comes up with what's showing on that channel at the moment ,
C: and you can do C: you can scroll along
C: and it'll show you what's on in the next half hour ,