YouTube celebrities are people or groups who are popular because of their videos on YouTube. Some of them have corporate sponsors, who pay for product placement in their clips or production of online ads. Some YouTubers have even become famous in the media.
Canadian singer, Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube and became one of the world's biggest superstars at only 15 years old. There are more and more YouTubers and they chase for fame or earn money from producing videos. And the main video-shooting device for YouTubers is smartphone. Nearly 90% of YouTubers use smartphones to shoot video. And they need to make good quality of video so that audience can really enjoy these videos.
WiMic can help these YouTubers show their audience with better quality of audio even in noisy environment. This product will be the best partner for these YouTubers.
2.4 Demand of Live Video Streaming
As per the research firm Markets and Markets, the global video streaming market will touch
$30.29 billion in the year 2016 and is poised to touch $70.05 billion by the year 2021, growing at a CAGR rate of 18.3 percent. There is 214% growth in live video ad views year-over-year.
Most popular is livestreaming is of sports -- about 38% of Americans who watch sports online do so through livestreaming. The biggest live streamer of sports is MLB Advanced Media, the media branch of Major League Baseball. Others use livestreaming for playing video games or watching movies, listening to music, recording events including concerts and religious services, making art, cooking, and just to narrate their daily life.
2.5 Smartphones Accessories
As shown in the figure 2. There are more smartphone accessories that help people shoot more professional video with smartphones like stabilizers, tripods and camera cages, which allow you to keep your smartphone or mobile device still when taking a video with it, they have perfect handles to accomplish this.
Take stabilizers for example. Stabilizers are special devices which may not work with digital cameras, but fits well with some smartphones. Different types of stabilizers are manufactured and designed to get a diverse range of shots. It makes your video to be smooth and flawless by staying away from camera movement. With the top smartphone stabilizer, you will become a professional cameraman in no time producing a very high quality of video or very
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fantastic of footage for yourself. These stabilizers are used to make your dream true of making extraordinary videos. They give the finest shoot even when moving swiftly. The best part of this stabilizer is, it comes with affordable price and easy to use.
In recent times, advent of smartphones has improved a lot. The Smartphones’ camera comes with even 20 pixels which is almost equivalent to a digital camera’s quality. With the
improvement of camera sensors, comes the video capability up to 4K resolution with fast processing lights, clear lens and glasses. Whenever you want to film a video for your project or have footage of your interesting trip, you might have found such an irritating problem as having the video unstably taken. Holding the phone with your bare hand is not effective to capture the sturdy and high-quality video at all. To avoid this unstableness, you need the help from the best Smartphone stabilizer.
With these accessories, people shoot better and more professional videos by spending little money compare to professional solutions. WiMic would be one of the best accessories for these demands.
Figure 2: Smartphone Accessories
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Chapter Three The Product Description 3.1 Product Characteristics
WiMic is a wireless noise-reduction recorder that help users shoot video with clear sound without much noise on smartphones. The category of this product should be smartphone accessory. It is easy to be carried because it only weight twelve grams. Users simply need to clip it to the place that near the audio source the most. Then users need to connect
smartphones with WiMic by Bluetooth. After connecting, users can open the user-friendly WiMic APP to start to record videos. When finishing the recording, users can use the APP to choose whether to use the audio that recorded by WiMic or not. This step called post-editing and audio/video mixing, which is usually time-consuming by using PC software. After post-editing, users can directly share videos on social media. The process is really simple as shown in the figure 3 and figure 4. First, users need to turn on the power of WiMic with the power button in the front side. Second, users can open the WiMic APP, and then choose the recording function in the bottom of APP. Third, the APP will ask users to connect WiMic to the smartphones with Bluetooth. After the connection is done, users can see the recording mode is ready and users can simply press the record button, then the recording will start. By pressing the stop button, the recording will stop accordingly. Then users can transmit the audio data in real time by the connection of Wifi. After that, post-editing of sound tracks can be done by adjusting how many percentage of audio source from WiMic users want to use compare to the audio source from the smartphone. While the audio and video mixing is finished, users can share the video directly by sharing button with Facebook or YouTube account. The process is simple and fluent so that users can produce a better quality of video without too much effort.
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Figure 3: Operating Procedure 1
Figure 4: Operating Procedure 2
3.1.1 Distance of Recording
People shoot videos might be bothered with the distance of recording, because smartphone can’t record any audio if the audio source is too far from smartphones. Distance of recording will limit the video production. Video makers need to shoot video just nearby the object being shot. Therefore, external recording devices are very important for people who want to shoot videos with good audio quality.
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Distance is no longer an issue for recording audio when shooting a video by using WiMic.
Even if the performer or your children are far from you, you still get the clear sound with the distance up to 20m of recording. With a user-friendly APP and remote control, users can have a brand new experience of shooting videos. Actually, the connection issue of iOT products is very common that the distance of receiving less than 10 meters. However, the long distance recording technology of WiMic is based on Wifi and Bluetooth dual connection so that it longer the connecting ability and provide users with diverse use case.
