As I wrote yesterday in The easiest way to become a creative thinker, not all of their ideas have to be revolutionary for someone to practice being creative. In fact, some of the simplest observations can lead to ideas that have value.
For example, as someone who does a lot of typing on her laptop, I've noticed that it's really painful to use a small keyboard for extended periods of time. This is really frustrating because it's impossible to concentrate for extended periods of time--even when I have large projects to do.
In my experience, an ergonomic keyboard is the only thing that has really helped when my arms start to hurt. Using one relieves all my pain and prevents further injury.
But there's one huge problem with ergonomic keyboards...
They're HUGE. Enormous. Gigantic. Bigger than my laptop!
To me, this seems like the producers of keyboards have a very narrow profile for their target market: a person with a permanently-placed computer.
That seems like a very short-sighted view that is blinding them to a potential opportunity. What about the laptop users who desperately need relief for their wrists, but have a laptop because they want to be able to move around? Those monster keyboards simply aren't portable.
This wouldn't even be a difficult product to make. The current ergonomic keyboards are full of special keys (over 50 extra beyond the essentials. All a keyboard manufacturer would have to do is to crop the keyboard down to the bare minimum, and perhaps add the ability to fold.
Is this a revolutionary idea that would reshape the computing world? Of course not! But would it fill a real consumer need? Yes, both heavy laptop users wanting to prevent carpal tunnel and desktop users with limited space would be very interested. I know this because I'd buy a portable ergonomic keyboard in a heartbeat!
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