@Julian: you should have noticed that only a small amount of all 6000 backers complain here ;-) the others just wait and or dont care enough to comment here...
From the latest update: "Of course we also see the critical comments ..."
Me aint no big data analyst but I believe the ratio negative versus positive comments is 'bout 30 to 1, so perhaps they should noy try to ignore them or regard them as just being annoying but best to adress them...
@Refunders
I udnerstand the frustration but you know the drill. Read the Kickstarter rules, this is not a webshop. ;)
@NEEO
I really like the update, there is a lot in there that I like.
Please dont regard the following as negative, it is constructive critisism.
Had the update timing been better (pre-CES) you would not have seen soo many negative comments. Some would still be there I am sure but you know what, you can turn almost every negative comment into something positive if you learn from it. They are not there because people are evil, they are there because people are disappointed.
Timing: You tease everyone with a big announcement at CES. When CES comes and goes you have to understand that people get disappointed when there is no update and no big announcement. You have said all along that you do not want to give timelines but still you give a big teaser like that and I cannot understand why. I completely understand that issues happened on the way and that is fine by me, but you have to understand that people react when they have been promised something and then nothing happens.
I do understand that, as you have written before, you did not want to spend money hiring someone like a PR-person to handle communication and I am all with you there. But then you also have to understand that negative comments will come and instead of writing that they are not helpful you could just have written that we try to learn something even from the negative comments. Your choice of course so just a suggestion. I am not an expert, just want to help out.
And a tip: You have now written "We will now more in February". Do not let February pass without updating us on the progress, even if it is bad news. Unless you really like the negative comments. ;)
I still have confidence in you and will wait patiently until I have my NEEOs in my hands. Keep up the good work and please post some more frequent updates with NEEO technical porn (pictures, videos). :D
Thanks guys for the great effort but there's nothing happening, please do refund my MONEY i can't and i will not wait any longer. Thanks again for everything, I'm waiting for your reply the next 24 hours "and my money".
And @Neeo,
There still isn't any evidence that the Neeo works with, Zwave, Zigbee or Bluetooth. Please show us some videos of this thing being used as YOU have sold it to us.
To all those who keep mentioning February like that's the month you're going to get your Neeo, you're not. Even if it passes all their checks in Feb, they still have to make/test/package/ship over 6 thousand units. That's a lot, especially considering it's on top of the Chinese New year as some have mentioned.
We will more likely receive our Neeo in April/May, again that's assuming there are no more issues and all tests/certifications are passed. That being said, there are probably a few more things to go wrong yet knowing our luck with this project in which case we could be looking at a lot later in the year.
Communication woes notwithstanding, I'm still in the camp giving NEEO the benefit of the doubt. I guess for me patience is a virtue. Anyhow, I look at a project like this (combining so many different protocols and radios into one device has *never* been done) and compare it to another bleeding edge project I backed: The Bragi Dash.
I backed the Dash nearly two years ago and it is finally shipping. The main difference? Excellent communication. Yes, there were lulls at times and yes there are backers that will never be satisfied no matter what you do. I consider the Dash project a textbook KS project that went well from launch to delivery. But one thing I learned from that was we didn't get any solid ship dates until about a month before they were ready for prime time (this included last minute fixes in their tooling).
I use Bragi as an example of a project that NEEO needs to mirror from here on in. It will work miracles in gaining the confidence of backers and in the product itself.
I must say I am sort of underwhelmed - by the update and by what could be condensed out of the CES information.
The demos seen show few if any of the promised and expected revolution of cross-interaction and automasation.
I stated once and repeat: even with all (im-) possible obstacles in consideration that may delay a hardware launch mist crucial parts of the intelligence (read software, read development platform of GUI/app) should have reached maturity as of last summer. Yet, we still have to see any of this in "action".
I can personally shoot a small movie on my mobile that shows me tapping a widget, TV going on, Lights dim faster than you could yell "Rico, lift that display and act up for a photo!".
Or pressing a Z-Wave Dimmer and let some Hue lamp dim down, or...
There are so many examples i could think of quick and dirty snippets that would help so much to substantiate their claims and credibility of what they have achieved so far. And it makes me wonder why we have still to see any of that kind while we were promised exactly that in November.
I am NOT talking about the super secret sauce of how to set up the system, just the press of a button on a recipe and not show the LCD but the devices playing up or hitting a Z-Wave wall dimmer (or any wall dimmer for that matter) and steer a Hue system and make the TV go on or Sonos Play a song.
Then there is that "Enguineering News". From my experience, working for a company that actually develops and manufactures hardware on a comparable level, a lot of the information in the update creates more questions than it tries to answer.
So they changed a crucial part in between prototyping and verification run without further testing? Really?
Apparently this must habve been POST we were told by Paul verification and compliance testing was ready to go late December early January the latest, correct? or wasn't it sooo correct, then?
But then, when the heck would that EU board desaster fit into that timeline? After? Hardly, given the holiday season. Before? How would you expect verification and compliance testing to be ready by now?
Actually, what was actually tested at that stage that it should be clear that compliance is no big deal and just a matter of paper? EU versions could not have been preevaluated (no verification model), but even if so: if your radio acts up for inferior performance it may well create spurious that void CE/FCC certification.
As mentioned it leaves me with more questions than hoped for - again.
I still hope for receiving my NEEO some day but I'm afraid it shouldn't be too soon.
Now, NEEO, PROVE! ME! WRONG! (Just to get your motivation spirits up)
had a bulk manufacturing initialised to learn their radio performance was bad? According to But it tells me at least that we are quite some time away from shipping.
We are one year later since we have backed this project and we still haven't received our products. This is not proper service!!! I hope there will be somewhat of a compensation for the poor service and the delayed delivery of product. This has been my first backed project on Kickstarter, but now that I am seeing the service that is provided and the way Kickstarter is handling this, I believe this will be the last one as well!!
Yet another horrible update. All that text and only 2 usefull tidbits of information.
Anyways:
1. Why they aren't they shipping the US version to the backers and ramping up production for the US market?
2. Why did Paul say in an interview on Youtube that you can get NEEO NOW?
I'll add two more updates that might have been: "We've been testing the range of the remote with the production samples and found that it fell far short of what we experienced with previous prototypes. We're investigating the cause of this problem."
