a smartphone camera could be a Pivothead user, and for that market PivotHead has created a product that’s “simple and intuitive right out of the box,” Cox says.
Cox thinks Pivothead also has the potential to make a mark in several industries that rely on videos for training and to monitor performance. Police could use them while on their beats or making drug raids, surgeons could use them during procedures, and media outlets could use them to create content.
Cox thinks this commercial market could be huge, and Pivothead already is making contacts. Navy fighter pilots, sushi chefs, and race car drivers have given the product a whirl and made demonstration videos.
But Pivothead faces some well-established competitors. One is GoPro. For a few years now, daredevils and action sports enthusiasts have been strapping the California startup’s rugged little cameras to their gear to document their exploits.
While Pivothead’s promotional videos feature plenty of outdoor and sports action, Cox says that’s not the company’s focus. “There’s certainly overlap, and there are certainly athletes that are using our product, but we’re trying to bring point-of-view video to everyday life,” he says. “GoPro has done a beast of a job building the POV market for action sports, but we know that the functionality for this type of POV video is far bigger than just action sports.”
Google Glass is another potential rival, but Cox considers the product to be an indirect competitor.
With its heads-up display, data link, and ability to respond to a user’s voice, Google Glass is designed for early-adopting gadget lovers, in Cox’s view. The emphasis isn’t on the image quality and shooting video of everyday life; the camera in Glass takes 5 megapixel photos and 720p video. Rather, it’s on “bringing you into their ecosystem,” Cox says.
Pivothead’s aim is narrower.
“We think we’re going to have the best value by far, in terms of our capability and our price point, and basically dominate in video and image quality. Those are the two things where we’re really going to hang our hat,” Cox said.
Getting Smarter
Cox says Pivothead is about the take a big step forward with an upcoming product, which it calls Pivothead SMART, short for Simple Modular Application-Ready Technology.
The new product line, which will likely debut in July, is Pivothead’s attempt to add greater connectivity to its product.
The new glasses boast the standard 8 MP, 1080p HD camera, but have added ports for “SMART modules” that can be attached to the camera. The modules snap on to the rear of the ear pieces and include a “fuel mod” that triples the battery life of the glasses and a “live mod” with WiFi that enables live video streaming to smartphones, mobile devices, and computers.
Pivothead also is releasing what it calls an “air mod” that works with a software development kit for Android programmers.
Pivothead would be happy if developers took to the SDK and developed apps for consumers, but Cox says he doesn’t expect an app ecosystem will develop for Pivothead the way it has for Google Glass. Instead, the idea is to give developers for enterprise customers the chance to add features and integrate Pivothead’s glasses with their own devices and platforms.
The Pivothead SMART product line will still lack a heads-up display, which cuts down on the price. Pivothead has yet to finalize the price, but Cox expects the new glasses without the modules to cost about $299, the same as the current model, when they hit the market. The module for streaming video will be about $99, and the module for developers will be $179. Both will come with the fuel mod.
Pivotheads currently are available online and in a small number of retailers, but that is likely to change. Cox says the company recently signed a deal with a leading consumer electronics distributor that could soon lead to Pivotheads being sold in big box retailers and camera stores.
