Topic: Please

I know, wait. But I'm just way too excited to sit by and be quiet like a good little boy. Anyways, could someone please give like a tentative release date that isn't just the month of September.....it is september, and I see no Chumby on my desk. I'm sure I'll get something along the lines of "anything this good is worth waiting for," and I agree. But for the past month and a half, all I've been hearing is "coming out soon!" and I'm wondering how soon. Anyways pretty please will someone give a day? And if you feel like outdoing yourself, maybe a pre-order system? I'm sure there are a plethora of reasons that what I'm asking is infeasible and I'd understand if you tell me to buzz off, but I think it's time that your adoring fans finally got a date to be excited about. Thank you!

2 (edited by hassad 2007-09-04 21:33:25)

Re: Please

Yes please, what keichan said and a hint if you will be able to ship Chumby overseas/ to Europe.
Thanks.

patience = lack of interest wink

PET-C---People for the Ethical Treatment of Chumbys /shoe

Re: Please

Lack of information = Lack of respect towards your potential customers. No begging please!

Re: Please

mitchell2020 wrote:

Lack of information = Lack of respect towards your potential customers. No begging please!

I don't understand - most companies tell you absolutely *nothing* about the products they're working on.

We've made an extraordinary effort to engage our potential customers in helping us define the product.  Most of the delays in shipping this deivce were becasue we made significant changes based on the feedback from the several hundred devices we gave away for *free*. We're still working out issues with production, fixing software bugs, and adding features based on the helpful feedback from the First 50 customers.

We could have shipped the chumby much earlier if we'd simply ignored what people had told us, as other companies do.  In my opinion, *that* would have been lack of respect for the customer.

5 (edited by Steve Tomlin 2007-09-06 09:19:53)

Re: Please

Our approach from the beginning has been to put early devices in the hands of people who would give us constructive feedback — and we’ve evolved from giving chumbys only to alpha-hackers, to giving them to Flash developers to, recently, getting them to “normal"  people — at least the most “normal"  (i.e., non-hacker, non-developer) people we could identify who registered on our site and filled out our survey ;^)

We learn important things at each step and keep improving the product based upon this. So, I guess we’ve been running an extended real-world focus group, with our “testers"  actually living with the product for awhile so their feedback is more valid than knee-jerk. The product has improved a lot through this process — I’ll try to do a post soon on some of the new additions we’ve made thanks to your collective patience. But our goal with this approach, and I’m sure you’ll all appreciate this, is to get the product to a level of capability that you will be delighted to buy one for $179.95, or to give one to someone as a gift, and will regard it as an unbelievable value at that price.

Chumbys will go on sale in the U.S. this month, September, as promised. International is next year sometime — frankly hasn’t been a big focus for us so far but will become so quickly after our domestic launch. This month we’ll be conducting what we’re calling our “Insider’s Launch,"  which means that we’ll be getting back to each person who has sent us their email address and will give them a link to buy a chumby. Still won’t be open to the general public yet, probably not until October or maybe even November, but starting this month and running through October we will be sending out regular batches of emails to all of those people, hopefully including all of you, who have expressed interest to us and sent us your email addresses. Certainly want to put our longest-standing and most patient fans first in line.

Re: Please

I got quite upset that I have to find something else for Christmas... "really" wink
I'm sure _most of us_ waiting for the oppertunity to own a Chumby are happy to know that you will release them as soon as they are in good shape.

Thanks for the update.
//hassad

PET-C---People for the Ethical Treatment of Chumbys /shoe

7 (edited by mitchell2020 2007-09-06 15:53:30)

Re: Please

Wow! two response from the powers that be. Why not keep the folks out there posted on a regular basis. Do you read your own boards? Do you see that some people really are hurting for what you sell in the worst way?

As was said before most companies don't update folks (but usually they do provide a target date and stick to it) but chumby wants to be special; and to be special you must help us all feel like we are part of the click (or is it clique).

I will watch with interest if the September target date is kept or not.

Best of luck to you all.

Re: Please

What you don't see is the closed section that's dedicated to the First 50, where there's a *lot* of traffic as we learn how the device is being used, what features need work, what's missing, etc.

Our employees do read and respond on the forums - my own post count is three times the next highest poster (Angela), and an order of magnitude higher than the average post count.  bunnie and Steve Tomlin are quite frequent posters. We also read the responses to our blog and monitor comments on external blogs and news sites.

