WakeMate Update
blog.wakemate.com
blog.wakemate.com
Nonetheless, its worth pointing out that designing and then manufacturing an electronic gadget (as a single end to end process) is in many ways orders of magnitude more difficult than shipping a webapp that works on a post IE6 web browser. Theres perhaps certain regulatory elements that need to be dealt with, as well as liability issues that just don't happen with normal software, and thats ignoring quality control issues in manufacturing.
Moreover, somehow amidst being busy with all this (and perhaps wanting to actually ship both so that theres no CA suit from those who pre-ordered, as well actually having a product with sales), they're doing a pretty good job about being open about hiccups along the way, and to in a relatively timely fashion respond to most nice email requests.
Pray tell hn, how many companies discussed on hn are open about the end to end design process for some physical product? I can't think of many myself, and I'd actually really like/enjoy it if once they're comfortably got v1 shipping, that they take the time to write some more elaborated posts documenting their whole design through to final manufacturing or something like that.
just my $.02
Stuffing boards and soldering isn't too hard while outsourcing is never easy.
It may be a little more costly, but you know what they say, undercommit & overdeliver.
from http://blog.wakemate.com/2010/04/26/questions-answered/
>As previously stated, we misjudged demand for this product. Having too many people wanting to buy your product is a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem. Our original method for assembling and shipping devices simply wasn’t scalable in terms of cost and time. It was no longer good enough to get easily accessible parts, buy a few hundred or a thousand of them, and pay somebody to assemble them; time and expense would be too much.
Or, to state it another way, didn't they wake up one morning and realize they had enough preorders? It would be a lot easier to convert the preorder form to "Sign up for more info when we have more units available!" than to convert it to GCheckout, another way of preordering, which is what they did.
(http://www.ladyada.net/wiki/mdcpickandplace)
its great for the "first 1000 or so" - if something gets popular i can send it off for manufacture - but only because i can bridge manufacture thru the never-ending-leadtimes. having trouble getting a fantastic oven tho. the apsgold's look nice but we dont have 220 :( had great luck with some common reflow plates if you can deal with single sided
Perhaps having your own "pick-and-place" wouldn't scale up to Wal-Mart levels of demand but having a small end-to-end factory of your own gives you the ability to satisfy early-adopters who are willing to pay a little more to be "first"; and usually drive mass purchasing down-the-road.
They haven't even reached their first major shipment yet, but already:
* They told people in January that shipping Q1 actually meant shipping July 31st.
* They mentioned "premium analytics" or the like and gave everyone fears of having to tack a monthly fee on top of the $50 they had committed to paying for their devices.
* They said that they haven't taken any money from customers yet when they actually have.
None of those are really that bad on their own, but the fact that they've had 3 of these gaffs before the first major shipment understandably gives some people doubt.
They're not open about their process, they're "open" - which means they call themselves open, while not actually telling us anything. Or, you know, telling us lies.
Bullsh!t.
Just because they didn't collect the entire cost of the wakemate, they can't claim not to have collected money. Many here on HN and elsewhere (myself included) paid the down payment of 5 bucks to get on the waiting list. Of course I don't care about the 5 bucks, but for them to claim they didn't take any money.......
the majority of pre-orders (> 80%), which were through Google Checkout, were never charged; the Paypal pre-orders, however, were.
To make it 100% clear: the only entity to profit from pre-orders has been PayPal, from interest earned on locked funds. We have not made a single dime.
* You get a large number, or high transaction value
* They lock it until you verify bank details/contact details etc
* It's unlocked
As one of those customers I would definitely like you to take my pre-order more seriously. Money was exchanged, and no service or product has been provided yet. 6 months + and I'm still waiting. Hopefully you'll meet your goals at the end of the month.
No communication between then and now, over 3 months, so I emailed them 5 days ago - no lick of a response.
And can someone clarify this for me, because I have a paypal receipt showing I sent them 5 bucks:
"Although no money was ever collected from those who have pre-ordered..."
I clarified your question in an above comment.
However, it's definitely a good sign for your company that you have identified a pain point of enough severity that you generate this much talk and correspondence. Believe me, even when all the correspondence is praise and appreciated suggestions, staying on top of them is difficult!
Moral of the story: Don't collect any money at all from people till you can immediately send them what they paid for.
Don't get me wrong, it's still embarrassing to everybody that we've had pre-orders waiting for so long; that was never the intention. It's a shitty way to treat our first customers, but it was an honest mistake. Many such mistakes were made—especially with regard to communication—but knowing what I know now I don't feel the pre-order taking itself was one. In fact it's probably the only reason the product is nearly out now.
That aside, this product does seem promising. I typically sleep only 5-6 hours per night and wake up naturally (without an alarm clock). I feel fine most of the time, but I do notice on those occasional days that I sleep 8+ hours, I feel much better. Being able to analyze my sleep with a $50 device at home is something that does interest me.
What more could you ask for? Sure, the product. Fair enough, but give them some slack. It's not like some of the software vaporware we've seen (like The Hit List for iPhone). I know it must be hard not to be able to get that Venti Double Whip Quad Shot Mocha until you get your $5 back!
Whatever! This negative response only excited my interest in the product and I just got done pre-ordering one. And if I don't get it in a couple weeks, they'll release my $1 hold. Nothing lost. And if it ships, I'll improve my sleeping habits.
I'll get charged the remaining $45 in 4Q 2010, and receive the product in 2Q 2011. It will break in 3Q 2011.
Will they ever make it?
Express only pure remorse and gratitude and the mood will change immediately.