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WakeMate Photo Op

blog.wakemate.com

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Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#31

Post by zaatar »

zackattack wrote: post #24

i'm confused why people are so mad. doesn't the pre-order only cost $1?

My biggest problem with them is their empty promises; more than once, they've said, "really soon", and apparently that means nothing to them. It's important they say what they have to say ("won't be ready for six more months"), rather than what they think the customers want to hear ("coming really soon"). Be precise, not vague/subject to interpretation. "Six months" may be "soon" in a certain context, but as a customer, to me "soon" means "the next 10 minutes". They should instead be more precise.

It feels like they take me for a fool; I do understand and accept that projects slip schedules etc., but I don't enjoy being exposed as a naive fool every few months when the Wakemates wake up and make a "coming soon" blog post. In their last blog post, they said, "coming soon, but this time we learnt from our mistakes, so our projected ship dates are even bogus, we are actually going to beat the dates we posted!" -- http://blog.wakemate.com/2010/04/01/first-units-shipping-new... -- so now my expectation is that they in fact beat the date they posted, and if they simply met their second commitment, I'd still feel like they screwed up! This is them setting themselves up for failure. Further, they invalidated the brownie points I would have handed out ("wow, they promised date X, but they actually beat it; maybe they're not so lame after all!") ... if Wakemate shipped right now, they still don't get the brownie ... ("they promised they would beat the Sep 2010 date, and hey, they just beat it. whatever") ... kinda sad side-effect which probably wasn't thought out before they made the blog post.

After all this mess, there is no space left for sympathy; "oh, building hardware is hard!" - sure it is, but if you make me look like a fool in the process, I don't really care if it's hard or not. The value of setting expectations is vastly under-rated, in my opinion.

Edit: And the blog post title could not have been more inappropriate - "WakeMates are shipping!" was the title - I clicked that to see where to get my tracking information, and instead I'm told "Oh, wait until Sep 2010". I mean, really guys?!

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#32

Post by ricardo »

The biggest issue with this whole WakeMate fiasco was the original ship date announced. Given all of the recent communication and delays, it is clear that the original January ship date was a fantasy from the start. If they had pre-announced their product but gave a more realistic ship date, they wouldn't be dealing with all of the negative press they are now. While figuring out how to ship hardware is very difficult for a company doing this for the first time, it appears they were nowhere near a shippable product when they set their original release date.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#33

Post by kilian »

It's good they're updating, I'd like to think my HN post helped with that. Now as other suggested, if they keep us all in the loop with (bi)weekly updates, then they're golden. Let's hope they do.

Edit: Just got an email from them stating they are planning on weekly updates. Awesome guys, keep it up! :)

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#34

Post by oscardelben »

ujeezy wrote: post #27
cullenking wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a hardware guy, but the few pieces of hardware I've seen ordered took a week to get a run of 100 test units, they spent two weeks working some bugs out, then put in an order of 1000 which came a week after placing the order. This was done out of a shop in the US, not sure what it is like doing production runs overseas, but I can't imagine it's much slower. This of course ignores the time spent designing/rede…

I saw an FCC stamp – getting FCC approval would have taken at least a month. And I have no idea whether something like this would require FDA approval, but I'm sure they had to at least research that.

But these should have been done before selling.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#35

Post by zaatar »

cullenking wrote: post #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?

They probably didn't email it because people would then complain of spam. The industry standard is to grab an email address to make only a one-time notification.

All this is irrelevant anyway; Wakemate will get crap no matter if they remain silent, or write blog posts, or send email, or update twitter as long as a physical product is not out in the wild.

I'm actually in support of the Wakemates on this one; I wouldn't have sent out an email either.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#36

Post by gfodor »

This company is a good reminder to folks that "minimally" is only one of the words in the now-sacrosanct "minimally viable product." You still need the other two, or else you will surely piss people off.

A demo, a YouTube video, or a web form hooked up to Paypal is not a MVP. At least, not in my book.

Edit: Too harsh? Maybe, but knowing people who ordered this thing and are annoyed that it still hasn't shipped tells me there's a lesson to be learned here.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#37

Post by cullenking »

zaatar wrote: post #35
cullenking wrote: post #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?

They probably didn't email it because people would then complain of spam. The industry standard is to grab an email address to make only a one-time notification. All this is irrelevant anyway; Wakemate will get crap no matter if they remain silent, or write blog posts, or send email, or update twitter as long as a physical product is not out in the wild. I'm actually in support of the Wakemates on this one; I wouldn'…

I don't envy their position by any means, and I only hope them the best. However, there is nothing wrong with regularly updating the people that are making it possible to start your business. Due to a limited budget ($30k or so from YC?), the pre-order was necessary to get hardware ordered and shipped to the first customers; in essence it is an interest free loan to kickstart their business. As a result, I want to know when my loan is going to be 'repaid', hardly a standard situation.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#38

Post by joe_bleau »

ujeezy wrote: post #27
cullenking wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a hardware guy, but the few pieces of hardware I've seen ordered took a week to get a run of 100 test units, they spent two weeks working some bugs out, then put in an order of 1000 which came a week after placing the order. This was done out of a shop in the US, not sure what it is like doing production runs overseas, but I can't imagine it's much slower. This of course ignores the time spent designing/rede…

I saw an FCC stamp – getting FCC approval would have taken at least a month. And I have no idea whether something like this would require FDA approval, but I'm sure they had to at least research that.

Sure looks like a pre-approved BT module to me, such as the ones SparkFun sells (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_i...). Buy it and solder it down: done.

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#39

Post by samstokes »

My main takeaway is that when their website used to say "compatible with all phones", that was as much a piece of speculative fiction as was the ship date.

I hope the Wakemate can be used without a phone...

Re: WakeMate Photo Op

#40

Post by jlgosse »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #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 un…

I'm sure you already know this, but the mobile apps aren't just complimentary to the wristband, they are mandatory. For the device to work the way people expect it to, interaction with the phones is necessary. So trust me, you want both the device and an app shipped at the same time.
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