Producing a new, innovative mass-market consumer electronic device is *hard*.  As a small company, we think it's important to get the product right because we won't get a second chance if we don't. We're glad people are enthusiastic about the product - the last thing we want to do is disappoint them even if it means taking a bit longer than everyone (including us) would prefer.

Re: Please

Duane wrote:

What you don't see is the closed section that's dedicated to the First 50, where there's a *lot* of traffic as we learn how the device is being used, what features need work, what's missing, etc.

Our employees do read and respond on the forums - my own post count is three times the next highest poster (Angela), and an order of magnitude higher than the average post count.  bunnie and Steve Tomlin are quite frequent posters. We also read the responses to our blog and monitor comments on external blogs and news sites.

Producing a new, innovative mass-market consumer electronic device is *hard*.  As a small company, we think it's important to get the product right because we won't get a second chance if we don't. We're glad people are enthusiastic about the product - the last thing we want to do is disappoint them even if it means taking a bit longer than everyone (including us) would prefer.

I admire that, very cool, and wish you the best of luck, all I am saying try to keep the people outside of the first 50 informed about the one thing you must know (if you read all the posts) a release date.

Good-luck and wishing everyone the best,

Mitchell

Re: Please

mitchell2020 wrote:
Duane wrote:

What you don't see is the closed section that's dedicated to the First 50, where there's a *lot* of traffic as we learn how the device is being used, what features need work, what's missing, etc.

Our employees do read and respond on the forums - my own post count is three times the next highest poster (Angela), and an order of magnitude higher than the average post count.  bunnie and Steve Tomlin are quite frequent posters. We also read the responses to our blog and monitor comments on external blogs and news sites.

Producing a new, innovative mass-market consumer electronic device is *hard*.  As a small company, we think it's important to get the product right because we won't get a second chance if we don't. We're glad people are enthusiastic about the product - the last thing we want to do is disappoint them even if it means taking a bit longer than everyone (including us) would prefer.

I admire that, very cool, and wish you the best of luck, all I am saying try to keep the people outside of the first 50 informed about the one thing you must know (if you read all the posts) a release date.

Good-luck and wishing everyone the best,

Mitchell

Would you rather have a product release like, well, let's use Apple as an example.
"Here it is, here is what it does, you can order it today."
OR
"Here it is, are you interested?  What would you like to see in the product?  How would you like it changed?  It will be released when it's ready..."

Release dates aren't always the end-all, and who is more upset?  The consumer with no release date, or the consumer with a release date that wasn't kept?  Look at the video game industry...there are delays with games, that REALLY tick people off.  But it's for a good reason.

"We will find a way, or we will make one."

Re: Please

Actually, the most interesting thing in this thread (at least to me) is seeing Duane say that there is a closed section of the site dedicated to the "First 50".  Now I know why I see very little traffic from that group out to the rest of the folks.  I was starting to think that they just weren't a chatty bunch.....!

Re: Please

To duane and Steve Tomlin: Thank you so much for your time and efforts, I'm sure the product you will finally release is going to be quite amazing and beyond anyones expectations and I truly appreciate your striving to give us the best product you can. I'm sorry if this release date thing is getting a bit out of hand, I just wanted to be polite and see if I had missed something or if you had information you were willing to release. You can obviously tell I'm very excited and I look forward to getting the full benefit of all the extra time you've put in. I hope you're getting lots of good feedback from the first 50 (yes I'm jealous) and you're having a good time evolving chumby into something that will be really special. The month of september is good enough for me, I've been signed up for some time now and I wholeheartedly look forward to getting my hands on one of these wonderful machines. Keep up the good work, and make sure you release the best damn alarm clock this world has ever seen! Good luck and best wishes on release and into the future.

To everyone else: This is going to be the best damn alarm clock that the world has ever seen =P Every second they make it better is a second I'm willing to wait. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not anxious and excited. But having the product of so much labor can only yield a brilliant machine. Besides at only $179.99 this thing is a steal for what it does. If they say that september is the month, I'm just going to stand by and wait for this email and get on the second I get it and order. So please don't troll about release dates and communications with staff; if they have a date, they'll give it and there will be much rejoicing from all of us dedicated fans. Best wishes to all of you!

Re: Please

gtm170 wrote:

Actually, the most interesting thing in this thread (at least to me) is seeing Duane say that there is a closed section of the site dedicated to the "First 50".  Now I know why I see very little traffic from that group out to the rest of the folks.  I was starting to think that they just weren't a chatty bunch.....!

