Packaging Cayenne as app to sell products

Ideas / Suggestions On Cayenne Roadmap
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Hi Cayenne,

What is the likelihood of allowing Product Designers such as myself to export cayenne dashboard as an app for my product? The reason I ask is because cayenne is so user friendly it makes more sense for me to use your service for my designs than to try and recreate it.

I think Cayenne is aimed more at those who want to create their own IOT products and just have a way to control them rather than cayenne to be used for commercial products but I thought I would ask all the same.

Thanks

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Hey Will,

Thank you for asking this! It excites the Cayenne team that you would think about Cayenne in a commercial mindset… This was touched on in this post as well: Mobile App Customization
I go into more depth on this now, since this will be be some great feedback to help drive Cayenne.

So you’ve actually touched on a vision of the Cayenne product. At its current state, there is no stream-lined way to move from a “IoT proto-type” to a “commercial product”. However, I’d like to say this is what we’d like Cayenne to be able to do…move an idea (or design/solution) from initial proto-type to a successful pilot solution and then to full-scale production out in the real world.

Apologize in advance if any of the assumptions in next paragraphs are off, please correct me or add to it!:

As a Product Designer, whether you are designing for yourself or on behalf of a client (let’s assume you are designing for a client here), there is a huge value in being able to provide a proto-typed solution that the client interact with to give you direct feedback. The amount of time it takes to create that proto-typed solution for the client should be as minimal as possible (it’s a prototype after all) and, ideally, the proto-type can be easily iterated as feedback is gathered from the client and the product itself is iterated over time.

At some point, I assume the proto-typed solution would be approved, or at least it’s officially declared as viable and ready to be used as the basis for a pilot program to test it in the real world within a controlled environment.

So we’re now at the point where the client is using the solution in the pilot program, has continued to make some improvements to the solution, and is now wants to deploy the solution commercially…what now?

  • Is the process above accurate to how you would think someone, such as yourself, would use Cayenne to develop some commercial product?

  • Do you think you can expand on what you would expect should happen at this point (the “what now”)? What would you need from the Cayenne platform to enable you to use it as you’ve envisioned?

Sorry for long post…would appreciate your input though!

-B

1 Like
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Adding @t.rank2007 for input as well, since he brought this up in previous post.

-B

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I to am interested in some models of distribution of a package as Cayenne is shaping up for me as a viable compliment to Electronics / IoT / Raspberry Pi platform. Less in the outright commercial line but adding it as a package or packaged solution; say skins, custom settings. I am after it more for projects I am working on in the education and a maker IoT, environment. Wildlife and pest species tracking and monitoring here in NZ (L.o.t.Rings backdrop scenery…) we are trying hard to preserve etc. Already in its present form it is a great concept and compliment to IoT hardware popping up everywhere. Even through things I do it could be promoted and have spin off into commercial application: Once people get their hands on the system or see it in action then realise the potential. They no doubt would go to x,y,z and pick up / purchase the hardware. There would be a mid market click and point gui, skin, setting that has already been mostly made for them. I myself am more a keen on keeping the education / R&d and altruistic angle. I hope there remains an entry account level that is open and available. If there remains a position for likes of us at this level then good on you. It will be win:win. Managing the growth / explosion of concepts and avenues will be a big challenge for you.

Waxing a little philosophical here… In my informal ‘Shed Talks’ talks I give I use the analogy in trying to get the whole idea of IoT across as like trying to describe someone in the 1980’s what a web browser is ! What you guys are doing, and doing well I believe, is re-inventing things but this time round for IoT.

~ Andrew

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Hi Bestes

Thank you for your quick and detailed reply. You have pretty much hit the nail on the head with how the Product Design process goes, although sometimes there is not necessarily a client as products would be sold via website.

So I suppose what I would be after from Cayenne would be the ability to tailor the IOT app using your services and then be able to have some control over layout/styling to applying some branding and make app different from other cayenne apps. Then I would want to be able to export the application for launch on apple and android (possibly windows but less likely).

Some form of on-boarding would need to be included within the app as customers may not understand how to connect their product to the app. You guys seem to be really good at this as I found Cayenne very easy to use so far.

As for the prototyping, this is where I am very keen on using cayenne as it is very quick to mockup products plus I use 3D printers constantly so this suits me perfectly development speed wise. So being able to share the prototypes with clients would be a big bonus.

A few other things required would be the need to use sensors, cameras etc that may not currently be supported by the platform. As I said in another post, it would be really powerful to be able to use a variety of sensors even if they are not currently supported as getting hold of or price of the sensors currently supported might not fit for the product being designed.

Hope this is helpful.

Best Regards

W