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Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

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Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#51

Post by muyuu »

armandososa wrote: post #43
steve8918 wrote: post #30

Is there a place that lists the projects that ended up being a failure? I'm curious what the failure rate of Kickstarter is, and if fraud artists are attempting to rip people off via it. Also, if the failure rate starts increasing, would that jeopardize the entire business model, if people lose confidence that the projects will see the light of day?

Maybe the Diaspora project qualifies as a failure or, at least, as a disappointment.

I'm not following it, but doesn't it work as advertised? what's the disappointment then?

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#52

Post by Joeboy »

muyuu wrote: post #51
armandososa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the Diaspora project qualifies as a failure or, at least, as a disappointment.

I'm not following it, but doesn't it work as advertised? what's the disappointment then?

I guess the disappointment is that people don't use it much.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#53

Post by psquid »

eridius wrote: post #4

Seems like Kickstarter is also disrupting the game development process, allowing game studios to produce games without being beholden to publishers. Examples: * Double Fine Adventure - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adv... * The Banner Saga - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoic/the-banner-saga * Wasteland 2 - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 * Shadowrun Returns -…

Whoa, I hadn't caught the Shadowrun one. Looks like that's another $30 I won't have any more - good thing I feel it's worth that. :)

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#54

Post by ajanuary »

steve8918 wrote: post #30

Is there a place that lists the projects that ended up being a failure? I'm curious what the failure rate of Kickstarter is, and if fraud artists are attempting to rip people off via it. Also, if the failure rate starts increasing, would that jeopardize the entire business model, if people lose confidence that the projects will see the light of day?

According to Kickstarter [1] the success rate was 43% in 2010 and 46% in 2011. Wikipedia [2] suggests the success rate so far in 2012 is 44%, but the source is no longer available.

I don't know if that's just the success rate of crossing the funding threshold or success rate of delivering the project as well.

[1] http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/2011-the-stats [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#55

Post by fredwilson »

317 wrote: post #34
mertd wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the feeling that a significant number of the payers are not aware of the fact that there is a decent chance of the hypothetical product never seeing the daylight. If not, it will almost certainly be delayed. When one or two of highly publicized projects fold, I expect a good amount of Kickstarter complaints.

I don't know... I funded a video game (No Time To Explain) whose frankly was garbage. I didn't think at the time that kickstarter was responsible. I made a bet, and I lose. I still put money on projects I find awesome. I am not everyone, but I have the feeling that consumers are more relaxed when they put money on a kickstarter project.

that is exactly right. kickstarter is not a store. there will be bad products and probably some outright fraud. it is a marketplace like ebay. backer beware.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#57

Post by Flenser »

ansible wrote: post #42
angusgr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the Pebble Watch fit into your understanding of the difference? They have a small team, single designer. Although they built a consumer electronics product before they seem to run on fairly limited funding. Although I don't know of any Kickstarted consumer electronics designs that have already shipped successfully, so maybe the specific viability is not yet proven.

The Pebble watch is cute, and small enough scale that they might actually ship product. The question is, at what price? Remember, we're talking CE, so every penny counts. Unless they've assembled a very good team, that thing will retail for over $100. If the product seems like it might be successful, somebody like Samsung will jump in right away with a competing product for $50 USD. And 6 months after that the Chines…

Unless they've assembled a very good team, that thing will retail for over $100.

From the $99 pledge description: "This watch will retail for more than $150"

They've already sold devices for blackberry so they have a good grasp of what the costs are: http://getinpulse.com/

They now have what are essentially pre-orders for over 25K devices at around $115 a piece so they're on course to make a good profit on the first generation, and they'll have the brand, ecosystem, and everything they learned making the first generation to make the second generation devices a better offering than anything the competition can put together. They're targeting smart phone users who don't mind paying a premium so price won't necessarily be the deciding factor.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#59

Post by goatforce5 »

armandososa wrote: post #43
steve8918 wrote: post #30

Is there a place that lists the projects that ended up being a failure? I'm curious what the failure rate of Kickstarter is, and if fraud artists are attempting to rip people off via it. Also, if the failure rate starts increasing, would that jeopardize the entire business model, if people lose confidence that the projects will see the light of day?

Maybe the Diaspora project qualifies as a failure or, at least, as a disappointment.

From Kickstarter's point of view, they enabled Diaspora to raise a big pile of money so that they could _attempt_ something. So it was a great success.

Re: Kickstarter Is Totally Disrupting Consumer Electronics, Probably By Mistake

#60

Post by nextparadigms »

sage_joch wrote: post #9

I wondered the other day if Kickstarter might be the next big Internet company (following Google, Facebook and Twitter). The business model has so much disruptive potential, and they've already overcome the chicken and egg problem. I wish it were possible to invest in them. :-)

Well if they do, I sure hope they aren't bought soon like Instagram. I'd prefer they stay for the long haul and stay independent as much as possible.
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