When Apple suddenly dropped the price of iphone last week, we finally couldn’t resist ordering one for “research” purposes.. the poor guy has been through a lot since then ;)

A company called YueHua Trade Co. has a pair of light-up sneakers that look eerily similar to our UFOS. The sneakers also have a logo that looks eerily similar to a Nike swoosh.

We have received a couple of inquiries from Chinese manufacturers in the past, mentioning producing our light-up sneakers but never really following through beyond requesting specifications from us (which we have not given). Who knows whether YueHua took the light-up bumper idea from UFOs, but it’s interesting to see it translated into a mass-produced item. It pretty much looks the same on the surface, but I wonder if it has the 3-axis accelerometer or more sophisticated color-shifting behavior.

It brings an interesting issue into focus for us; of course the physical design — the bumper with two colors mixing in the middle — is a significant component of our prototype, but at least as important is the design of the behavior and how it functions. As in an Ipod-following mp3 player with a prominent circular interface, but the circle is push-bottons instead of the touch-wheel, how much impact comes from the first visual impression vs. the experience? If anyone gets their hands on a pair of the YueHua shoes (YueFOS?) we’d love to get more details.

Thanks Jonah for the pointer!