Amy Norton
If there is one word that is overused – and misused – more than perhaps any other in adult product marketing, it is the word “innovative”. (See also “unique,” “one of a kind” or “world’s first!”)
It is almost a given at this point that companies will claim to be innovative, regardless of whether what they’re doing is actually anything new or a rehash of something done countless times before. I tend to roll my eyes when I see this word. However, there are a number of creators and companies out there creating products or services that are truly new, unique and out-of-the-box. Today I want to share a few of those with you.
Hot Octopuss: Medical Technology for Sex Toys
It’s no secret that Hot Octopuss is one of my favourite companies. It describes itself as “sitting on the cutting edge of sex toy design,” and this isn’t just meaningless marketing speak. Hot Octopuss takes concepts and technology from outside the adult industry and applies them to sex toys.
It’s also the first company to have utilised proven medical technology when designing adult products. Its first and flagship product, the Pulse III, uses patented oscillating “PulsePlate” technology to provide high-amplitude oscillations. Medical research has proved that “oscillations, applied in a very specific way, can make a man ejaculate involuntarily”. PulsePlate is inspired by a specific medical technology known as Penile Vibratory Stimulation, which is primarily used to allow men with spinal cord injuries to ejaculate in order to conceive children.
The most fantastic thing about the Pulse is that the user does not even need to have an erection in order to use it. This means that it is accessible to, for example, older users and those dealing with erectile issues.
MysteryVibe: The World’s First Bendable, Six Motor Vibrator
I did not, personally, love the MysteryVibe Crescendo as a toy. This is primarily because I found the vibrations simply too weak. However, no-one can deny that what MysteryVibe is doing definitely meets the criteria for “innovative.”
The Crescendo lays claim to being the world’s first bendable vibrator and possibly the most customizable toy currently on the market. This bendable, 6-motor vibrator is designed to be adaptable to anyone’s preferences – regardless of gender, genital configuration, body size or physical ability. The MysteryVibe team, earlier this year, told me they have received hundreds of emails from users, sharing the different ways they used their Crescendo.
Though the power levels and functionality without the mobile app need further development, creating the world’s first functional bendable-and-shapable vibrator is not an achievement to be taken lightly.
Womanizer: The Company That Spawned a Thousand Copycats
Anyone who has been hanging around in the adult industry for more than two minutes will come across what are colloquially known as “suction toys.” Dozens of companies are now creating them, some more successfully than others. The original and arguably best, though, come from German company Womanizer.
The Womanizer was invented my Michael Lenke and his wife Brigitte and is designed for intense clitoral stimulation. Each toy (and there are now many variations!) has a silicone nozzle which sits around the clitoris. The toy then essentially caresses the clitoris with rapid pressure waves of air. This patented “PleasureAir” technology has led to Womanizer products being dubbed “the vibrator for people who don’t like vibrators,” but this is really a misnomer – they are not vibrators at all, but a completely new approach to clitoral stimulation.
It was inevitable, of course, that such an invention would lead to endless copycat models. I’ve tried some of them, and many are very good. But Womanizer deserves the credit for the innovation in this regard, and for putting air pressure stimulators out into the world.
VirtualRealPorn: The Start of the VR Porn Craze
Virtual reality technology has been steadily growing in popularity, and the explosion of smartphone usage has made it more accessible to regular people than ever. Of course, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to use this amazing invention for VR porn.
Spanish company VirtualRealPorn (NSFW), founded in 2013, produces immersive videos which can be viewed on a wide range of headsets. Widely credited as the inventors of VR porn, the company has gone from strength to strength in the past few years. In terms of content, it now also owns VirtualRealGay, VirtualRealTrans (NSFW), VirtualRealPassion, and VirtualRealAmateur (NSFW).
In 2015, VirtualRealPorn teamed up with Kiiroo and Lovense, enabling some of their smart masturbator sex toys to be synced up with the contents of the porn. There is even rumour of an online VR porn roleplaying game in the works!
Virtual Reality is probably the next great frontier of pornography, and many creators will now be jumping aboard this lucrative market. But VirtualRealPorn was the company that started it all.
Sybian: The Toy Few Can Afford, But Everyone Wants to Try
Credit: Sybian.
Ah, the Sybian. Was there ever an adult product more often talked about with awe and curiosity in our voices? Trying a Sybian is seen by many as a kinky right-of-passage of sorts. The reason that relatively few people have been able to try out this beast of a sex toy is simple: it’s expensive as hell. (Packages start at $1245 – about £950 – and each attachment or extra bumps the price up even further.)
The origin story of this ride-on, saddle-style vibrator begins in the late 1970s and is told in some detail on the website – a fascinating journey through the early days of sex tech, if you’ve got a few minutes to read it. In the 1970s and 80s, sex toys were generally far more rudimentary and poorly made than they are today (not least because, in the USA at least, they were still illegal in many places!) So what the creators of the Sybian did was really, for its time, quite extraordinary. There have been some copycat models in recent years, most notably the Cowgirl, but I find it very hard to believe anything will surpass the original – in popularity or reputation.
Honorarable Mentions
- We-Vibe, for its work on vibrators that provide clitoral stimulation during intercourse.
- Chaturbate (NSFW), for changing the adult webcamming game.
- Dame, for the Eva II hands-free vibrator.
- Lovehoney, for the Uprize – the first ever dildo which goes from flaccid to erect at the touch of a button.
- Hitachi, for introducing the world to the joys of wand massagers.
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