Assignment 1 – Competitor Analysis

Conducting a competitor analysis forced me to understand what current solutions are available and how they actually differed from mine. It would have been much easier to have “blinders” on and assume that people are waiting in line for me to release mine but as the competitive analysis demonstrated, this is not the case. I want to differentiate from MacBreakZ by targeting Baruch students who are less likely to have repetitive strain injuries but many still experience pain from improper computer use. Furthermore, I want to improve on personalization through a calendar integration and on activity tracking via the webcam. MacBreakZ has the competitive advantage of having a well-built product that has only required minor maintenance over many years. I have a feeling this will not be as great for students as I originally thought as I believe many students lay in their bed since the pandemic started and so it might work better for working professionals or other people, who are more prone to RSIs. That being said, maybe there is a way to better tailor the solution to students who are often in “non-traditional” workspaces such as their bed or couch. I think this is a gap in the market that is not being adequately fulfilled. MacBreakZ is also not available on Windows but Workrave is the next most similar competitor. The cons of WorkRave is that its UI is outdated and it has inferior timing personalizations and usage tracking. The questions that I now have are: is the white space large enough to justify building this product and will it be effective enough? Another interesting note is where I found much of my information from. For example, a teacher from CollegePrep posted a short video about ergonomic workspaces and mentioned it in the video. The unconventional places were important as Publicsquare.net,, the company that created MacBreakZ does not seem to be a large company and had limited information.