LAS VEGAS — CNET wrote a lengthy profile this week of WOW Tech's Womanizer sextech device this past Monday ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
In a wide-ranging interview with Womanizer inventor Michael Lenke, the article touched on everything from the pleasure product's conception to his plans for a male version called — what else? — the Manizer.
"I went through all the technical possibilities and soon thought: probably air pressure could work," Lenke told CNET's Weber-Steinhaus when talking about his original sextech invention. So he grabbed a length of plastic hose and an aquarium pump and went to work. Seven years later, the Womanizer has sold over 3 million units.
Finding the right balance between not enough stimulation — and too much — took two years of trial-and-error exclusively borne by Lenke's wife, Brigitte. His original iteration wasn't exactly the success he'd hoped.
"Technically, the modified aquarium pump worked," said Lenke. "But it didn't work for my wife. She still holds it against me."
But after modifying the amount of suction and vibration, Lenke tried again with his wife as his ever-patient guinea pig.
"After work, I was ironing, when he said: 'Come to the bedroom and test it,'" Brigitte told German tabloid Bild.
Eventually, he found just the right balance.
"'This is it,'" Lenke says his wife remarked. "'This will be a world success.'"
For five years the Womanizer has been burning up the pleasure product market. The CNET story notes several memorable user reviews, including "I honestly don't know how I lived life before this," and "I had to pry it from her hands to get her to stop. I think if you put it on a stick and dangled it in front of her, she could win the Boston Marathon."
Lenke was no stranger to pleasure product marketing when he set to work on the Womanizer. Years before, he'd invented a device called the Magic Finger which massaged moisturizer into women's faces.
"The Magic Finger was a flop," said Lenke.
But after seeing a shopping channel host enthuse about its massaging prowess while touching her stomach, he had a brainstorm. The Magic Finger morphed into the Tantra Beam and became a bestselling pleasure product across Europe.
Lenke is now hard at work on his male masturbation device, the Manizer. He promises will be stylish and acceptable enough to leave around "lying on your living room table."
In the meantime, WOW Tech won't be an official exhibitor at this week's CES, but will roam the convention floor.
Read the entire profile here and follow Womanizer on Twitter.
Image source: CNET