3.1.2 Audio Quality
The audio matters as much as the video. A good video with poor audio quality is junk unless you plan to add a completely new audio track “in post” (while editing your video). While you want to make your video looks good, the quality of your audio is more important than the video – so it should matter as much, if not more. Unfortunately, the built-in microphone in most smartphones (if not all of them) is both low quality and improperly placed. It is very common to catch wind and unnecessary environmental noise that will compete with or drown out any important audio while shooting video outside. This is almost impossible to edit out later. It is advisable to shoot your video in a quiet place, preferably indoors when possible with less ambient noise. Professionals are shooting all sorts of commercial grade videos and feature films using their mobile phones but audio is almost ALWAYS captured with a separate recording device suitable for the job. So, for great quality videos with superb audio, you should get an external recording device or at least a directional microphone that will work with your smartphone.
WiMic’s pioneering approach quiets the noise when you shoot videos on smartphones by using the technology of Ambient Noise Reduction(ANR) and Active Noise Canceling(ANC).
WiMic’s plenty of patented IPs will help users record the best quality of audio in the videos to reserve the best memories.
3.1.3 Post-editing
The normal process of producing videos is that people will shoot video and do the post-editing of audio and video mixing on computer if user use external audio recorder. However, post-editing is very time-consuming and it is very professional. Usually people are not that
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willing to do that if they are not professionals, but they still want to make better videos. In normal cases, post-editing process will take more than an hour including transferring data from external recorder, installing the PC software that is suitable for processing, mixing the video and audio tracks in the time line, checking whether the audio and video are sync or not, and then make them being synchronized by editing the length and starting point. These PC video editing software including Adobe Premier, After Effect, Power Director, Movavi Video Editor, and Movie Maker…etc.
However, WiMic provide user-friendly APP for users to do the video/audio mixing. It is very easy that help users to save a lot of time doing post-editing. By only one click, you can share your story with friends without much effort and no need for time-consuming post-editing to mix audio with video.
3.1.4 Multiple Sound Tracks
There is a problem that if you shoot a video with many objects, like bands. You need to use multiple external recorders to record different audio for different sound tracks. Then After recording, you need to transmit the audio data from external recorders and video data from smartphone or camera into computer and do the post-editing for different soundtracks. The process is very annoying. In addition, it is quite difficult for people to record each recorder at the same time. It means that it takes a lot of effort to make them sync together by using post-editing software.
WiMic provide the feature that users can record up to three sound tracks by three WiMic at the same time, and do the post-editing quickly by APP. When user’s smartphone connected to one of the WiMic with Bluetooth, and each of WiMic will send the signal to each other and then connecting together. With this multiple sound tracks feature, you can use various way to tell stories by the technology of multi-soundtracks, with up to 3 tracks, for recording audio perfectly.
3.1.5 Live Streaming
There are more and more YouTubers or celebrities do live streaming on FB. However, they all face the same problem that there is no solution for noise-reduction when doing live
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streaming on smartphones. They need to take care of the noise from surrounding and check the distance between object and smartphone in order to get the clear sound of source.
WiMic provide live streaming solution for live stream users to reduce surrounding noise, and it help users to forget the distance issue from live streaming.
3.1.6 Light Weight
WiMic is made by PC plus ABS mixing, so it is really compact but strong. Its weight is only 12g and it is easy to be carried. It is very important to make the smartphone accessory as small as possible so that people will be willing to carry it anywhere. WiMic can be easily put it in the bags or even your pocket. It will be your best partner whenever you want to shoot a good video to tell a good story.
3.2 Product Design
As shown in the figure 5. There is a microphone on the top of WiMic for receiving audio source. There’s a LED indicator that shows the status of WiMic. Green lights while power is on. Green light indicates sometimes means that charging is finished while plug to USB cable for recharging. In the other hand. Green light blinking indicates device power is low. Please charge the device. Blue lights while Bluetooth is connected. Red light blinking while
recording and Red lights while retrieving audio via WiMic Wi-Fi hotspot. What’s more, Red light indicates device is in charging status while plug to USB cable for recharging. As for Power Buttom, Long press “Power Buttom” 3 seconds to power on WiMic. There is LED indicating and vibrating while power is on. In the other side, Long press “Power Buttom” 3 seconds to power off WiMic. There is vibrating for noticing. There’s a replaceable collar clip in the back of WiMic shown in the figure 6. The collar clip is a removable part of WiMic. To remove the collar part, press the top side of collar clip downward, the collar clip will move along the tracks on the two sides in lower part of the main body. Revers the process to put the collar clip on the WiMic. USB charge port and data transfer port is on the bottom side as shown in the figure 7. There is a micro USB rubber cover for waterproofing. The micro USB plug is for battery charging and data connection to PC as USB drive. The hole next to the USB cover is for hardware upgrade. Software upgrade of WiMic can be done via the WiMic APP.
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Figure 5: product Design
Figure 6: Replaceable Collar Clip
Figure 7: Bottom View
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Product specification as shown in the table 1. As for the features of WiMic, details as bellowing descriptions.
