MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/867
140 MacDirectory
INTERVIEW
RICHARDSOLO > A PASSION FOR GADGETS
Are you a lover of gadgets? If so, then
surely you are familiar with the guru of
gadgetology, Richard Thalheimer.
Thalheimer, 60, founded The Sharper
Image in 1977, the source of quirky
gadgets and gizmos for the lovers of
indulgent novelties such as a $10,000
personal submarine or the $4,000
massage chair. And then there were the
helpful gadgets for the constant traveler
such as laptop accessories in a travel kit
and computer lights for working on
airplanes. If you weren't reading a Sharper
Image catalog you were probably perusing
the
SkyMall magazine found in the backs
of airline seats.
Sharper Image became the subject of
conversation in virtually every gadget
lover's discussion. Catalog sales grew by
leaps and bounds and stores began to
open across the United States. TV
infomercials were on virtually every
station across the country touting the
wonders of the Ionic Breeze air purifier
beginning in 1998. It accounted for more
than 38 percent of the sales of the
company by 2003.
Then
Consumer Reports got into the act
with a negative review of the product and
sales started to slip. A failed lawsuit by
Sharper Image in 2003 and a follow-up
report by
Consumer Reports in 2005
virtually brought sales to an end. In
September 2006 Thalheimer was ousted
from the company and in 2007 he sold
his remaining shares in Sharper Image for
$30 million.
You can't keep a good gadget lover down
and for someone who loves to wander
the isles of gadget and gizmo trade
shows, Thalheimer had to get back into
the act and RichardSolo