Followed by: "The problem with the range of the remote was caused by interference from new memory chips used in the production sample. We can fix this with a firmware update."
These are the sort of updates I have to provide in a Scrum team every day, so none of this should be alien to NEEO.
@TH -- You hit the nail on the head! I don't know what this is so difficult for NEEO to recognize. It's not like you're the first to bring this up. It's like they're blatantly ignoring our requests for more frequent (but far less fluffy and marketing-speak) updates. If they mention they have the time to meet up with backers at CES and have a beer with them, they definitely have the time to write an update similar to the summary you just provided.
I'm so greatly impressed with what this small team has accomplished from an engineering and development standpoint. I'm so greatly excited for when I get to incorporate it into my home theatre.
However, the more OVER-SELLING and under-delivering that occurs in each update, which get further and further apart, the more I'm concerned there are PLENTY of issues going on behind the scenes that they haven't come to grips with yet and perhaps are even in denial of.
I genuinely hope I'm wrong, but over the past 6-8 months, I haven't seen anything from NEEO that would make me believe that when something is happening "soon" that it will actually be anytime soon.
+1 to Jean's comment. Well written and I hope if any comment is read by NEEO it's your comment. NEEO needs to realize the lack of transparency is causing the negative comments. And NEEO is to blame for the lack of updates so they need to start taking accountability for their lack of bringing their backers along through this journey.
Post regular updates and they will see a change in the tone of the comments. Don't wait months to write a novel as an update. Five sentences of substance not fluff each week would do it.
What you could have written in Dec that would have avoided most negative comments thus far:
"We stopped verification because EU boards failed the XYZ test. US boards passed the test and no further testing for US is needed. We are planning a new board test in Feb. Results of that test will determine if we can move on to full production. IF we reach production by end of Feb then devices will ship by Summer."
The update took me seconds to write. It provides clear status of what happened, what to expect and what plans are to move forward. I even put in a timeline that is dependent on milestones so it can be missed if the milestone isn't reached.
@bear "Technology is moving fast, 1 year ago NEEO Tech is grabs my eye and i feel it’s worth investing and paying for that help, but after a year the similar tech is everywhere even better than what I'm paid but din get it until today for 1 year time……
You are not the first to say there are better solutions available now. What mythical products are you speaking of?
One thing I haven't seen mention of is that the end of the verification run coincides with Chinese New Year, so even if the verification is successful production can't start for a while.
Glad we received an update and that there was useful information in it! But there was also some disheartening information...
Like many others, I am quite comfortable with delays. In fact, we have all remained supportive (for the most part) after months of delays. We have been complaining about accountability and transparency.
I'm not surprised by the most recent problems with the EU boards and appreciate that the complexity of the "brain" is challenging. The delay is understandable but it's the lack of accountability and transparency that I take issue with and is causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
I understand and appreciate the need and pressure of showing well at CES. In fact, I am/was encouraged by the attention they received and how well they showed. Better yet, they were recognized with an award.
But backers have been asking for updates, to see progress, to see demonstrations of the product which it appears the Neeo team could deliver, and report doing during CES but they haven't really and haven't committed to either. It's the lack of accountability and transparency that I take issue with and is causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
What Raphael presented in this update was reasonable and encouraging! But the suggestion that negative comments weren't helpful, or worse, without taking responsibility for the problem created by Neeo was pretty disheartening!
The lack of regular, concrete, factual information to backers and the number of missed commitments is what has led up to the criticism. Have some comments been over the top, absolutely but that the "price" to pay to use a crowdfunding platform. And this platform has payed great dividends to Neeo, both financially and by demonstrating a strong market.
The lack of accountability and transparency has led to the negative tone of many and this is of Neeo's making. To criticize backers will just add to the discourse but more importantly shows that Neeo doesn't understand that communicating regularly and openly is the solution.
Provide more regular updates, provide us some open insight into production delays (without putting your commercially sensitive information out there) and demonstrate the functionality of the system and you will be rewarded by patient, supportive and even "evangelical" backers.
Don't blame backers! You came here willingly and are benefiting from this platform.
In my humble opinion, it's the lack of accountability and transparency that are causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
I hope Neeo gets better at this but don't know that they will. More importantly, I wish them much success and can't wait until I receive my system.
@Robert: I am sure you didn't intend the malice, but it might easily be perceived that way.
I don't know the full story behind the May 15th update. There is no doubt the information given was wrong (at least I didn't get my Neeo in the summer), but did someone intentionally lie? Or was it a naive attempt at enthusiasm for someone who thought that "there's no way anymore problems will crop up at this point" and then got hit by a 5 ton truck of reality.
What I'm trying to get at is that I have not yet seen any reason to think that anyone at Neeo had any "evil" intentions. They may have exaggerated and expressed themselves clumsily, and perhaps most important - failed to express themselves at all. Maybe they saw that being to optimistic got them in trouble, and they overcompensated by not saying anything at all?
I am sure they are doing their best, and that this "PR nightmare" is a result of poor communications, not a desire to lie and trick people.
This was posted on their blog on 1/13/2016: Production Status Update
January 13, 2016
Since the beginning of the production process started in early 2015 (right after the Kickstarter campaign) we were fighting hard to produce NEEO. There are reasons why only very few companies on this planet manufacture a product of this quality. Quite some backers asked what happened along this journey. You find most bits and pieces in our blog and the process is described in detail in one of our November posts for everyone who is interested: https://neeo.com/blog/2015/11/5/neeo-november-news
So how does the current timeline look like? We are running the next (hopefully last!!!) verification run early February. Until then corrections need to be made. Located on three continents, our contract manufacturer team and the NEEO crew work hard on this. The current release depends on that verification run. That means we will all know more in February. We stopped the December/January verification run as all EU specific boards sported a production problem (PCB layers..). The US versions of the boards were good but the EU ones were all bad. We also did some modification in the production documentation in terms of tolerances and assembly process to clarify some important details. While those corrections are being implemented we also improve the automated test procedure for every unit produced. This test will make sure the failure rate is very close to zero (zero does not exist in electronic manufacturing).
