VisorCentral.com - No Six Pack Ever

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- No Six Pack Ever (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=11439)

Posted by Slacker on 02-03-2001 02:27 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by swendor
Speaking of slacker...

We haven't seen a post from him yet. But then again, his signature says it all.

Never in all of my life have I seen one company be a f*cked up as VaporGear. I started this signature a while ago and I will continue to use it as long as I am a VisorCentral member.

Innogear, go f*ck yourself. The only 6-pack you ever had was Budweiser.

__________________
Visor Enthusiast and Innogear/Geodiscovery basher.

Posted by VTL on 02-03-2001 05:51 AM:

Normally I wouldn't approve of even disguised profanity in this type of forum (although I guess kids probably aren't reading this thread), but in this case Slacker is right on.

Posted by BEN on 02-03-2001 06:14 AM:

I think that the youngest person on this board is miradu, but based on conversations that I've had with him, he's probably more mature than some adults I know.

BEN

Posted by gadgetguru on 02-03-2001 12:33 PM:

Well, I got a response from InnoGear about the ability to store and run programs from the MMC and they said it would be available by the end of this quarter. I hope they are right. Then today I get that same e-mail. What am I going to do with a 2nd MiniJam just to get a free MMC card? I wonder if they would ship me a free card for being one of their first customers on the MiniJam? Or a speedloader would be nice. That was like a slap in the face. "We know you have already purchased a MiniJam, but look what we are giving new customers!" Same goes for Handspring by offering the Gameface for Prism for $20 off if purchased with a Prism. I already have a Prism. Got it the first week they came out! I called them about the gameface offer and they said "sorry, we can't offer you one for $20". I guess that'll teach me to get something new when it first comes out! I hope my YadaYada service doesn't throw me any surprises like that.

Rick

__________________
Rick

www.visorsolutions.com

Posted by dstrauss on 02-03-2001 02:59 PM:

Circumstances Beyond Control?

After all the vaporware treatment from Innogear, the least they could do is explain better than "circumstances beyond their control." Parts shortage? Technically infeasible? Or just too expensive? If it's the later, they are making a huge mistake. Many people wanted the SixPack not just for the price value, but the sheer combination of features in a single module. Price would not be determinative, if I've got to pay $100+ for three-four modules to do the same thing. This latest stunt (after the Comdex "we're almost there" comments; and the Minijams that really can't store non-MP3 files) may just kill Minijam and the rest of their product line as well.

Posted by Gameboy70 on 02-03-2001 05:07 PM:

dstrauss:

Don't hold your breath for VaporGear to elaborate. The only thing worse than VG's product development is its public relations. It's disgraceful that every time VaporGear's dropped the ball (delays, dropping voice recording in the MiniJam, MMC storage still limited to MP3), it required some astute VisorCentral member to bring the news to light on this board after reading the VaporGear site with eagle eyes. VG has never issued press releases on these topics, no explanations, no apologies.

Just outright lies like this from the Comdex interview: "We don't want to announce any dates anymore [for the SixPak]. We've made too many mistakes with that in the past, so the next day we announce will be THE date. No excuses anymore, and it will be soon."

No excuses, that is, except for "circumstances beyond our control." Instead of avoiding annoucing dates, they should avoid announcing products until they're actually shipping. I thought the company had learned its lesson until it announced the alledged Innodrive at Comdex.

The worst aspect of the SixPak announcements is that there are more than a few naive people out there who've held off on purchasing a modem for the last year, thinking that the SP was just around the corner. But even at Comdex, Andre Eisenbach was talking about the SP still being in the prototype stage, which means that if VG doesn't already have units coming off the assembly line, it's still possible for the company to cut its losses and cancel the product -- which, of course, it did.

The bottom line, I think, is that you can't sell a de facto $300 product for $200. Unfortunately, it took VaporGear a year and a half to realize that.

Posted by timmins on 02-03-2001 06:35 PM:

Did anyone get this promo from Innogear?







