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WakeMate Photo Op

blog.wakemate.com

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Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#2
You know, I'm sure the Wakemate product is going to be stellar and really useful.

I can't help thinking they've made a mistake in their approach though - everything I have seen from them has promised more, even this which has actual "stuff" on show promises bigger and better.

They should have:

a) waited till they had the physical product reasonably ready for distribution before announcing. All the hype from the intial launch is lost now. And if they hit unseen snags there should have been open and running updates so people stayed with them.

b) the web stuff and the phone apps are great and useful - but that's stuff you can develop and iterate over time. What you need to do with a physical product (and I have bitter experience here!) is get the damned thing out the door and into the hands of your users. So long as they realise the web/app is a work in progress all will be fine.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#3
If I were a Wakemate pre-order, I wouldn't be happy to see three mobile apps before anyone shipped me my device.

The Wakemate team seems dedicated and smart, but as an outside observer watching the it all unfold, their communications skills are sorely lacking. Hopefully a great product will overcome in the end.

edit: On second thought, they have got to be just crazy. How is it possibly the right idea to have three unfinished mobile apps than one that works?

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#5

If I were a Wakemate pre-order, I wouldn't be happy to see three mobile apps before anyone shipped me my device. The Wakemate team seems dedicated and smart, but as an outside observer watching the it all unfold, their communications skills are sorely lacking. Hopefully a great product will overcome in the end. edit: On second thought, they have got to be just crazy. How is it possibly the right idea to have three un…

I preordered when it was announced earlier this year and they said that they would support both iPhone and Android phones on the sales page, and possibly Blackberry (I'm not 100% on BB). Today's post wasn't to announce that they are doing 3 apps, its to show they are working.

Why do you think they should not of worked on all 3 platforms at once? For the sake of a minimum viable product?

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#6
Call my cynical but my impression of this is that when I pre-ordered they must have literally had nothing done. I understanding some of the tricks you might pull to perform customer validation but their approach seems unambiguously disingenuous in hindsight...

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#7
I am still excited to receive my WakeMate, but why did they not send me this update via email? Why was this in a blog post and not sent to the email I used to pre-order?

Furthermore, what is the point of saying "still a long way to go" - I am literally almost 6 months past the date I was told I'd receive it. Did WakeMate not have any software or hardware done at all when they posted the pre-order?

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#8

If I were a Wakemate pre-order, I wouldn't be happy to see three mobile apps before anyone shipped me my device. The Wakemate team seems dedicated and smart, but as an outside observer watching the it all unfold, their communications skills are sorely lacking. Hopefully a great product will overcome in the end. edit: On second thought, they have got to be just crazy. How is it possibly the right idea to have three un…

I suspect that the wakemates themselves aren't doing the mobile dev work, but are outsourcing it and spending their time on the difficult stuff - getting the hardware operational and approved. In that case, if you've got the money, why not get them all developed simultaneously?
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