Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 53

VC awards: "Memplug OWNS the market"???

This thread was started on 09/28/01 when a reviewers comment read:
"Ducker: The Memplug owns the market in the
storage revolution for the Visor."
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Note: Ducker has since changed the statement to: "The Memplug owns the [retail] market in the storage revolution for the Visor."
This discussion may or may not be moot - I tried to delete the thread but do not have privileges to do so..hence, it stays for now!
===

I use a Matchbookdrive with VFSHelper/LauncherIII/PowerRun on a VDX -
and so do thousands of others(with FlashAdapter) if the message boards on Yahoo and VC are any indication.
1. Memplug - SMartmedia is 3 times slower than CF. Until the Memplug/CF came out, the Kopsis/FlashAdapter was much faster - I would say that
Memplug/CF "followed" Kopsis to the market.
2. PIDirect in ANY form does not run on a Visor DELUXE (AFAIK). oh, yes, perhaps we are all to help the economy and buy the latest Visor but some of us
cannot usually afford it :-)
3. The idea to run VFS on a storage card essentially came from Kopsis. Kopsis had it on the market as VFSHelper long before PIT. Though PIT will be reluctant to admit it, atleast VC should
not be biased.

Anyway the bottomline is that the Kopsis VFSHelper based adapters are definitely in the market and the Memplug does not yet "own" the market.

Thanks
AM
=====
Just to set the record straight. I do like the Memplug hardware formfactor though!
AM

Last edited by alexmathew on 10-03-2001 at 01:58 PM

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 25

MemPlug is a great product, but the "owns the market" line was unprofessional

I own both a FlashPlus and a MemPlug. Both are excellent products with very good support.

Unless the "owns the market" comment was based on some undisclosed market share figures, it is silly and foolish. Go ahead and give MemPlug the award. They deserve it. But there's no reason for VC to act as a proxy marketing department for MemPlug.

Be fair. We want unbiased reviews, not cheerleading.

Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 366

I agree, MemPlug does not yet own the market. However, I believe Memplug definitely deserves the award. My Memplug SM rarely leaves the springboard slot and with the exception of the times I want to take pics with my EM2, I don't see any reason for it to. Kopsis was certainly the pioneer of VFS and card memory storage for the Visor, but PIT has certainly taken that concept one step further.

Remember, these are the opinion of the staff of Visorcentral. Certainly people will disagree with the winner, but that goes with any award(s) be it the VCA's, or the VMA's, or the Oscars.

One suggestion I would have for next year is to open the awards for a vote up to all Visorcentral registered members.

Jason

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

quote:

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Originally posted by volcanopele
One suggestion I would have for next year is to open the awards for a vote up to all Visorcentral registered members.

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hear hear! I would only add a 100 post minimum to that, I think. But maybe that's because I'm an oligarch.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
Posts: 79

Ducker come up for air

The Memplug owns the market . . .

I don't know which is worse, Ducker's jiggish claims, or VC's editing of patently prejudical reviewers.

Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 366

Woohoo! I meet dietrichbohn's limit, barely, but I do. I just think that the awards shouldn't be just the Visorcentral staffs' opinion, but the opinion of all the people who regularly read VisorCentral and are members of its discussion group.

How about an alternative proposal? In addition to the regular VCA award and honorable mention, how about including a People's Choice award for each catagory. Then you can say that the item won the approval of the staff's reviewers but also the people. If the choices are different, thats okay. You just have a winner, an honorable mention, and a people's choice.

For this year, maybe we can just create a bunch of polls in the Article Comment's forum for each catagory? Applications and cases might be a problem because there are so many but it should be a problem for the Visor, module, and top awards.

Jason

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Misplaced Canuck in Charleston SC
Posts: 257

quote:

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Originally posted by volcanopele

How about an alternative proposal? In addition to the regular VCA award and honorable mention, how about including a People's Choice award for each catagory. Then you can say that the item won the approval of the staff's reviewers but also the people. If the choices are different, thats okay. You just have a winner, an honorable mention, and a people's choice.


Jason

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ooo, I like that idea

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

I find that I must agree.

While I have no problems with MemPlug winning the award, the comment that "MemPlug owns the market" is both untrue and uncalled for.

Are there any hard figures to back up that assertion?

While both memory solutions have their advantages and disadvantages, for my purposes the Innopocket FlashPlus + Kopsis VFS software is a better fit for my needs.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

""MemPlug owns the market" is both untrue and uncalled for. "


Do YOU have any proof? It was one reviewer's opinion, if you feel differently, please, set up a poll for people to vote, like volcanopele says..

Registered: May 2001
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Posts: 90

I, too, have to question the "Owns the market" comment. I have multiple Matchbook drives (long and short), 2 FlashPluses, a MemPlug CF, and a MemPlug SM.

If you mean that MemPlug owns the SM market, then yes, I would agree. If you mean that MemPlug has the most types of media covered, again, I would agree. But that's not what was said.