1. High audio quality - There is a lot of disturbing noise from the surroundings when people shoot videos. The patented technology can reduce noise in real-time, and help people preserve the best memories.
2. Long distance of recording – Usually videos with unclear audio recording when people who shoot the video from the place that far away. With the dual connection mode, WiFi and Bluetooth, if the performer or children are far from people who are recording on the smartphone, users can still get the clear sound with the distance up to 20 meters of recording. With a user-friendly APP and remote control, people can have a brand new experience of shooting videos.
3. No need for post-editing - In normal cases, video makers need to use professional microphone to record audio then transfer the audio data into computer to do post-editing with video editing software. It is very time consuming and annoying. However, WiMic provides the APP for easy and instant video and audio mixing. It is the perfect
companion for users to share their memory on social media.
4. Three sound tracks simultaneous recording – In professional expert of video-maker, they need to prepare three microphones to record three performers or speakers. Then experts need to do the post-editing to recollect these three sound tracks into one sound track, it is very time-consuming. WiMic help users use various way to tell stories by the technology of multi-soundtracks, with up to 3 tracks, for recording audio.
5. Live transmit – now live broadcasting is really hot, there are many platforms or companies provide this function to keep up with this live broadcasting trend. However, they can’t get good audio quality when live broadcasting. Live transmit audio with noise-reduction feature when live broadcasting will solve these problems for noise.
6. Dual connection mode – connect smartphones by Bluetooth. Users can transmit audio recorded by WiMic with Wifi connection from WiMic to smartphones quickly.
7. Small but compact – the light weight and small size of recorder gives video makers a good experience of shooting video. The size of WiMic is 26*42.5*10.9 mm and the
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weight is only up to 12 grams. Users can easily clip WiMic on the clothes to record perfect sounds.
Power supply Internal Li-ion Rechargeable Battery
Microphone MEMS Mic
Wireless Connections BT4.0 + Wi-Fi Hotspot Effective Range Up to 20 meters
Storage Recording Time Up to 4 hours Battery Operation Time Up to 4 hours
Standby Time 40 hours
Recording Mode Mono
Frequency Response 100-8,000Hz
Recording Format 44.1KHz/16bit Wav (Linear PCM) Signal-to-noise ratio 65 dB
Distortion 1%@94 dB 1kHz
Sensitivity -26 dBFS
LED x 1
Vibrator Yes
Data Connection/Recharge Micro USB
Size 26*42.5*10.9
Weight ～12g
Material ABS+PC
Table 1: Product Specification
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Chapter Four Operation 4.1 Demography
Head office of WiMic will be based in Taipei, Taiwan for some reasons. First, CEO&
founder came from Taiwan. It would be more realistic to have a physical office in Taipei. But international sales could be based in Japan, Europe or US for the main target markets are in Japan, Europe and US. These countries are more mature and more open for new categories of technology products, and the consumers in these countries have higher purchase power to purchase and are willing to buy better smartphones with much better camera features. The second reason is that the cost of salary is not high and they speak same language with CEO.
4.2 Organizational Structure
Initially, there are only ten people included in a small team which include five function teams. As a technology company, RD is very important. Every year, the company will increase number of employee from two to five for RD. in the beginning, there will be no VP for product manager. CEO will be taking over it. As for Financial part, accountant will be out sourced first. The detail of organization structure shown in the figure 8.
Figure 8: Organization Structure
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SWOT stands for strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. A SWOT analysis guides to identify product’s strength and weakness(S-W), as well as boarder opportunities and threats(O-T). Developing a fuller awareness of the situation helps with both strategic planning and decision-making. The SWOT analysis shown in the table 2.
5.1 Strength
As for the Strength in SWOT, WiMic provides single stop smartphone solution for video-shooting users. Users don’t need to care about audio noises, post-editing and sharing videos with many steps. There’s no similar solution in the market, and WiMic’s light weight will make users more willing to bring it everywhere. Comparing to other more complex and professional solutions, the solution of WiMic is the simplest and cheapest for YouTubers and micro-film makers.
5.2 Weakness
Although there are many strengths in this business, there are still some weakness in this business. First, although there’s no competitor is a good thing, the solution is new so that it demands huge effort to educate customers and make effort to explore the market. Second, because initially there’s not enough RD to development both iOS and android APP, iOS will be available in the beginning. It means that, the business will lose android smartphone users.
Third, initially people are not always willing to bring out smartphone accessories. Forth, the technology initially is only available for HD quality of recording, but some smartphones in the market can already shoot 4k videos. The last one is capital issue, hardware companies need a lot of capital to produce products, to do research and development. It is a great challenge of how to survive in the first year or two years because of the huge cost.
Third, initially people are not always willing to bring out smartphone accessories. Forth, the technology initially is only available for HD quality of recording, but some smartphones in the market can already shoot 4k videos. The last one is capital issue, hardware companies need a lot of capital to produce products, to do research and development. It is a great challenge of how to survive in the first year or two years because of the huge cost.