I’ve always enjoyed being a bit beyond the cutting edge of technology, on the bleeding edge. I love being the first person with a new gadget. So, getting involved in devices before they actually ship seemed like the next step. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been using Kickstarter and Indiegogo to do just that. That means that I have knowledge about cool toys well before they go to market. Unfortunately, as Carly Simon sang, “Anticipation … Is keeping me waiting.” It often feels like delays in the production of these technology products leaves me constantly waiting.
I wrote about my early experiences with crowdfunding almost a year ago. At the time, I noted the delays and talked about receiving products with early-version problems but concluded, “I’m happy to endure the hassles of waiting and early versions of the products. It is great to be a part of things.” A year later, I’m not so forgiving.
Part of the issue is when something you have paid for and are anticipating gets passed by other products. After I joined the Matterform (now Matter and Form) 3D Scanner campaign, MakerBot came out with their scanner. Six months later, I’m still waiting for the Matter and Form. How exciting will the Kreyos smartwatch be if it ships after the rumored Apple iWatch? Worse, is actually planning to use the product by a particular date – there’s no guarantee it will arrive in time. And NEVER order something from one of these campaigns as a gift!
To give you a taste of my frustration, here is what I’m still waiting on:
From Indiegogo:
- Canary: The first smart home security device for everyone – Finished funding August ’13, originally estimated to ship May ’14, and currently estimating end of summer ’14 delivery.
- KREYOS: The ONLY Smartwatch with Voice & Gesture Control – Finished funding August ’13, originally estimated to ship November ’13, and currently estimating a July ’14 delivery date (for those in the first batch of 5,000, later in the summer for me).
- Goji Smart Lock – Finished funding August ’13, originally estimated to ship January ’14, and currently estimating July ’14 delivery (for “a very small group of early supporters” and more likely November for me).
- Scanadu Scout, the first medical Tricorder – Finished funding July ’13, originally estimated to ship March ’14, and currently estimating (rather vaguely) a July ’14 delivery date.
- Matter and Form 3D Scanner – Finished funding July ’13, originally estimated to ship September ‘13, and currently estimating July ’14 (or so) delivery.
- Olive ONE: All-in-One Home Music Player – Finished funding April ’13, originally estimated for delivery in July ’13. They did not provide any updates for about six months, and I heard they were shipping in April ’14, but still have not received anything.
And, a couple more, from Kickstarter:
- Ube WiFi Connected Smart Light Dimmer – Finished funding April ’13, originally estimated for delivery in July ’13, and is currently estimating delivery in October ’14.
- ilumi: the world’s smartest lights – Finished funding November ’13, originally estimated to ship December ’13, and though some supposedly shipped to backers in May ’14, I have not received mine yet.
My current record is 15 months (and counting) after funding without delivering a product. I did get a couple products in a more timely fashion (StickNFind – Bluetooth-powered ultra small location stickers and iQi Mobile – Seamless Wireless Charging For iPhone), within a couple months of their original estimates.
Companies typically send updates, mostly monthly, telling of their progress. They usually include things like videos of prototypes in action and photos of parts coming off an assembly line in China. They also include lots of apologies. Here are some samples from emails over the last year:
- “I can’t thank you enough for all your patience, and we can’t wait to start shipping them to you.” (Matter and Form 3D Scanner, last week)
- “In reality, we have had to spin two of the boards twice rather than the single spin we planned on. This has resulted in a 2-3 week delay in our progress.” (Ube WiFi Connected Smart Light Dimmer, earlier this month)
- “Unfortunately, in the category of not so good news, a few issues have arisen over the past week.” (Ilumi, 2 months ago)
- “Based on our assessment these last few days, we’ve made the decision to delay shipment of the Scanadu Scout™ investigational devices until we feel it meets our internal standards.” (Scanadu Scout, 2 months ago)
- “We’re a little behind due to these factory and shipping delays which means our timeline is a little off now but it shouldn’t grossly affect the overall timeline since we had some buffer built into it.” (Matter and Form 3D Scanner, 3 months ago)
- “We understand this delay is disappointing. We feel the same way ourselves.” (Goji, 4 months ago)
- “And we want to offer our sincere apologies to you, our loyal Indiegogo backers, for the delay.” (Kreyos, 7 months ago)
- “It is no secret that many Kickstarter campaigns experience delays and unfortunately we are now among those. Quite frankly, I am embarrassed.” (Ube WiFi Connected Smart Light Dimmer, 7 months ago)
Of course, those are much better than ones I never hear from like the Olive ONE. Being open and honest about the delays is better than saying nothing.
Despite these frustrations, it is fascinating to see these companies hard at work. I feel that these are well-intentioned folks trying to deliver the products they have dreamed about. It’s just that I would rather play with these devices than read emails about them!
Who knows, maybe all of these products will show up any day now and anticipation will lead to the good old days…