No malice in my comments. I truly believe that I have been deceived and lied to on multiple occasions.
Read the campaign description and its timeline, then review the comments (again, they sent out an update in May 15 saying that they were about to ship: how can that be portrayed as anything close to being accurate?)
I agree with many here, I have no problem with delays, but more frequent, informal updates interspersed between more formal larger updates, like the last one, would keep people happy and serve to quell the negative sentiments of some others!
@NEEO, Thanks for the update. I think that All backers would love to provide you with tons of great and inspiring words, but please note that we have to support each other. a lot of us are information hungry, we want to know whats going on. If there is a silence and thus no information than we have nothing to support you with.
I Understand that it is not always easy updating us while we rage on the comments. placing a comment that the EU PCB's have an issue and that this will be sorted, or a comment that unfortunately there is RF interference and you haven't found the cause of it yet, or We have found the cause of the RF issue, and we have updated the EU PCB manufacturing thingies. would allow us to support you. plus we are informed.
I love the blog and kickstarter updates but please comment some information along the way and cap it all together in an update the next time you post an update. Please try this and see if it works. :-)
@Robert: While I don't think you need to worry about people suing you for a comment on Kickstarter, I would be careful using words such as "fraud" and "lies". While I am no lawyer, I have seen Making a Murderer so I consider myself an expert. ;) But seriously, these are very negative terms that contain within them malice - the intent of doing something wrong. Perhaps the Neeo team have been naive, but I doubt they have intentionally misled anyone. Perhaps they had a prototype, but then the scope of the product increased, or reality hit them in the face. As the last update details, they have suffered some setbacks. If they were to report every difficulty they have encountered during production and development, I am sure Kickstarter would have to establish a suicide hotline on the site.
Like everyone else, they have presented a polished version of the truth, that I am sure they were 100% sure they could easily achieve if they reached their funding goals. They never intended to mislead anyone - as others have pointed out, they did not have the experience with mass production to predict all the challenges they would meet on their journey.
Now, if the product arrives and it is significantly weaker than what we were promised during the campaign, I will of course not be happy either. Delays I can live with, but I want a damn good remote and home automation system. I expect nothing less. Until then, the only thing achieved by commenting about "fraud" here is scaring away potential Neeo customers.
If they were trying to trick us and steal our money I doubt they would make the effort to go to the CES in Vegas, so for now, I don't see a reason to create negativity around the product. It can only have negative effects for us future happy Neeo users.
Sorry but no.
Last time I checked Kickstarter was not a donation platform and Neeo was not an non profit organization.
Go and read the Kickstarter rules for a start.
Yes we deserve to be informed and yes we deserve to be respected (promising information and news to systematically failing is no respect to me)
The way Neeo takes care about community communication is just a joke to me.
You compare us to investors to conclude that we are not. Thanks god for Neeo because no investor will ever accept to receive this kind of updates. Never.
You feel that if we make too much noise it will hurt them and they might fail to deliver anything ? Funny. They have this part of the story 100% on their hands. 100%.
If they keep non caring at all, so be it
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Frank Liang 31 minutes ago
the more I read Harry Buurman's comment, the more I feel like a victim of domestic violence :p
You want your food or peaceful sleep? Then you DON'T report to the police, you DON'T nag on my ears. And wait patiently for the next time I check on you and bring you something. Because if me, as your owner, have troubles, you will die here. Is that what you want? Good, so shut up
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@Frank:
I just think in the end we all benefit from patience in this case. And for my benefit I willing to stay patient for a while. I will complain though.
with regards to domestic violence: Zero tolerance, no patience. For me this just doesn't fall in the domestic violence category. I can live without a remote control, this wont influence my life. But as you don't see me as the violent person in this one I can live with your feelings. If you see me as the agressor... we should talk ;-)
We are not investors in the company or a product. We did not purchase anything. We pledged money towards a "reward level". However, there is no promise or guarantee of getting the reward, and you certainly run a big risk of not getting anything back.
Like it or not, this is how kickstarters work, it is not a store. It is a gamble, plain and simple, and if you cannot risk not getting a return, you should not pledge on kickstarter.
Perhaps paradoxially, this risk seem to increase with the level of success a kickstarter enjoys, as does the complexity of just about everything. You got pledges for 100 gizmos? Cool, you can make them on your own in your garage with a 3d printer and ship them yourself. 10 000 pieces? You need a factory, you need to source parts on a whole other level, and so on, All of this introduces additional possible points of failure, some of which you can control, lots of which may be beyond your control.
Unfortunately we didn't invest - an investor is a person or organization that puts money into financial schemes, property, etc. with the expectation of achieving a profitable outcome ie through income, interest or appreciation in value. We donated money of our own free will to a startup company in the hope that our contribution would result in a successful product being manufactured. We have no representation on the company board, the company has no legal responsibility to us, we hold no shares, nothing. This is a truth I've learned from bitter experience with other failed projects - I too used to consider ourselves investors until I realised that we are actually not.
In contrast to others who think that they donated money, I invested in a product. This means I want a return on my money. If the return is high enough is a totally differnt think.
But if i dont get a return, I dont want to see that the company gets any return neither.
the more I read Harry Buurman's comment, the more I feel like a victim of domestic violence :p
You want your food or peaceful sleep? Then you DON'T report to the police, you DON'T nag on my ears. And wait patiently for the next time I check on you and bring you something. Because if me, as your owner, have troubles, you will die here. Is that what you want? Good, so shut up
This may be a useless question but I'm not super familiar with the process.
From reading this update, it seems the North America Neeo's could potentially be made and then ready to ship ? And modifications need to be made to adhere to European standards ?? Or does the European failure mean that they cannot proceed with the US / North American hardware either.
Anyone with some kind of knowledge on this I would love some clarification !
I'll go with what seems to be the evolving consensus here for now and not contact the media (it looks like its a lot easier to do than I anticipated. There clearly geared up for this sort of approach).
I remain however unconvinced here.
Like others, I don't actually mind the delays in of themselves. Its the fraud element, the lies and the failed promises that I will not accept.
