The flashlight. A mobile, light-generating device. Everyone knows it, everyone owns it. Today, it's an integral part of every smartphone. Yet this product launch was based on a simple idea. Thus, it still serves as a popular example in the field of entrepreneurship, patents, creativity, and business acumen, providing inspiration and hope.
Around 1900, a Russian immigrant living in New York bought a patent for a small light in a flowerpot for under-lighting. The invention itself was useless; who wants to illuminate a flowerpot from below? The immigrant and inventor from Belarus must have noticed how, in the dark, the light penetrated the small piece of tube and illuminated a small area. This narrow beam could be rotated in all directions and illuminated specific areas. He simply extended the tube of the battery-operated lamp and threw away the flowerpot. The Belarusian-born inventor, who changed his name to Conrad Huber, is considered the inventor of the flashlight and became a millionaire.
It's difficult to determine how many of these devices have been sold over time. However, this useful device quickly conquered the entire world. Market forecasts predict a current annual growth rate of 7.1% for the flashlight sales segment. Annual sales are expected to reach $3.52 billion by 2032.
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Marktgröße, Marktanteil und Wachstumsanalyse für Taschenlampen, Branchenprognose 2025-2032, Berichtsidentifikation SQMIG20D2181, 2025.
Heimannsberg, Joachim. Was so nicht im Lexikon steht, Brockhaus-Verlag, 2010, S. 24.