APRIL 10, 2007

You want eggs with your toast?

One of the topics we are very interested in here at UnderCurrents is innovation.  As consumers, we are always looking for the next big thing and know that companies that don’t keep up will lose.  It is not enough to design a winning product and then rest on your laurels.  Even makers of everyday products need to find new ways to lure in customers.

Let’s take a household object that most of us take for granted and, for the most part, is just fine the way it is: the toaster.  It toasts bread.  Job done.  What else could we want from such a machine?  Well, a recent article in The New York Times caught my eye by explaining the innovative evolution of the toaster:

Toastmaster brought the pop-up feature to the masses in the 1920s. “Fully automatic” toasters came along in the 1940s. These improvements begat the Pop-Tart, while a growing appetite for bagels inspired wider slots. “The 1990s introduced low-cost silicon chips to regulate toaster temperatures and intelligence better.

What comes next in the life of the toaster?  Well, the "Back to Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster", of course.  As the name implies, this machine not only toasts bread but has a built in egg poacher as well.  As an added bonus, it also warms breakfast meat.   As one amazon.com reviewer noted:

It’s fast, simple, easy to use, and makes great egg sandwiches for breakfast. What more needs to be said?

This is just one example of a product that seemingly was fully developed.  And then was forced to adapt to keep up with the times.  Innovation never stops.  Not even for the toaster.