In recent weeks, there has been a lot of hype in Russia over the launch of the Russian YotaPhone 2 smartphone. The creators of this phone expect it to be successful and take a share of the market away from the iPhone. And today we will tell you about 5 most illustrative cases last years when in the post-Soviet expanses were created own gadgets and deviceswhich have achieved relatively high popularity in the world.
YotaPhone
We will start, in fact, with the YotaPhone mobile phone. So far, we cannot talk about its unconditional popularity in the market, but we believe in the future success of this brand, and therefore we will write about it in advance.
Discussions about the need to create a brand of its own in Russia for the production of mobile phones began in the early 2000s. Even some attempts were made to do this, but each time they ended in failure. And the history of YotaPhone itself began in 2010, when plans were first announced to create their own smartphones for the Yota mobile network.
True, the start of sales of the first YotaPhone model took place only in December 2013. This phone differs from other smartphones by the presence of two screens at once. The first is a standard touchscreen full color display. The second is a screen based on E-Ink technology.
Such a technological solution allows you to combine two devices in one case at once: in fact, the smartphone itself, as well as an e-book. This will significantly save energy in batteries when using the device.
Demand for the first YotaPhone was moderate. However, the Yota Devices company expects the high success of the YotaPhone 2 smartphone, in the promotion of which it is investing significant money in the international market. The sale of this phone started in December 2014.
It should be mentioned that the production of YotaPhone is carried out not at all in Russia, but in China at the Hi-P factory located in the city of Suzhou. But this is a general trend for all companies that produce their own equipment. American iPhone phones are also collected in the Middle Kingdom.
PocketBook
They also collect e-books from the PocketBook company, founded in Ukraine, in China. At the moment, it is one of the most successful technology brands in the entire post-Soviet space.
The PocketBook company appeared in Ukraine in 2007, when a group of local engineers and businessmen decided to start developing and publishing e-books that were relevant at that time. In this country itself, there was no technological capacity for the physical production of such devices, and therefore the assembly of these devices began in China and Taiwan. In September 2008, the first-born of the PocketBook company was born - the PocketBook 301 "reader".
PocketBook 301 has become the most popular e-book in Russia and Ukraine. This indicator was achieved due to a significantly lower price compared to the products of Western manufacturers, as well as high assembly quality.
Since then, PocketBook has released many new, more advanced e-book models, as well as several options for full-fledged tablet computers. At the moment, the PocketBook brand is the fourth in the world in terms of the number of e-readers issued based on E-Ink technology, and the company's headquarters has moved from Kiev to the Swiss city of Lugano.
PocketBook now not only produces hardware, but also popularizes reading as such. She develops social services for bibliophiles, as well as programs to get children interested in books.
Just5
Named device creators Just5 decided not to pursue the excessive functionality of mobile phones, realizing that Russia is far behind in the development of such technologies from the United States and China. But this does not mean that our country should completely abandon such plans. Indeed, with the mass distribution of smartphones, large manufacturers have almost completely abandoned the market for cheap push-button devices.
The fact is that the elderly, as well as children, do not need smartphones at all. People at the youngest and most advanced age find it difficult to navigate the seemingly extremely simple and convenient functionality of such phones. They need devices of previous generations, with the help of which they can only call and perform the simplest manipulations. The brand called Just5 is designed for this audience.
Just5 is a subsidiary of the Russian company Orbita Telecom. The first device under this name was released in 2009, and since then several new models of it have appeared annually.
The creators of Just5 decided that simple mobile phones do not have to be gray and faceless, like the Nokia 1100, because they can be made bright and beautiful. This design decision led to the fact that Just5 devices began to be used not only by old people, but also by young people, who so far cannot afford to spend a lot of money on smartphones. People also buy Just5 as a second phone, which they use in case of problems with the main or the appearance of an additional (for example, work) mobile number.
Just5 phones are sold not only in Russia, but also in dozens of other countries of the world, and the company's head office is located in Riga.
LaMetric
By the brands described above, the success of the post-Soviet space in the market for the production of "large" gadgets is apparently limited. However, hundreds of new startups appear in our countries every year, which strive to produce small but useful devices. And some of these young companies really manage to "shoot". An example is a device named LaMetricdeveloped by Lviv IT specialists.
LaMetric is an unusual desktop gadget that can perform many useful functions for the user. For example, this device can work as a clock, alarm clock, monitor for weather forecasts, as well as a display that informs about incoming emails and text messages. LaMetric can be connected to your computer and smartphone to get the information you need without taking it out of your pocket.
LaMetric is easy to program to display almost any information. It can also be used in business, for example, showing the number of visitors per day in a restaurant on this screen, the number of subscribers to a company page on the social network Facebook, or simply prices for goods, as well as information about discounts and services.
The startup LaMetric raised money for the production of these devices through the Kickstarter crowdfunding site. The devices are scheduled to start shipping in the first quarter of 2015.
Petcube
Petcube is another Ukrainian tech startup that has raised enough funding on Kickstarter to launch the production of related devices. Petcube is a device for those who keep animals at home and cannot live long without them.
Petcube is a small black cube that is equipped with speakers, microphone, online camera and built-in laser pointer. With the help of this device, the pet owner, while at work or traveling, can remotely communicate with his pet and even play with him, activating the laser, which is so fond of cats.
The Petcube is controlled remotely via an application on the owner's smartphone.
Bonus
Kaspersky Anti-Virus
In this review, we set out to tell you about five more or less successful gadgets created in the post-Soviet space. Kaspersky Anti-Virus, of course, is not a separate device, but without it our review of the success of Russian IT specialists would not be complete. After all, if the devices described above have received relative, local success among consumers, then the brainchild of Kaspersky Lab is one of the most demanded products on the global market.
However, this antivirus software needs no special introduction. We just mentioned it as an example of the unconditional worldwide success of the Russian development team.