AQIPA Gear Guru

#AqipaTALKSInnovation edition #5 with Andres Gomez from Aiper Poolboys are out! Poolrobots are the name of the game .... While in the northern hemisphere, most pool owners will be busy getting the final makeover before the winter hits (and making sure the pools are nice and tidy before all the leaves have finally fallen off), the southern hemisphere and our colleagues in #Australia are gearing up for their summer season. AQIPA Gear Guru has two particular brands that are geared towards the seasons. One of them was the intelligent and nicely designed electrical heaters of Mill International AS that we already talked about in this series, and the other one is our friends from Aiper the most innovative and successful pool cleaning robots on the market. We sat down with Andres Gomez, whom I would like to thank again for taking the time in his hectic schedule, to talk about #innovation at Aiper, why being a "lazy guy" actually makes sense at Aiper, and what is up next for this cool brand in Aqipa´s roster. And by the way: We are super proud to announce that Aiper will now also be distributed in #Iberica by our friends at Aqipa Iberica. #poolboysareout #lettherobotrevolutionbegin #wegrowbrands

#AqipaTALKSInnovation, edition #4 We often talk about innovation in "known" categories like headphones, speakers, vacuum cleaners, but launching an entirely new product category is rare. Toybox falls into this latter part. Not that 3-D printers are something altogether new, but a "one-touch 3D printer" for kids (and adults that can´t be bothered with AutoCAD) is a FIRST to the market. I had the pleasure to speak to Ben Baltes, the CEO and one of the founders of Toybox Labs. He talks about his story from being a programmer at Microsoft to pitching his idea to Shark Tank ABC and he also reveals what his most creative "print" has been so far, and why Toybox is so much easier and more fun than other printers on the market.

#AqipaTALKSInnovation edition #3 The The New York Times recently published an article with the headline "As Cassettes Come Back, the Dilemma Is Finding a Tape Deck" (link in comments), and Currys Dan Rubel recently posted about an article in the Mirror that said, "Retro Gifts [.like our friends from Polaroid..] to be high on Brits' Christmas wishlists". So as Retro is back and so much in trend we are very proud to partner with the French company WE ARE REWIND, distributing their range of cassette players, belt clips, and cool accessories across Europe and Australia. I had the chance to sit down with founder and CEO Romain Boudruche to discuss how they launched WAR and why he believes Retro is a really good business for all our retailer partners. Check out the latest episode our #ATI talks. #wegrowbrands #retro #WAR

#AqipaTALKSInnovation edition #2 The days are getting colder and the question of how to keep you warm and cozy becomes more prevalent in our mind again. With Mill International AS we have a partner on board that has the vision to "Create the most comfortable, healthy and energy efficient home environment for a better life." We took this vision and the question of why Mill should be on every retailer´s shelf that outfits people's homes and discussed this and other questions around innovation with the CEO of Mill Norway, Per Robertson. Tune-in if you want to understand what makes electrical heating from Mill International AS special and want to learn more about the people behind this very successful Norwegian company.

Welcome to the first edition of the "Aqipa TALKS Innovation" interview series.     We have started interviewing the leaders of our partner brands to unlock their secret of how to innovate in the cut-throat consumer electronics market. We were inspired by the new #IFA Motto “Innovation For All” and took this as a cue to reach out to some industry-leading figures. The recorded interviews are short but insightful conversations about their career, how they approach innovations, and the latest products they brought to the market.    My first interview partner is a real industry heavyweight: Carsten Olesen, President Consumer Audio at HARMAN International. Aqipa is working with the Harman Brand JBL in Spain, but more importantly, we were awarded the European distribution of the new AKG Consumer headphones #N9Hybrid and #N5Hybrid. Of course, we talked about the key features of these two new additions to the AKG portfolio, Carsten's view on innovation, and his secret tips for a trip to Berlin.   I hope you enjoy the session and please do leave your comments on what you liked, learned or love to hear more of. Special thanks to Søren Majlund and Marije Bakker for making this happen.