Jesus Christ. To all these guys planning to spread bad press and negativity around the Internet, please don't ever back anything on Kickstarter again. How is that ever going to be a good idea? Yeah, I know what, let's give people money of our own accord(which is what we did, essentially donated money) take what fragile chance there is of success, and piss all over it with the aim of trying our hardest to disrupt the company and prevent anyone ever getting a product. Yes, communication is infrequent and could be improved. Yes, everyone wants a delivery date. No, it's not ready yet, and there are clear reasons in every update as to why. Outside of that, people need to just calm down without trying to maximise the risk of failure for everyone.
To be clear from my side, I have no problem to wait for a good product. I have a problem with the art of communication. I think it is possible to send a life sign every two weeks with a LITTLE update like "Hi folks, software goes well, had some problems with EU Boards. More in the monthly BIG update."
Happy new year to the NEEO Team, I hope your hard work will pay off.
Well, clearly the big annoucement was supposed to be "..and we are shipping it TODAY", however there is a perfectly good explanation in the latest update as to why that didn't get announced. And if it is still unclear to anyone why it isn't possible to communicate something more definite than "we'll know more in feburary" pending the verification run, well then perhaps read the bit about engineering and the aborted dec/jan run. These things happen. Neeo is dealing with them.
But comms, yeah. please improve on comms, Neeo.
Regarding the perfect device, what I mean is this: There's only one chance to get enough "stuff" put in hardware, you have to do it up front, and plan for the future. Compare this to Tesla, they are still releasing new features on "old" Model S and even the Roadster, and this is possible because they put a lot of sensors and lidar and dingbats, and a powerfull "brain" in the car from the start, and then they made it easy to roll out new software directly to the car. Tesla owners are loving it. Neeo could be the Tesla of remotes, with years of life in them, if they get the hardware right.
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Robert about 1 hour ago
I spent an hour last night drafting my own press release (I'm not a professional). I intend to spend some time this evening sending it to as many mainstream news sources as I can. I'm going to start with the UK newspapers and technology magazines.
If you want to see how little KS will care or do about this, review the last three updates on the Zano project, then look at the comments.
---
@Robert: I do understand the way you feel. We're sort of paper warriors in this one. We dont have much rights. We cannot make demands for updates or products. We invested in a company, we haven't bought a product. So the only thing thats left are writing press and spreading negativity.
And eventhough I'm not satisfied and feel cheated by Neeo I dont think spreading bad news around is a good thing to do. I hurts Neeo and therefore will hurt the backers eventually. If nobody buys Neeo, we'll probably won't get a remote either. And what if the remotes get delivered and because of the bad news new customers wont buy a remote. Then Neeo might go bankrupt after delivery. That means no updates. Some stuff is in the cloud, we need the Neeo apps to be updated everytime android or IOS is being updated. We need new product to be added to the Neeo ecosystem.
I would like to ask you to keep your calm for a while. Lets wait what happens in februari. or march. I'm angry about the communication as well. Not angry about non-delivery, I want a good remote. And I'm sure what qualities they lack at communication is being made up for in their development skills ;0)
@Neeo; keep involving your backers. Thats part of the "kickstarter-game". Kickstarter backers dont have any guarantees. But they backed you because they believe in you. And therefore they want you to succeed and be part of that. It's better to not say it in an update now and then, but to show it by placing small updates. This is for me and a lot of people part of the fun. With a lot of people more and more dissapointed at kickstarter negativity rises quickly. Only thing that helps is being open and transparant. Exacly what a company in 2016 should be; open and transparant. Your last update was great fun and a whole lot to read.
Update smaller and more regular. Saves you the pressure of negative backers, saves you the pressure of knowing you promised an update and you didnt write it. I'm sure you're busy (3 countries equals a lot of overhead, but can still be a good choice). I see the dedication in your movies, posts, CES presentation and eventually in the product. But small updates dont require that much time and can be a lot less polished. But they will keep backers involved. And feeling involved scares away negativity (for most of us).
Thanks for the update, in a lot ways it was better; we now know the last evaluation faled for EU devices. Next try february. Awesome! Well, not the failing part, but knowing you guys already picked up the glove and are fixing the issues. Better luck in februari. Looking forward to your next update.
However I dont really beleave in the idea of a perfect product. No products will ever be perfect, the iPhone will never have been introduced if they were seeking the perfect.
Thats why the same product is not forever.
Every product is a compromise, and if there ever going to be a product, you need to accept that. technology is moving, and if you keep postpone the product to keep up technology you never land anything.
So a great device is welcome, but dont beleave that you'll ever get the perfect one. I will soon rather see a product that maybe not perfect, but with a posible to buy a version 2 in 2 years. However you will at sometime be releasing a newer version to keep up. So this device will never be perfect and never stand forever.
Im waiting, and i will until the sun burns out, but please dont let it be 2017.
Hahah
They did it. They published an update. One more after which you have absolutely no better clue about when we will get our devices. New validation run, no date ... Wait until February and we will see
An what about the big CES announcement ? Nothing once more
Promising and failing ...
This time I loved the part where they even dare to complain about bad comments which are not helping. Fantastic. Good comments are not a given sorry. Start being honest and to communicate and you will get what you want. This is so ridiculous...
@Mark Gray: We all agree that they could be better at telling us what is going on (but I expect the update we just got will hopefully fan the flames a bit), but I don't think you're fair comparing a startup to a major corporation.
A major corporation will have people dealing with PR, with human resources, sales, marketing, technical stuff, support, development, there will be someone watering the flowers and delivering the mail.
For a tech startup, typically everyone will frantically be working on getting the product out the door. And yeah, technicians, engineers and software developers don't always make the best communicators. As a software developer working for a distributor, I have seen countless examples of companies started by tech heads who create AMAZING products but are completely unable to sell them because every employee is on the technical side.
Sure, eventually Neeo will have this in place. But at the moment, they have ONE potential source of income beyond what they already got from us - they need that product out the door. That doesn't excuse radio silence, but it also doesn't justify panic and looting in the streets. I am sure they have learned a lot from this apart from just designing the product. They can do better PR wise, but I see no evidence to justify a revolution, and reality is that they are not in a phase of their existance where operating like a "major corporation" is even a possibility.
