Meizu is one of the many Chinese smartphone manufacturers doing very well on home ground but almost unheard of in other markets, particularly the United States, which is a very lucrative market for consumer electronic devices. It’s looking to make an entry into the United States but not by selling smartphones, it’s going to start its journey in the U.S. market by selling a crowdfunded Wi-Fi speaker called Gravity.
Meizu’s Gravity Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker will go up against devices from the likes of Sonos and others. The company hopes that the bold design of this product will entice customers, the minimal floating design for this product was created by Japanese designer Kosho Tsuboi.
He applied the missing design philosophy to this product, and by trimming and eliminating the distinctive appearance of the object the boundary of object and space has been blurred, making it seem like the product seamlessly blends into the surrounding environment.
The floating theme carries over to the speaker’s display as well. Meizu says that it’s the first company to use a prism reflection on a wireless speaker to achieve the floating message effect. The speaker itself is fashioned out of aluminum.
Given that it got $590 million from Alibaba last year as an investment, Meizu can certainly make this product without having to crowdfund it, but the Indiegogo platform allows it to manage all aspects of selling the product online without having to set up its own portal.
Pledging $169 will get you one Gravity wireless speaker for $80 off the $249 retail price. Shipping is estimated to begin in December this year.