I don't know what anyone else thought about that book-frame contraption, but I just didn't get it imho. Still, it ranks pretty low on my selection of some of the most rubbish, pointless products the Apprentices have come up with. Here they are...

1. Home multi-tome (series 5): Black plywood box with pulleys attached - Ben's Big Black Box, as I like to call it. I loved watching Ben go on about how brilliant he thought his invention was, thereby proving that he was the ultimate businessman in his own little world...

2. The UK Cat owners calendar (series 2): Nargis' folly - Poster book of Cat photos, with only a few lines of numbers that prove its a calendar. Even if Nargis had pitched it well, it wouldn't have sold.

3. Rory's Pootch Pouch (Series 3): a.k.a the rambo belt. Tre was right - it's not good to look like a terrorist while you're out with your dog...

4. Secret Signals (Series 1): Tried to be clever, but failed when up against the gadgets around today.

5. Environmentally friendly waste paper cards (Series 4): Jenny C deluded herself (and incredibly, the rest of her team) into thinking they were helping the environment.

6. Cardboard camping table, complete with games (Junior Apprentice): As soon as I heard Emma say cardboard, I knew the girls were going to loose.

7. The Book frame (Series 6): Joanna, we do have hands to hold a book you know. I read on the beach and I wouldn't want to have to put that thing together (and stop it falling) before reading. And when I'm not reading, putting it on the beach towel is fine for me.

If anyone else disagrees with any of these, feel free to put your views forward.

You could add last year's soddin' cat playhouse, closely followed by the I-will-kill-you-Pod. Not designed by candidates, but supposedly real people, with real money

My vote goes to the cat calendar.

The home multi-tone was apparently so difficult to make the finished design wasn't in practice. After one pitch it broke so they couldn't shut the box up anymore. Still bad design though

Lol remind me which product was the pod again?

The black box was also the result of Ben and Maj ignoring James' advice about keeping the product simple, and made it way more complicated and time-consuming to make than it needed to be.

Secret Signals - worst idea I've possibly ever heard. Even worse, the team leader chose to ignore the rest of her team and her focus group.

Oh and I forgot to mention Adam and Natalie's "natural" sugar-filled lollipops from S3. Or as AS called them "sick on a stick".

The Pod was a one side only pannier that you could secure your shopping in as you wobbled your way home.
And in the past I used to cycle (then car kaput) with shopping bags, but on the FRONT handle bars so I could have at least some control and use my whole body to offset the pull. I did see once a guy doing the same on a very busy road with a car tyre

Yes, the command from James was don't turn into a multi gym. Maj was the first to ignore this. At best the result was never going to be simple to market or cool, more like one of those small ads that advertises some wonder do everything product for a silly low price. Always a disappointment/cheap sh!t thing that ends up in car boot sales. And even then, theirs didn't even work for more than one demo.

What I can't understand is how the teams could price a product (to position it) without investigating manufacturing costs. They don't have time to do this (presumably most would be sourced abroad to match the prices of competitors) and don't have any idea of production/likely order quantities to help them calculate these.

I'm assuming that the 'orders' are not real as some poor sap would have to follow each project up.

You're right, the orders are totally fictional. John Lewis made that quite clear about the body rocka.

http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.u...igationId=1629

At least we won't be seeing the home multi tone in John Lewis any time soon!

They are already given a price for this task

The tasks build on each other, adding business concepts along the way. The next task will involve an element of design, working out what will sell against production costs, and then testing the lot through selling for real.

Last year design and production costs were the good and bad side of the soap task.

Apparently, the team had no choice, in selecting the Cat Calender, & had to do the Task with it.

That presumably was accompanied by a medicalert bracelet, displaying the user's blood group, to save time when they arrived at A&E.....

Quite literally a victim of fashion then

Found it on t'Net as they might say Up North (the wages being lower so more thrifty with letters, or something)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bee3pod/3491098692/

What I can't find is anyone selling them

Whereas!!!!
http://www.suck.uk.com/product.php?rangeID=96
(warning do not visit this site if you have more money than sense or taste. Or have friends who do)

That Cat playhouse is only selling now because people saw it on the apprentice. Whatsmore, Ben and Lorraine were actually able to make a small sale of it to Pets & Home - the Bike pod, meanwhile, didn't sell on the show whatsoever and therefore still doesn't sell now.

I don't know about you, but I just can't picture a cat getting into one of those things without clawing it apart.

Yeah, until I saw their website I'd have agreed with you. Never heard of the firm Suck UK until today. I'd seen it on the front of the fire engine in a pic on Monkseal's blog. Thought that he'd photoshopped it in to be honest, as a comment. Seeing that they've a range of dozens of varied 'gimmick' designs and have been going for 10 years means they are doing something right and that's getting sales.
http://www.suck.uk.com/stockists.php Oh and having an impressive list of clients as they are mainly a design house
http://www.suck.uk.com/designlist.php

I agree, the cat playhouse is a joke, but that's exactly what it is, a joke for humans. Neither the viewers or the candidates I suppose, were told that this product, and maybe only this, didn't come from some would be Dragon's reject. No idea if the producers or Suck decided to offer their silliest item in the hope the candidates would not get the joke and offer it to petshops rather than trendy gift shops. It's chief purpose is to get 'a funny pic of your cat' rather than stuffing it into a pint glass. Or a funny youtube vid as it rips it up. It's also a 'build a fan club' promo tool for Suck so I suppose they offered it up.

The pod doesn't sell partly because it looks to be a one person band who doesn't know how to market. Also design something that is as practical as he thinks it is. Suck stuff is often rarely meant to be that practical, just be fun. Only realise that of course now I've looked at their site

Still think most of their jokes are a bit lame though, but I can see their market (my sister for one)

If we can include Junior Apprentice that camping shoe box/games table was just terrible!!

Little unfair due to age.

Cardboard isn't a totally ridiculous idea. It's light, it can be made to fold flat and then be erected. You'd hope that users would grab it and put it inside the tent if it started raining. Ok days of rain, and the dampness seeps in everywhere, but by then you'd probably give up camping if it was a family holiday.
And a day of sun and cardboard dries quicker than wood. Besides cardboard can be plastic coated to give a little protection.

So what else could it have been made of?

Wood - too heavy. Plywood would be ruined by damp too.

Metal - heavy esp with the drawers. Aluminium too expensive

Plastic - with the drawers expensive to produce. A foldable version even more so as more parts and so more mould tooling. You'd still grab it and take it into the tent if it rains as the drawers would let the water just sit there ruining their contents. At least cardboard would draw it away somewhat.

So sneery Nick

Not saying the thing wasn't seriously flawed, but it was the storage part that really constrained their choice to design a strong, simple light thing. Cardboard drawer storage for offices are sold, they aren't strong enough for much.

PS if anyone does need a stackable storage system that can take great weight and you can put a wooden board on to make a quick table - collect the blue mushroom trays that market traders throw away. They work well.