"as they've stated previously that they are not aiming for "prototype level quality" like many other kickstarters do, but to ship a proper, retail worthy device."
They didn't state this at all in the campaign. They stated quite clearly that they had a working prototype and were ready to enter production. That was a lie. They were stating as far back as May 2015 that they were about to ship. That was a lie. The untruths just stack up the more you read of the updates. The poor comms and delays pale into insignificance against this backdrop.
Creator Markus Krüger about 1 hour ago
@Julian: you should have noticed that only a small amount of all 6000 backers complain here ;-) the others just wait and or dont care enough to comment here...
Creator Julian about 5 hours ago
From the latest update: "Of course we also see the critical comments ..."
Me aint no big data analyst but I believe the ratio negative versus positive comments is 'bout 30 to 1, so perhaps they should noy try to ignore them or regard them as just being annoying but best to adress them...
Creator Pontus Lernhag about 6 hours ago
@Jean-Stefane Bergeron and TH +1
@Refunders
I udnerstand the frustration but you know the drill. Read the Kickstarter rules, this is not a webshop. ;)
@NEEO
I really like the update, there is a lot in there that I like.
Please dont regard the following as negative, it is constructive critisism.
Had the update timing been better (pre-CES) you would not have seen soo many negative comments. Some would still be there I am sure but you know what, you can turn almost every negative comment into something positive if you learn from it. They are not there because people are evil, they are there because people are disappointed.
Timing: You tease everyone with a big announcement at CES. When CES comes and goes you have to understand that people get disappointed when there is no update and no big announcement. You have said all along that you do not want to give timelines but still you give a big teaser like that and I cannot understand why. I completely understand that issues happened on the way and that is fine by me, but you have to understand that people react when they have been promised something and then nothing happens.
I do understand that, as you have written before, you did not want to spend money hiring someone like a PR-person to handle communication and I am all with you there. But then you also have to understand that negative comments will come and instead of writing that they are not helpful you could just have written that we try to learn something even from the negative comments. Your choice of course so just a suggestion. I am not an expert, just want to help out.
And a tip: You have now written "We will now more in February". Do not let February pass without updating us on the progress, even if it is bad news. Unless you really like the negative comments. ;)
I still have confidence in you and will wait patiently until I have my NEEOs in my hands. Keep up the good work and please post some more frequent updates with NEEO technical porn (pictures, videos). :D
Creator Tassopoulos Lymperis about 6 hours ago
Thanks guys for the great effort but there's nothing happening, please do refund my MONEY i can't and i will not wait any longer. Thanks again for everything, I'm waiting for your reply the next 24 hours "and my money".
Creator Robin M about 14 hours ago
To Jean Stephane Bergeron. Thank you for so eloquently stating an opinion I believe in.
Creator Adam Groves about 19 hours ago
And @Neeo,
There still isn't any evidence that the Neeo works with, Zwave, Zigbee or Bluetooth. Please show us some videos of this thing being used as YOU have sold it to us.
Creator Adam Groves about 19 hours ago
To all those who keep mentioning February like that's the month you're going to get your Neeo, you're not. Even if it passes all their checks in Feb, they still have to make/test/package/ship over 6 thousand units. That's a lot, especially considering it's on top of the Chinese New year as some have mentioned.
We will more likely receive our Neeo in April/May, again that's assuming there are no more issues and all tests/certifications are passed. That being said, there are probably a few more things to go wrong yet knowing our luck with this project in which case we could be looking at a lot later in the year.
Creator Taylor M about 20 hours ago
@AstroBBoy -- Amen!
Creator AstroBBoy about 21 hours ago
I can't wait for the next update in 3 months time telling me about stuff I don't care about and not giving me a delivery date.
Creator Damian Armitage about 22 hours ago
Totally disappointed with this update I'm afraid to say. I have no motivating words to give.
So much for a big announcement. All we got instead was a big amount of text with little - AGAIN - of substance.
But hey-ho.... at least I've seen some hardware.... :-(
Creator Eric J. about 22 hours ago
Communication woes notwithstanding, I'm still in the camp giving NEEO the benefit of the doubt. I guess for me patience is a virtue. Anyhow, I look at a project like this (combining so many different protocols and radios into one device has *never* been done) and compare it to another bleeding edge project I backed: The Bragi Dash.
I backed the Dash nearly two years ago and it is finally shipping. The main difference? Excellent communication. Yes, there were lulls at times and yes there are backers that will never be satisfied no matter what you do. I consider the Dash project a textbook KS project that went well from launch to delivery. But one thing I learned from that was we didn't get any solid ship dates until about a month before they were ready for prime time (this included last minute fixes in their tooling).
I use Bragi as an example of a project that NEEO needs to mirror from here on in. It will work miracles in gaining the confidence of backers and in the product itself.
Creator Klaus about 23 hours ago
Last 2 lines slipped through edit, disregard, plz.
Creator Klaus about 23 hours ago
I must say I am sort of underwhelmed - by the update and by what could be condensed out of the CES information.
The demos seen show few if any of the promised and expected revolution of cross-interaction and automasation.
I stated once and repeat: even with all (im-) possible obstacles in consideration that may delay a hardware launch mist crucial parts of the intelligence (read software, read development platform of GUI/app) should have reached maturity as of last summer. Yet, we still have to see any of this in "action".
I can personally shoot a small movie on my mobile that shows me tapping a widget, TV going on, Lights dim faster than you could yell "Rico, lift that display and act up for a photo!".
Or pressing a Z-Wave Dimmer and let some Hue lamp dim down, or...
There are so many examples i could think of quick and dirty snippets that would help so much to substantiate their claims and credibility of what they have achieved so far. And it makes me wonder why we have still to see any of that kind while we were promised exactly that in November.
I am NOT talking about the super secret sauce of how to set up the system, just the press of a button on a recipe and not show the LCD but the devices playing up or hitting a Z-Wave wall dimmer (or any wall dimmer for that matter) and steer a Hue system and make the TV go on or Sonos Play a song.
Then there is that "Enguineering News". From my experience, working for a company that actually develops and manufactures hardware on a comparable level, a lot of the information in the update creates more questions than it tries to answer.
