I’m starting to feel like all of these IKEA news stories are from The Onion or are just some kind of parody of it all. Over the last few weeks, we’ve had people get married in an IKEA, an IKEA television built into furniture, and an entire town built by IKEA. Today’s story from the IKEA files involves more zany additions to IKEA’s line, with them creating a cardboard digital camera, and opening a bank in Russia.
Their first move, the bank in Russia, does make some sense. Car companies in the United States almost all have a credit wing that works with customers to get financing. This keeps even more money in the car companies pockets, and allows them to ensure greater sales of the products. For IKEA, they will have a similar approach, with the bank initially just working with their corporate clients in 2013, and then expanding to their customers in the stores in 2015. The bank’s initial capital will be around 10 million dollars.
A little bit hipster, a lotta bit awesome
The IKEA digital camera, well, I don’t really know how to explain that. The camera is made from cardboard, and runs on two AA batteries. It holds about forty pictures and has a swing out USB plug to allow you to download your pictures. It was first introduced as part of the company’s press kit in their Milan Design Kit promotion.
While you might expect these cameras to just be used for promotion, rumor has it that they will be in stores sometime in the future. If I was to guess, these handy IKEA cameras will be very cheap, and serve as just another unique “only at IKEA” item you can buy in the stores. It likely won’t be an amazing camera, but it will at least look cool and give aspiring hipsters a product to add to their arsenal.
Overall, it’s fun to see what IKEA decides to cook up. While their zany inventions have kept us from reporting on their kitchen lines as we originally intended, they definitely keep things interesting. The company likes to think outside the box, and the product lines they come up with are always a surprise to shoppers. What do you think of these introductions?