Community-developed Pivot Power strip now available to order
The community-driven Quirky website has already managed to bring products like the Space Bar and DigiDude camera mount to market, and it's now offering what may well be its most useful product to date: the Pivot Power strip. That, as you can probably surmise, is a power strip that pivots, which lets you plug in up to six power adapters or chargers of any size (within reason). This being Quirky, however, things are done a bit differently that your usual retailer -- only 960 units are available for pre-sale right now, and you can "commit" to buying one for $23. If all those are sold, the Pivot Power will go into production, and its designers and top "influencers" will receive a small percentage of each sale. That goal should be easy enough to meet in this case, though -- more than half of the pre-sale slots have already been snapped up as of this writing. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and head on past the break for a video and the complete press release. %Gallery-96571%
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Pivot Power, Adjustable Power Strip, Hits Quirky's Online Store
collaboratively developed in one week by Quirky's community
New York, NY, June 28, 2010 -- Today marks the official release of Pivot Power -- a community-developed electrical power strip that adjusts and flexes to maximize outlets as well as conserve space.
Pivot Power is designed to solve all the frustrations of traditional power strips. Its six adjustable outlet pods allow you to make room for all of your plugs at once so that large power bricks don't hog all the space. Plus, Pivot Power's flexible form easily bends into circular, semi-circular, and zig zag shapes, enabling it to fit into tight spaces and wrap around furniture and corners. Finally reclaim your outlets with Quirky's Pivot Power.
Pivot Power is the 44th product designed and developed by the Quirky community since Quirky's launch on June 2, 2009. Quirky gives everyone the chance to get product ideas out of their heads and onto shelves. Each week, Quirky's community collaborates to select and produce one new product idea. This week ends the development phase of Pivot Power, and it is now available for pre-sale in Quirky's online store for $23 (MSRP: $25).
You might remember other successful Quirky products including the Cloak, a sleek, sturdy iPad case; the DigiDude, a portable camera tripod and keychain; the Scratch-n-Scroll, a mousepad with a writing surface; and the PowerCurl, a cord wrap for Apple's MagSafe power adapter.
Quirky engages participants to collaborate in every aspect of product creation -- from ideation, design, naming, manufacturing, marketing, right on through to sales. Anyone can participate on Quirky.com either by submitting their own product idea for $99, or by voting, rating, and influencing other people's product ideas. Cooler still, 30¢ of every dollar generated from the sale of a Quirky product goes back to these influencers.
Every week, users post ideas on Quirky to be rated by the Quirky community. The community surveys the submissions during a seven-day evaluation period and selects one product to move forward into product development. Quirky's community then begins weighing in on everything from naming to logo selection to packaging through to prototype.
The final product becomes available for pre-sale in the Quirky online store (quirky.com/products). Once the product hits its pre-sale threshold, credit cards are charged, and the product goes into production and delivery. At this point, 30¢ of every dollar made from the sale of these products goes back to the community. "Community" in this case covers both the ideator as well as all people who voted, commented, and rated the project idea along the way.
