131–140 of 200 posts
The days of consumer hardware company's access to startup capital is over. With so many high profile VC backed (Fitbit, GoPro, Hello, Juicero, Coin, Pearl, ect.) and kickstarted (Lily.ai, Pebble) failures, no one is willing to risk it.
The days of consumer hardware company's access to startup capital is over. With so many high profile VC backed (Fitbit, GoPro, Hello, Juicero, Coin, Pearl, ect.) and kickstarted (Lily.ai, Pebble) failures, no one is willing to risk it.
I think the problem with hardware startups is more subtle. Unless you open up a fundamentally new market segment or find a niche application, your product is asking to be commodified. Smartwatches and fitness trackers were too obvious a category and Samsung, Apple, etc. were sure to swoop in and win. There really is no distinguishing feature for Jawbone or Fitbit. Other hardware startups like Anki are doing stuff tha…
When the iPhone first came out, the way you measured your heart rate was by putting your finger over the camera on the back of the phone.
Sorry to come off as a fanboy, but I blew through hundreds of dollars on multiple generations of Jawbone bluetooth headsets that never worked well enough. By contrast, my AirPods work incredibly well.
To be honest, bluetooth was not that reliable until recently. With the new 4.x versions of Bluetooth, things are a lot more stable with audio devices. So I wouldn't blame Jawbone alone.
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It's so easy for Shenzhen to just copy them though. There's nothing defensible about hardware.
honest question: why then did no one copy the iPod, and no one has copied the iPhone with any success? as soon as the iPod came out way back in the day, the criticism was that it would soon be copied. No one ever did, and I worked in the music business at the time and was familiar with everything on the market. nothing ever came close, apple made a ton of money. it's a common thing to say that it's not defensible/can…
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I think the simplest answer is that apple simply kept innovating at a pace that shenzen couldn't match. Back in the iPod's hey-day, every new release was a groundbreaking improvement in miniaturization. The other OEMs were racing to copy the iPod mini while Apple was developing the iPod nano, or the iPod Colour while apple was working on the iPod video. and, of course, as another reply says the software has always be…
Though it seems counterintuitive, I think it's the lack of a patent system in China that prevents its people from being innovative. Without a guaranteed monopoly, people are less likely to take risks and just turn to methods that are known to turn a profit (replicating foreign products and/or focusing on lowering manufacturing costs). But now, the economy of Shenzhen has matured to the point where squeezing every oun…
I think the patent durations of hardware should be shorter, just like many here think that they should be shorter (if existant at all) for software.
Part of the issue with durations in hardware is development time. It would be nice if the duration could take into account the date of first sale rather than just the inception of the idea.
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GoPro closed today at 8 a share, a $1.1bn valuation [1]. They went public in 2014 at 24 (about a $3.3bn valuation) after raising a round in 2012 from Foxconn at a $2.25bn valuation. Their revenues are falling and their operations losing cash. They have $75 million of cash on their balance sheet, less than their Q1 2017 net loss. [1] https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AGPRO&ei=fNBeWcCjCc...
It's not fair to say GoPro has failed simply because investors and traders had unrealistic expectations. The "action camera" market was already saturated in 2014, and it's hard to imagine how they would continue growing at their previous rate when they're selling replacements and minor upgrades. It's possible they're in the process of failing, but it wouldn't surprise me if trying to meet unrealistic expectations cau…
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It's not fair to say GoPro has failed simply because investors and traders had unrealistic expectations. The "action camera" market was already saturated in 2014, and it's hard to imagine how they would continue growing at their previous rate when they're selling replacements and minor upgrades. It's possible they're in the process of failing, but it wouldn't surprise me if trying to meet unrealistic expectations cau…
Agreed that it's unfair to call it a failure. GoPro is what most people think of when you suggest filming something sports-related. They made a product which does what it says it does, and has become a very recognizable brand for action filming. Nothing lasts forever, I'd mark their efforts a success.
The sensors & lenses are going to be the same size, from sony and rubber gaskets with a hard plastic shell is not hard to do.
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Agreed that it's unfair to call it a failure. GoPro is what most people think of when you suggest filming something sports-related. They made a product which does what it says it does, and has become a very recognizable brand for action filming. Nothing lasts forever, I'd mark their efforts a success.
Why buy a gopro when a $100 china commodity clone will do good enough? The sensors & lenses are going to be the same size, from sony and rubber gaskets with a hard plastic shell is not hard to do.
But while we're on your topic, don't forget there is value in brand recognition and trust in a company which isn't a random Chinese vendor. And why do you think the Chinese clones exist at all? They followed the success of GoPro.
The writing has been on the wall for a few months now! They straight up stopped responding too support request, especially if you mentioned that you had a defective up3 or up4. Not exactly the kind of move a company that had hopes for the future would make.
The days of consumer hardware company's access to startup capital is over. With so many high profile VC backed (Fitbit, GoPro, Hello, Juicero, Coin, Pearl, ect.) and kickstarted (Lily.ai, Pebble) failures, no one is willing to risk it.
I'd ascribe the failure to the commodification of the fitness tracker and increasingly platform-driven smart speaker space. Here are some companies that have raised big rounds recently: + SimpliSafe raised $57M from Sequoia + Ring raised $100M+ from DFJ + Formlabs raised $50M from Foundry + Sphero raised $23M in April + Anki raised $52.5M in PE I'm not sure what the future holds for Anki/Sphero, but the first three e…
> What makes today’s hardware successes like GoPro, Arista, Fitbit, Nest, Dropcam, Zayo, and Oculus different?
GoPro, Fitbit, Nest, Dropcam (part of Nest) are struggling. Hardware is hard.