I think a lot about commoditization. How does a company in a mature industry differentiate its products from its competitors’? It’s a battle we were fighting every day at Dell. So I want to share with you my most recent favorite gadget, my Mimobot.

I have a friend from Babson, Evan Blaustein, who started a company called mimoco. They make designer USB flash drives called Mimobots. He got the idea because he collects limited edition vinyl art toys. Apparently designer toys are big in Japan, but I thought it was a pretty bad idea when I first heard about it. Who would pay $40 - $100 for a commoditized object like a $20 flash drive? I didn’t see much of a market.

I started to understand the potential last year when Evan came to SXSW. First off, he told me that he had sold out of all of the inventory he brought to town. But what really got me excited was that he’d gotten a license to make mimobots based on Star Wars characters. There are people who will buy any officially licensed Star Wars merchandise, especially if it’s from a limited edition. I went out and bought an R2D2, and I kept it in the packaging. If it appreciates a lot I can sell it to pay for my son’s college education. Here’s a picture of the R2D2 Mimobot in its spiffy packaging.

I’m working from home so much these days that I’ve started to use flash drives all the time. I had a smaller one that I’d gotten for free somewhere. It was utilitarian and it worked and I used it every day. It was a commodity. But then I got my very own mimobot. It’s a model called Rasta Domo. It’s a variation on a Japanese animated character who I knew nothing about, but I liked the fact that this mimobot has a guitar.

As I started using it every day I quickly identified with it to the point that it stopped being just a flash drive. I now refer to my Mimobot as “he”. That’s not by accident - Mimoco packages their Mimobots with special features that enhance their personality. For example, Rasta Dojo comes in his own little pouch which can be worn around the neck. Here he is inside his “hoodie.” The Mimobot also comes with SoundByte software that makes random expressions each time you plug your mimobot in or take it out. I’m not sure what the sounds mean - I think they’re in Japanese.    

But the important thing is that my flash drive is no longer a commodity to me. Nice job, Evan!