So they changed a crucial part in between prototyping and verification run without further testing? Really?
Apparently this must habve been POST we were told by Paul verification and compliance testing was ready to go late December early January the latest, correct? or wasn't it sooo correct, then?
But then, when the heck would that EU board desaster fit into that timeline? After? Hardly, given the holiday season. Before? How would you expect verification and compliance testing to be ready by now?
Actually, what was actually tested at that stage that it should be clear that compliance is no big deal and just a matter of paper? EU versions could not have been preevaluated (no verification model), but even if so: if your radio acts up for inferior performance it may well create spurious that void CE/FCC certification.
As mentioned it leaves me with more questions than hoped for - again.
I still hope for receiving my NEEO some day but I'm afraid it shouldn't be too soon.
Now, NEEO, PROVE! ME! WRONG! (Just to get your motivation spirits up)
had a bulk manufacturing initialised to learn their radio performance was bad? According to But it tells me at least that we are quite some time away from shipping.
Creator Ruben Handolescu about 23 hours ago
We are one year later since we have backed this project and we still haven't received our products. This is not proper service!!! I hope there will be somewhat of a compensation for the poor service and the delayed delivery of product. This has been my first backed project on Kickstarter, but now that I am seeing the service that is provided and the way Kickstarter is handling this, I believe this will be the last one as well!!
Creator Andreas Ramstad 1 day ago
Yet another horrible update. All that text and only 2 usefull tidbits of information.
Anyways:
1. Why they aren't they shipping the US version to the backers and ramping up production for the US market?
2. Why did Paul say in an interview on Youtube that you can get NEEO NOW?
Creator Jean-Stefane Bergeron 1 day ago
I REALLY hope that we get some kind of reaction from the Neeo team about our "conversations".
Missteps happen and the Neeo team is doing some great things. The real test is how we recover from our missteps.
Creator Mark Gray 1 day ago
@TH You should be NEEO's communications man. :)
I'll add two more updates that might have been: "We've been testing the range of the remote with the production samples and found that it fell far short of what we experienced with previous prototypes. We're investigating the cause of this problem."
Followed by: "The problem with the range of the remote was caused by interference from new memory chips used in the production sample. We can fix this with a firmware update."
These are the sort of updates I have to provide in a Scrum team every day, so none of this should be alien to NEEO.
Creator Taylor M 1 day ago
@TH -- You hit the nail on the head! I don't know what this is so difficult for NEEO to recognize. It's not like you're the first to bring this up. It's like they're blatantly ignoring our requests for more frequent (but far less fluffy and marketing-speak) updates. If they mention they have the time to meet up with backers at CES and have a beer with them, they definitely have the time to write an update similar to the summary you just provided.
I'm so greatly impressed with what this small team has accomplished from an engineering and development standpoint. I'm so greatly excited for when I get to incorporate it into my home theatre.
However, the more OVER-SELLING and under-delivering that occurs in each update, which get further and further apart, the more I'm concerned there are PLENTY of issues going on behind the scenes that they haven't come to grips with yet and perhaps are even in denial of.
I genuinely hope I'm wrong, but over the past 6-8 months, I haven't seen anything from NEEO that would make me believe that when something is happening "soon" that it will actually be anytime soon.
Creator TH 1 day ago
+1 to Jean's comment. Well written and I hope if any comment is read by NEEO it's your comment. NEEO needs to realize the lack of transparency is causing the negative comments. And NEEO is to blame for the lack of updates so they need to start taking accountability for their lack of bringing their backers along through this journey.
Post regular updates and they will see a change in the tone of the comments. Don't wait months to write a novel as an update. Five sentences of substance not fluff each week would do it.
What you could have written in Dec that would have avoided most negative comments thus far:
"We stopped verification because EU boards failed the XYZ test. US boards passed the test and no further testing for US is needed. We are planning a new board test in Feb. Results of that test will determine if we can move on to full production. IF we reach production by end of Feb then devices will ship by Summer."
The update took me seconds to write. It provides clear status of what happened, what to expect and what plans are to move forward. I even put in a timeline that is dependent on milestones so it can be missed if the milestone isn't reached.
Creator Dave Hefty 1 day ago
@bear "Technology is moving fast, 1 year ago NEEO Tech is grabs my eye and i feel it’s worth investing and paying for that help, but after a year the similar tech is everywhere even better than what I'm paid but din get it until today for 1 year time……
You are not the first to say there are better solutions available now. What mythical products are you speaking of?
Creator Mark Gray 1 day ago
One thing I haven't seen mention of is that the end of the verification run coincides with Chinese New Year, so even if the verification is successful production can't start for a while.
Creator Jean-Stefane Bergeron 1 day ago
Glad we received an update and that there was useful information in it! But there was also some disheartening information...
Like many others, I am quite comfortable with delays. In fact, we have all remained supportive (for the most part) after months of delays. We have been complaining about accountability and transparency.
I'm not surprised by the most recent problems with the EU boards and appreciate that the complexity of the "brain" is challenging. The delay is understandable but it's the lack of accountability and transparency that I take issue with and is causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
I understand and appreciate the need and pressure of showing well at CES. In fact, I am/was encouraged by the attention they received and how well they showed. Better yet, they were recognized with an award.
But backers have been asking for updates, to see progress, to see demonstrations of the product which it appears the Neeo team could deliver, and report doing during CES but they haven't really and haven't committed to either. It's the lack of accountability and transparency that I take issue with and is causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
What Raphael presented in this update was reasonable and encouraging! But the suggestion that negative comments weren't helpful, or worse, without taking responsibility for the problem created by Neeo was pretty disheartening!
The lack of regular, concrete, factual information to backers and the number of missed commitments is what has led up to the criticism. Have some comments been over the top, absolutely but that the "price" to pay to use a crowdfunding platform. And this platform has payed great dividends to Neeo, both financially and by demonstrating a strong market.
The lack of accountability and transparency has led to the negative tone of many and this is of Neeo's making. To criticize backers will just add to the discourse but more importantly shows that Neeo doesn't understand that communicating regularly and openly is the solution.
