ZAGG is perhaps best known for their gadget skin protection that used to be on edges of helicopter blades. Today, the company through us a bit of curve ball: they started talking about a product the company will unveil at CES in January, the ZAGG box. As catchy as that name is, we still ask, “what’s a ZAGG box?”
Described by the company as “major technology”, the ZAGG box is the culmination of 6 years and $35 million. At this point, it seems tough to classify exactly what this thing does: it is a media aggregator, will record, store and stream your media in multiple formats so you can watch on TV or on your iPhone (or other mobile device), and don’t forget home automation: it can hook into your HVAC, lighting or even door locks and control them. Good luck figuring out what aisle to put this thing in at Best Buy.
“We are introducing a game-changing technology with the ZAGGbox which will appeal to everyone from geeks to grandmas,” said Brian Packer, VP of Marketing of ZAGG. “It is a very powerful system, and very simple to use.”
The ZAGG dream machine is said to cost “under $999″ and should be formally launched in January 2010 shipping late Q1. The unit was announced a finalist in the I-Stage event put on by the CEA, (Producers of Consumer Electronics Show -CES).
Press release [ZAGG]
I was at CES and I saw the ZaggBox…………………..EPIC FAIL!!! This is no innovation. It is an overly marketed piece of garbage (sorry for the hostility BUT I WANTED IT TO BE GOOD!!). The one feature I did like is the streaming BUT…….You can get apps that allow you to stream everything from your desktop computer to your IPhone FOR FREE, why would anyone buy this?? Also why would a universal remote be a selling point?!? The ZaggBox is going to retail at $999? I will drive down to bestbuy and buy the best universal remote they carry and it will only put me out $150-$200. In all honestly I liked Zaggs InvisibileShield but all this other stuff this company is releasing is well to put it simply………FAIL. They're stock is plummeting as a result. Scary situation for a company that had so much potential. Hope they can invent something actually worth a damn.
While it was announced that the Zaggbox was 6 years and $35M in the making, Zagg's costs into the product are significantly less. As of their most recent financial filing the company had $2.8M in Inventory Deposits, which is most likely attributable to the Zaggbox as this amount is much higher than the previous quarters. The time and cost quoted above is attributable to the early developers of the Zaggbox technology and was a cost to them, not Zagg.
I was at CES too, and I have to disagree, the Zaggbox was not a failure. It actually was one of eleven finalists of the i-Stage Consumer Electronics Association. The Zaggbox is definitely a product targeted to the higher end home A/V consumer with its home automation capabilities. While all these features are deserving of a higher price and are far more than anticipated for the Zaggbox, it no way does that make the product a failure, it just means it wasn't what it was expected to be. In this case it turned out to be something above and beyond expectations.
As far as Zagg's stock price, the company has solid sales, profit, and growth figures built solely on the Invisible Shield and Zaggbuds. The income from those core products alone is worth more than the stock is currently trading for. With the addition of the Zaggsparq and Zaggbox, the company is going to see some phenomenal growth for 2010. For the three quarters ending Sept 2009 compared to the three quarters ending Sept 2008, the company had a 117% increase in sales and a 229% increase in net income. That core business is still growing. Zagg's stock price dip today has opened up a great buying opportunity to get in on a company with great earnings and growth, which is only going to continue. Invest like Buffet, buy great companies at steep discounts.
I can see your perspective on the product. Home automation is a pretty snazzy feature it really just feels like a bunch of nonsense
#1 they haven't released anything on this feature yet.
#2 and I know this will be an important factor is the zaggbox will only work with a few select thermostats. That's based off of what i was told at their booth at CES. Also when it comes to door locks…….I still don't understand how that will work because there is no software in a doorlock to connect too.
Again I see some of the selling points but for the $800 price tag I cant justify your average middle and lower class consumer purchasing it. Also when you look at your High Line consumers when buying electronics they don't care the price but they buy brands. This is Zaggs first venture into the electronic industry and I believe it's a mistake targeting the highline audience this early. I can tell you this it may not be an EPIC FAIL I may have exaggerate that but it's pretty damn close.