I definitely prefer the FlashPlus over the other options overall. As I understand it, the MemPlug VFS doesn't work on the Deluxe (not everyone has a spiffy review prism to play with), whereas the deluxe I have in the car works great with several matchbook drives and over 7.5MB of free RAM. (Plus access to Mapopolis and several megs of maps, SplashPhoto and a bunch of pictures, bdicty and a bunch of dictionaries, and a handfull of games.)

I don't know the sales figures for MP and the FP -- MP is available at CompUSA, which gives them an advantage. Still, without actual numbers to back it up, I would say that the "owns" comment was a little over the top. (Or is that what you get for being a really good advertiser?)

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 35

Some numbers

As I do not know how we would be able to get sales figures, I decided to look at the memberships in the yahoo groups as an indication of marketshare. I know this is not an exact indicator, as I am a member of both groups, but only own the Memplug.
The memplug group on yahoo has 1293 members
The flashadapter-forum has 899 members.
This might indicate a bigger share of the market for the memplug.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

"The memplug group on yahoo has 1293 members
The flashadapter-forum has 899 members.
This might indicate a bigger share of the market for the memplug."

OR the Memplug has more problems, therefore more people signing up to ask questions about it. This whole debate is silly. I have a memplug and like it, others have flashdrives and like them, it all seems to boil down to the software and far as I can tell, the decision was made because the memplug has more or it installs it's software when you plug it in, like a springboard, although I'm not sure if the flashdrive does or not.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Silicon Valley, California
Posts: 173

I'm also surprised to hear that MemPlug has cornered the market! I was so happy with my MatchBook non-flush adapter and Dave Kessler & Kopsis Engineering's VFSHelper software that I ordered a flush MatchBook and a FlashPlus adapter!

Despite the fact that I had just spent $120 on a 16 MB RAM module not a week prior, I tried out the CF MatchBook because the company (unfortunately) was not going to be manufacturing them anymore. I was so impressed by the ease and functionality, I have NOT gone back to my 16 MB RAM module! What a waste! I could have bought two 128 MB CF cards for that amount of money!

Between Dave Kessler's (bi)weekly improvements on VFSHelper and active participation in the flashadapter forum on Yahoo!Groups, PowerRun and McFile, my MatchBook only leaves my Prism for software updates (via the CF card reader) or my modem module!

As far as I'm concerned, Dave Kessler and KopsisEngineering should get the VisorCentral Software Support Award!

Pamela Jones

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Just a couple of things to keep in mind. Kopsis wasn't the first to try a CF adapter. The idea was on the Palm de Cool site prior to that I believe (although the idea certainly wasn't unique). Dave's software and instructions, though, were certainly the first to catch on here. The catch, of course, is that Dave's original design and several commercial products which soon followed were not springboards. They were adapters. The modules which included flash came a bit later. AFAIK, the MatchBookDrives never came with flash and a 'welcome' app which installs the software required for the device, so although people with those and Dave Kessler's software may absolutely love the combo, it isn't a springboard, and hence doesn't even come into consideration for the award.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

"the decision was made because the memplug has more or it installs it's software when you plug it in, like a springboard, although I'm not sure if the flashdrive does or not."

Apparently I was right, and Toby was right. So, then quite possibly the Memplug does own the market, I dunno.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by dampeoples
Apparently I was right, and Toby was right. So, then quite possibly the Memplug does own the market, I dunno.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

quote:

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Originally posted by dampeoples
and far as I can tell, the decision was made because the memplug has more or it installs it's software when you plug it in, like a springboard, although I'm not sure if the flashdrive does or not.

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Well, just for the record, the FlashPlus also installs it's software.
http://www.innopocket.com/EShop/Main/product.php?ID=7

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

I read somewhere (I'll have to check my source) that the flash adapters need seperate software, but if the FlashPlus installs the software like a springboard, then it's in the competition as well

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 53

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Considering that the "market" probably only consists of the FlashPlus and the Memplug, Memplug may very well own the market.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location:
Posts: 3

Just an additional plug for FlashAdapter

While the Matchboxdrive and its cousins are not springboards, they should be eligible for the award, which was not for SPRINGBOARD storage solution of the year, but merely storage solution of the year. This, however is secondary to the biased and untrue comment about 'owns the market.'

I have a 2 MB Visor. I couldn't even HOPE to use a Memplug. In fact, according to an article at Visor Central, (SmartMedia versus CompactFlash versus Springboard Flash Memory by Scott Hanselman
http://www.visorcentral.com/page/0-4-89-1-4.htm)

"Due to limitations in the Palm OS, AutoCF and PiDirect only work on PalmOS 3.5 devices which is a huge bummer. I've talked to developers at Portable Innovation and believe me, it's not that they don't want to make a PalmOS 3.1 solution, it apparently isn't physically possible."

At the time that I read this, I was (and still am) using a 32 MB CF card and reading doc files off of it using FAFilemover. The first Beta Version of VFSHelper, allowing the use of VFS based launchers from the CF card was less than 3 weeks away. Pretty good for something that 'isn't physically possible'

Lets get objective in our reviews, and leave the marketing to the sales department.

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