Provide more regular updates, provide us some open insight into production delays (without putting your commercially sensitive information out there) and demonstrate the functionality of the system and you will be rewarded by patient, supportive and even "evangelical" backers.
Don't blame backers! You came here willingly and are benefiting from this platform.
In my humble opinion, it's the lack of accountability and transparency that are causing the issues for Neeo in this community.
I hope Neeo gets better at this but don't know that they will. More importantly, I wish them much success and can't wait until I receive my system.
Creator Rune Jacobsen 1 day ago
@Robert: I am sure you didn't intend the malice, but it might easily be perceived that way.
I don't know the full story behind the May 15th update. There is no doubt the information given was wrong (at least I didn't get my Neeo in the summer), but did someone intentionally lie? Or was it a naive attempt at enthusiasm for someone who thought that "there's no way anymore problems will crop up at this point" and then got hit by a 5 ton truck of reality.
What I'm trying to get at is that I have not yet seen any reason to think that anyone at Neeo had any "evil" intentions. They may have exaggerated and expressed themselves clumsily, and perhaps most important - failed to express themselves at all. Maybe they saw that being to optimistic got them in trouble, and they overcompensated by not saying anything at all?
I am sure they are doing their best, and that this "PR nightmare" is a result of poor communications, not a desire to lie and trick people.
Creator Scott Kendall 1 day ago
This was posted on their blog on 1/13/2016: Production Status Update
January 13, 2016
Since the beginning of the production process started in early 2015 (right after the Kickstarter campaign) we were fighting hard to produce NEEO. There are reasons why only very few companies on this planet manufacture a product of this quality. Quite some backers asked what happened along this journey. You find most bits and pieces in our blog and the process is described in detail in one of our November posts for everyone who is interested: https://neeo.com/blog/2015/11/5/neeo-november-news
So how does the current timeline look like? We are running the next (hopefully last!!!) verification run early February. Until then corrections need to be made. Located on three continents, our contract manufacturer team and the NEEO crew work hard on this. The current release depends on that verification run. That means we will all know more in February. We stopped the December/January verification run as all EU specific boards sported a production problem (PCB layers..). The US versions of the boards were good but the EU ones were all bad. We also did some modification in the production documentation in terms of tolerances and assembly process to clarify some important details. While those corrections are being implemented we also improve the automated test procedure for every unit produced. This test will make sure the failure rate is very close to zero (zero does not exist in electronic manufacturing).
Creator Robert 1 day ago
No malice in my comments. I truly believe that I have been deceived and lied to on multiple occasions.
Read the campaign description and its timeline, then review the comments (again, they sent out an update in May 15 saying that they were about to ship: how can that be portrayed as anything close to being accurate?)
Creator ELGringo 1 day ago
No explanation about demo ? Ohhhh that's strange. No delivery timeframe ? Curious ! Only the indication for the next step into this endless process.
Instead of that, we get the usual blabla:
"There are reasons why only very few companies on this planet manufacture a product of this quality"
You're amazing ! Let's see this CES award ! Wouahouuuuu
You don't have time to provide us video for Hue demonstration but you can add a picture of Rico holding a board ? Thanks, it's a useful information !!
Creator WNJ85 1 day ago
I agree with many here, I have no problem with delays, but more frequent, informal updates interspersed between more formal larger updates, like the last one, would keep people happy and serve to quell the negative sentiments of some others!
Creator Niels de Klerk 1 day ago
@NEEO, Thanks for the update. I think that All backers would love to provide you with tons of great and inspiring words, but please note that we have to support each other. a lot of us are information hungry, we want to know whats going on. If there is a silence and thus no information than we have nothing to support you with.
I Understand that it is not always easy updating us while we rage on the comments. placing a comment that the EU PCB's have an issue and that this will be sorted, or a comment that unfortunately there is RF interference and you haven't found the cause of it yet, or We have found the cause of the RF issue, and we have updated the EU PCB manufacturing thingies. would allow us to support you. plus we are informed.
I love the blog and kickstarter updates but please comment some information along the way and cap it all together in an update the next time you post an update. Please try this and see if it works. :-)
Creator Rune Jacobsen 1 day ago
@Robert: While I don't think you need to worry about people suing you for a comment on Kickstarter, I would be careful using words such as "fraud" and "lies". While I am no lawyer, I have seen Making a Murderer so I consider myself an expert. ;) But seriously, these are very negative terms that contain within them malice - the intent of doing something wrong. Perhaps the Neeo team have been naive, but I doubt they have intentionally misled anyone. Perhaps they had a prototype, but then the scope of the product increased, or reality hit them in the face. As the last update details, they have suffered some setbacks. If they were to report every difficulty they have encountered during production and development, I am sure Kickstarter would have to establish a suicide hotline on the site.
Like everyone else, they have presented a polished version of the truth, that I am sure they were 100% sure they could easily achieve if they reached their funding goals. They never intended to mislead anyone - as others have pointed out, they did not have the experience with mass production to predict all the challenges they would meet on their journey.
Now, if the product arrives and it is significantly weaker than what we were promised during the campaign, I will of course not be happy either. Delays I can live with, but I want a damn good remote and home automation system. I expect nothing less. Until then, the only thing achieved by commenting about "fraud" here is scaring away potential Neeo customers.
If they were trying to trick us and steal our money I doubt they would make the effort to go to the CES in Vegas, so for now, I don't see a reason to create negativity around the product. It can only have negative effects for us future happy Neeo users.
Creator Loic Samson 1 day ago
Sorry but no.
Last time I checked Kickstarter was not a donation platform and Neeo was not an non profit organization.
Go and read the Kickstarter rules for a start.
Yes we deserve to be informed and yes we deserve to be respected (promising information and news to systematically failing is no respect to me)
The way Neeo takes care about community communication is just a joke to me.
You compare us to investors to conclude that we are not. Thanks god for Neeo because no investor will ever accept to receive this kind of updates. Never.
You feel that if we make too much noise it will hurt them and they might fail to deliver anything ? Funny. They have this part of the story 100% on their hands. 100%.