<TITLE>Special Offer</TITLE>
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="MicroVision Development /
WebExpress">
<LINK REL="StyleSheet" HREF="pers1.css"></HEAD>
<BODY BGPROPERTIES=FIXED BGCOLOR="WHITE">
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="0" BORDER="0">
<TR>
<TD COLSPAN="3" WIDTH="100%" VALIGN=TOP><DIV ALIGN=LEFT>

They don't even get it. I can't read HTML email and they just sent it hoping people would. They are so dillusional that I care about their special. I found a program by Albert Yale on winfiles.com that bounces email back faking Mail Delivery Subs... hopefully they will think I never existed, just like their products.

__________________
what?<br>

Posted by dick-richardson on 02-03-2001 07:15 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by timmins
...I found a program by Albert Yale on winfiles.com that bounces email back faking Mail Delivery Subs...

I need something like that for the Mac.

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Posted by yardie on 02-03-2001 08:36 PM:

Whats the name

Timmins:
Whats the name of the program?

Posted by timmins on 02-05-2001 02:31 PM:

do a search on winfiles.com for Albert Yale. He is my hero when it comes to email and such... these programs have lived through multiple formattings of my hard drive and probably been installed since my first win95 box.

One is Ghostmail (fake emailer)

Other is Spam ?? something-or-another (he almost got sued for the name). That's the one you want.

__________________
what?<br>

Posted by laird on 02-07-2001 02:28 AM:

>>Expecting these three functions alone (not to mention the others) for under $200 is pretty naive<<

I have no idea what you mean. All three of these functions would by nature be handled on the same dsp and there's plenty of licensable code for this. It's so freakin trivial that there's no credible reason for them not to have developed this in under a month.

The main problem I have with nogear is their FUDing the market to put us in a place where _we still don't have a fscking cell modem_! If they had not announced their do everything module, other companies would have developed them.

The xircom is a metro only product today since it works on agsm. The nogear product was supposed to have the same feature connector found on the megahertz (and other) pcmcia modems which has been a quasi-standard for a long time and you can get cables to go to all kinds of phones. The important thing here is that it works over analog.

The xircom module may have the right connector and be able to place an analog data call but good luck in getting a response out of xircom.

feh

Posted by timmins on 02-07-2001 01:57 PM:

Under a month??!?!

Try 15 months and then giving up because your company has third-rate programmers who like making vibrating Springboards.... "woah, it vibrates... it vibrates when your Datebook has an alarm..."

give me a break...

__________________
what?<br>

Posted by Gameboy70 on 02-07-2001 04:17 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by laird
The main problem I have with nogear is their FUDing the market to put us in a place where _we still don't have a fscking cell modem_! If they had not announced their do everything module, other companies would have developed them.

I'm not sure about that. Handspring's SEC filing mentioned 4000 Springboard developers out there, and that was nearly a year ago. If true, that means that the vast majority of imminent Springboard products are unannounced. InnoGear's MiniJam didn't stop the SoundsGood, an unannounced module, from being released at the same time. It's entirely likely that some companies out there see a market in dedicated, cheap (not $200) Springboard solutions for cell phones. I don't need voice recording or more flash memory just to connect my cell phone.

And since the SixPak, like the Xircom module, was GSM only, InnoGear certainly wouldn't have cornered the market on cell phone solutions. Like you, I hate the fact that we haven't heard of a CDMA connection module. But for what it's worth, Cables4PDAs.com is developing non-Springboard cables for many CDMA phones. I'm waiting for their cable for the Qualcomm 2760, which should be available in the next week or two, according to the company.

Posted by laird on 02-07-2001 10:27 PM:

quote:
the SixPak, like the Xircom module, was GSM only

Oh well then. The press release I read a very long time ago was vague and called the feature connector an industry standard connector which to me meant the megahertz flavor connector which has been in use for a long time when they really meant industry standard in the 'we have no clue what we are talking about' way that innogear is so fond of.