That forum was to allow the First 50 to give us frank and honest feedback (both positive and negative) about this release without occasional lurkers getting the wrong impression.  As you know, we aren't normally very secretive about things, however, in this case it was best to have an area where we could work very closely on issues.  This turns out to have been extremely helpful to us, and hopefully, to them.

We have not otherwise put any restrictions on the First 50 - they're quite welcome to post about their experiences on their blogs or even in other sections of this forum.

14 (edited by Steve Tomlin 2007-09-06 21:07:25)

Re: Please

Duane wrote:

Our employees do read and respond on the forums - my own post count is three times the next highest poster (Angela), and an order of magnitude higher than the average post count.  bunnie and Steve Tomlin are quite frequent posters. We also read the responses to our blog and monitor comments on external blogs and news sites.

What are you doing with all this posting, Duane?  The people are waiting and you've got code to write!

:^)

Yes, a cheap shot -- just trying to get my post count higher than bunnie's.

Re: Please

Steve Tomlin wrote:

This month we’ll be conducting what we’re calling our “Insider’s Launch,"  which means that we’ll be getting back to each person who has sent us their email address and will give them a link to buy a chumby.

Hiya...first of all, yup, the Chumbians have put in masses of hard work to get this product to, hopefully, exceed our expectations. As a crafter, I tend to be a bit obsessed with their cases. Just line up a photo of an alpha next to a First 50 and you will see how streamlined they have become. I've got a rough idea how often bunnie has been back and forth between China and the U.S. to make this happen and I'm sure that the Chumbians from top to bottom have made similarly huge efforts. I know the helpdesk has been working weekends to keep the First 50 all well looked after and they have offered me very good customer service, as well.  I imagine there have been similar marked improvements noted by people who are more interested in the software/hardware aspects of this little machine.

One thing I'd like clarified for our international audience, though...if you are an "Insider" who lives outside the U.S. can you purchase and have a chumby shipped to your country or does it need to go to a U.S. based address?

Duane has mentioned before that the licensing process for electronic devices in the U.S. is very expensive and that there are applications that need to be made in each country before Chumby is sold. So, I understand that there are good reasons if the answer is no...I'd just like to know if it will be no, or not?

Thank you.

Re: Please

Angela wrote:
Steve Tomlin wrote:

This month we’ll be conducting what we’re calling our “Insider’s Launch,"  which means that we’ll be getting back to each person who has sent us their email address and will give them a link to buy a chumby.

Hiya...first of all, yup, the Chumbians have put in masses of hard work to get this product to, hopefully, exceed our expectations. As a crafter, I tend to be a bit obsessed with their cases. Just line up a photo of an alpha next to a First 50 and you will see how streamlined they have become. I've got a rough idea how often bunnie has been back and forth between China and the U.S. to make this happen and I'm sure that the Chumbians from top to bottom have made similarly huge efforts. I know the helpdesk has been working weekends to keep the First 50 all well looked after and they have offered me very good customer service, as well.  I imagine there have been similar marked improvements noted by people who are more interested in the software/hardware aspects of this little machine.

One thing I'd like clarified for our international audience, though...if you are an "Insider" who lives outside the U.S. can you purchase and have a chumby shipped to your country or does it need to go to a U.S. based address?

Duane has mentioned before that the licensing process for electronic devices in the U.S. is very expensive and that there are applications that need to be made in each country before Chumby is sold. So, I understand that there are good reasons if the answer is no...I'd just like to know if it will be no, or not?

Thank you.

I am curious, and you don't have to answer if it compromises anything, has there been any knock off's occurring of Chumby overseas? Is it hard to keep tabs on things with the factory so far off? Just wondering because I read that even the iPhone is getting made as knock offs in China.

Re: Please

Knockoffs pretty much only occur if there's some significant margin between end-user price and cost to produce.  Since we're putting chumbys out at basically our cost of manufacture in China, there isn't much room for anyone, including China, to undercut us.

Re: Please

Duane wrote:

Knockoffs pretty much only occur if there's some significant margin between end-user price and cost to produce.  Since we're putting chumbys out at basically our cost of manufacture in China, there isn't much room for anyone, including China, to undercut us.

Cool, it would have been interesting to see if it had occurred. I remember seeing knock off action figures and even Teletubbies that were just plain weird variants.