If you build a better mouse, will the world beat a path to your door?
It seems at least 120,000 people will.
Christchurch-based Swiftpoint says it’s sold that many mice since it released its first product - a travel mouse designed for your laptop’s wristpad - nearly two decades ago.
The firm has consistently used US crowdfunding platform Kickstarter both to goose interest and raise funds for its products.
Kickstarter has, of course, seen its fair share of flops, but Swiftpoint has used it for seven successful campaigns amid challenges from the GFC to the pandemic - putting it in the same Kickstarter hero bracket as West Auckland’s Grinding Gear Games.
Border closures are not helpful for a maker of a travel mouse, but by the time Covid hit, Swiftpoint had diversified with products including ergonomic mice and its “Z” gaming mouse, for which it raised $514,000 via Kickstarter in 2016.
The Z went on to win Gaming Innovation of the Year 2017 at the giant CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.
Now, the firm is raising funds for the Swiftpoint Z2 - a US$229 ($360) mouse that features 13 customisable buttons - including five that can perform more than one function by dint of being pressure-sensitive. This “deep click” technology means you could, say, left-click and drag to make a selection, press harder to copy that selection or harder still to cut it. In gaming, you could press to raise a weapon, press harder to aim, then harder again to fire.
There are also frills like vibration feedback, plus a gyroscope and an accelerometer so you can tilt the mouse to control actions on-screen. You could, for example, lean your mouse to make your game character look around a corner.
And on the side of the Z2, there’s even a mini OLED display.
Those features make hardcore PC gamers an obvious target market, but Mitchell says the original Z is also being used at two major Hollywood studios, has a following among radiographers, and also among software developers who use it for coding.
He says Swiftpoint asked Z owners about what they wanted to see in the Z2, and the main upgrade is a more accurate sensor (office mice have a dots per inch sensivity of around 800 to 1600 dpi; the Z2 supports up to 26,000dpi - more than twice its predecessor - with the ability to make tweaks in 50dpi increments, from the old model’s 100dpi).
The firm has also redesigned the dashboard you use on your PC to configure buttons, with the aim of making it more user-friendly (the broad thrust of reviews of the original Z was high marks for comfort and wows for customisability, but with the caveat that it took some getting used to).
There’s competition from the likes of Razer and Logitech. “A lot of the gaming products have gone for the lightest possible mouse you can get - 30 or 40 grams for eSports players. That’s not the market we’re targeting for gamers. For us, it’s people who want a lot of customisation.”
Pandemic pivot
The Swiftpoint Z2 - designed in Christchurch, and contract-manufactured in China - is scheduled to ship mid-year. Once Kickstarter buyers are catered for, sales will be online, including via Swiftpoint’s site and Amazon. Mitchell says a pre-pandemic push to sell Swiftpoints products in the likes of airport tech stores and high-end Apple resellers was “thrown out the window” as the virus hit. The firm pivoted to online sales.
Mitchell says while the pandemic was challenging - it saw Swiftpoint switch to a new manufacturing partner - the Christchurch firm did not need to seek any outside investment. Its registry of major shareholders remains the same as pre-Covid, with tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Chisholm still the largest shareholder.
Christchurch firm Swiftpoint's ProPoint mouse.
For Swiftpoint these days, its Kickstarter campaigns are more about creating buzz, testing market demand and fielding pre-orders (those who back its campaign get early-bird can grab the new mouse for US$139 - or even cheaper if they shell out US$479 for a four-pack).
The month-long Z2 campaign hit its nominal $24,000 goal within minutes. As of today (with 10 days to go), it has raised $425,896 from 1440 backers (nearly all of whom have plonked down funds by way of an upfront payment for the Z2 - including 20 who’ve opted for that US$479 four-pack - although there is also a no-reward US$10 pledge option for those who just want to show their support.)
So presuming the new mouse ships as scheduled, Swiftpoint will be able to chalk up another successful campaign - and another that most home towns are blissfully unaware of. Only around 1 per cent of sales are local.
“Most New Zealanders don’t know we exist. It’s not a market that we’ve ever targeted,” Mitchell says.