A gsm only solution is a non solution in my book due to gsm only being deployed in population sinks these days. Without analog support, it's like one of those cute little phones that leaves you stranded when you really need it.

Alan

Posted by bkbk on 02-09-2001 03:18 PM:

Re: Re: Watch out!

quote:
Originally posted by dick-richardson
quote:
Originally posted by PDAENVY
Oh man! Certain users of this board are going to blow their tops.

I doubt too many of them will. Innogear has jacked us off long enough I doubt many will be surprised. I wonder if the "circumstance" beyond their control was their compulsive lying habit.

I, for one, am already blue in the face from covering InsanityGear's antics.
They can't really hurt us anymore -- plenty of competing products around, incl. reasonably-priced expan. mem., which was my psnl. interest in the never-was 6-pak anyway.

Still, just "not supporting" them doesn't seem like enough punishment.

For those who came along to HS later (say in the 6mo.-1yr. timeframe after the "Never-Pak" was SHOWN ON THEIR WEBSITE), it's probably hard to understand the kind of bile, I.G. generated in most of us "old-timers" (who got their HS w/in, say, the 1st 6mo. of its debut) as I.G. seemed to willfully do their best to continually tick us off. (Y'know: potential customers? The lifeblood of any co?)

If "the punishment should fit the crime" ...

Posted by Gameboy70 on 02-09-2001 04:00 PM:

No bile from this old-timer

quote:
Originally posted by bkbk
Still, just "not supporting" them doesn't seem like enough punishment.

For those who came along to HS later (say in the 6mo.-1yr. timeframe after the "Never-Pak" was SHOWN ON THEIR WEBSITE), it's probably hard to understand the kind of bile, I.G. generated in most of us "old-timers" (who got their HS w/in, say, the 1st 6mo. of its debut) as I.G. seemed to willfully do their best to continually tick us off. (Y'know: potential customers? The lifeblood of any co?)

If "the punishment should fit the crime"

I've been a member of VC since September of 1999, and don't have any "bile" regarding the SixPak situation. Disappointment, yes -- but that's life. I got a Visor hoping that an affordable wireless module would emerge, so the SixPak wasn't at the top of my list in the first place. So far, there hasn't been a wireless module that satisfies my price/form/coverage requirements, so that's even more disappointment. As a result, my next PDA may or may not be a Visor.

Maybe in a fundamentalist theocracy, the CEO would get his arms chopped off for such a crime against humanity as not releasing a product. On the other hand, in a free country the guilty party has not only not made money, but actually lost money by committing a more than a year to a development effort that ulimately failed.

But that's capitalism. A free market is based on risk. If companies aren't allowed to fail by law, we'd all see a lot fewer products and services.

Posted by Slacker on 02-09-2001 04:23 PM:

Re: No bile from this old-timer

quote:
Originally posted by Gameboy70
Maybe in a fundamentalist theocracy, the CEO would get his arms chopped off for such a crime against humanity as not releasing a product. On the other hand, in a free country the guilty party has not only not made money, but actually lost money by committing a more than a year to a development effort that ulimately failed.

But that's capitalism. A free market is based on risk. If companies aren't allowed to fail by law, we'd all see a lot fewer products and services. [/B]

Off with his arms!

They do have the right by law to fail. I for one certainly hope they exercise that right to the fullest extent of the law!

__________________
Visor Enthusiast and Innogear/Geodiscovery basher.

Posted by dick-richardson on 02-09-2001 05:10 PM:

Re: Re: Re: Watch out!

quote:
Originally posted by bkbk
Still, just "not supporting" them doesn't seem like enough punishment.

I think that's exactly the level of "punishment" needed. A severe loss of money. Their customer base is dropping like rocks as more and more problems come up. If there still in business in a year it'll only be because they managed to get it together and hired some awesome PR to announce that fact on the mountain tops. I'm not holding my breath. Capitalism makes its own wonderful checks and balances.

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

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