More than half of us hit the snooze button daily (Greatist, 2014), after all, who wouldn’t like to sleep just for 10 more minutes. However, it turns out that snoozing can actually make the situation worse and we can end up feeling groggier and less energized. Therefore, more and more new products are being produced for us to effectively deal with the trouble of waking up in the morning, from running alarm clocks, to carpets that force you to actually stand up for a minute and listen to motivational quotes.
Wakie is the “social alarm clock” and it allows you to be woken by another person via the mobile app. Although the app was initially developed back in 2011, it took three years for it to be complete and so far, Wakie has already gained two million users in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore, and it has enabled 40 million wake up calls (Telegraph, 2016). Additionally, next to its main wake up feature, it fosters a community where you can talk to another user about a crazy thing you have experienced, your country or another interesting topic, but only for a maximum of five minutes.
How does it work?
The way Wakie works is pretty simple: you sign up with Facebook or email, you fill in your gender and birth date, after which you receive an activation code. When you want to set the call, it work as any other alarm clock, so that is also pretty straightforward. Now comes the interesting part- the call itself. You should expect to be called +- 5 minutes of your desired wake up time and the duration can be a maximum of two minutes. A few bloggers have tried the app for a week each in order to objectively evaluate the app and they report that in a typical call someone would greet you good morning, ask where you are from and then wish you a nice day ahead (CNet, 2014; Complex.com, 2014; Telegraph, 2016)
What is in it for Wakie?
You might ask yourselves, what is the actual business model of the app, it probably isn’t just connecting people and letting them talk about life just like that. Coming not so much as a surprise, Wakie is collecting data on users and is building a machine learning technology based on user profiles, the subjects being discussed and incorporates the feedback received after each call (TechCrunch, 2016). However, you are in charge of the decision to get your conversations recorded and they will only be recorded if the other user in the call has also opted in. Next to its machine learning initiative, the app is currently working on the addition of paid services that would increase revenues (Wakie app (FAQ), 2016).
So, if you are one of those heavy snoozers, give Wakie a try and see if it works!
http://www.cnet.com/news/a-stranger-in-my-bed-testing-the-wakie-app/
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/12/wakie-app
http://greatist.com/happiness/snooze-button-bad-for-sleep
Consumer Value Creation 