If they keep non caring at all, so be it
Creator Harry Buurman 1 day ago
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Frank Liang 31 minutes ago
the more I read Harry Buurman's comment, the more I feel like a victim of domestic violence :p
You want your food or peaceful sleep? Then you DON'T report to the police, you DON'T nag on my ears. And wait patiently for the next time I check on you and bring you something. Because if me, as your owner, have troubles, you will die here. Is that what you want? Good, so shut up
---
@Frank:
I just think in the end we all benefit from patience in this case. And for my benefit I willing to stay patient for a while. I will complain though.
with regards to domestic violence: Zero tolerance, no patience. For me this just doesn't fall in the domestic violence category. I can live without a remote control, this wont influence my life. But as you don't see me as the violent person in this one I can live with your feelings. If you see me as the agressor... we should talk ;-)
Creator Henning Naarlien-Tolpinrud 1 day ago
We are not investors in the company or a product. We did not purchase anything. We pledged money towards a "reward level". However, there is no promise or guarantee of getting the reward, and you certainly run a big risk of not getting anything back.
Like it or not, this is how kickstarters work, it is not a store. It is a gamble, plain and simple, and if you cannot risk not getting a return, you should not pledge on kickstarter.
Perhaps paradoxially, this risk seem to increase with the level of success a kickstarter enjoys, as does the complexity of just about everything. You got pledges for 100 gizmos? Cool, you can make them on your own in your garage with a 3d printer and ship them yourself. 10 000 pieces? You need a factory, you need to source parts on a whole other level, and so on, All of this introduces additional possible points of failure, some of which you can control, lots of which may be beyond your control.
Creator VHF 1 day ago
Unfortunately we didn't invest - an investor is a person or organization that puts money into financial schemes, property, etc. with the expectation of achieving a profitable outcome ie through income, interest or appreciation in value. We donated money of our own free will to a startup company in the hope that our contribution would result in a successful product being manufactured. We have no representation on the company board, the company has no legal responsibility to us, we hold no shares, nothing. This is a truth I've learned from bitter experience with other failed projects - I too used to consider ourselves investors until I realised that we are actually not.
Creator Christian Börner 1 day ago
In contrast to others who think that they donated money, I invested in a product. This means I want a return on my money. If the return is high enough is a totally differnt think.
But if i dont get a return, I dont want to see that the company gets any return neither.
Creator Frank Liang 1 day ago
the more I read Harry Buurman's comment, the more I feel like a victim of domestic violence :p
You want your food or peaceful sleep? Then you DON'T report to the police, you DON'T nag on my ears. And wait patiently for the next time I check on you and bring you something. Because if me, as your owner, have troubles, you will die here. Is that what you want? Good, so shut up
Creator Big K 1 day ago
This may be a useless question but I'm not super familiar with the process.
From reading this update, it seems the North America Neeo's could potentially be made and then ready to ship ? And modifications need to be made to adhere to European standards ?? Or does the European failure mean that they cannot proceed with the US / North American hardware either.
Anyone with some kind of knowledge on this I would love some clarification !
Creator Robert 1 day ago
I'll go with what seems to be the evolving consensus here for now and not contact the media (it looks like its a lot easier to do than I anticipated. There clearly geared up for this sort of approach).
I remain however unconvinced here.
Like others, I don't actually mind the delays in of themselves. Its the fraud element, the lies and the failed promises that I will not accept.
Creator VHF 1 day ago
Jesus Christ. To all these guys planning to spread bad press and negativity around the Internet, please don't ever back anything on Kickstarter again. How is that ever going to be a good idea? Yeah, I know what, let's give people money of our own accord(which is what we did, essentially donated money) take what fragile chance there is of success, and piss all over it with the aim of trying our hardest to disrupt the company and prevent anyone ever getting a product. Yes, communication is infrequent and could be improved. Yes, everyone wants a delivery date. No, it's not ready yet, and there are clear reasons in every update as to why. Outside of that, people need to just calm down without trying to maximise the risk of failure for everyone.
Creator Ken Krenzer 1 day ago
To be clear from my side, I have no problem to wait for a good product. I have a problem with the art of communication. I think it is possible to send a life sign every two weeks with a LITTLE update like "Hi folks, software goes well, had some problems with EU Boards. More in the monthly BIG update."
Happy new year to the NEEO Team, I hope your hard work will pay off.
Creator Henning Naarlien-Tolpinrud 1 day ago
Well, clearly the big annoucement was supposed to be "..and we are shipping it TODAY", however there is a perfectly good explanation in the latest update as to why that didn't get announced. And if it is still unclear to anyone why it isn't possible to communicate something more definite than "we'll know more in feburary" pending the verification run, well then perhaps read the bit about engineering and the aborted dec/jan run. These things happen. Neeo is dealing with them.
But comms, yeah. please improve on comms, Neeo.
Regarding the perfect device, what I mean is this: There's only one chance to get enough "stuff" put in hardware, you have to do it up front, and plan for the future. Compare this to Tesla, they are still releasing new features on "old" Model S and even the Roadster, and this is possible because they put a lot of sensors and lidar and dingbats, and a powerfull "brain" in the car from the start, and then they made it easy to roll out new software directly to the car. Tesla owners are loving it. Neeo could be the Tesla of remotes, with years of life in them, if they get the hardware right.
Creator James Long 1 day ago
And Harry Buurman for me nails it! Well done sir
Creator Harry Buurman 1 day ago
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Robert about 1 hour ago
I spent an hour last night drafting my own press release (I'm not a professional). I intend to spend some time this evening sending it to as many mainstream news sources as I can. I'm going to start with the UK newspapers and technology magazines.
If you want to see how little KS will care or do about this, review the last three updates on the Zano project, then look at the comments.
---
@Robert: I do understand the way you feel. We're sort of paper warriors in this one. We dont have much rights. We cannot make demands for updates or products. We invested in a company, we haven't bought a product. So the only thing thats left are writing press and spreading negativity.
And eventhough I'm not satisfied and feel cheated by Neeo I dont think spreading bad news around is a good thing to do. I hurts Neeo and therefore will hurt the backers eventually. If nobody buys Neeo, we'll probably won't get a remote either. And what if the remotes get delivered and because of the bad news new customers wont buy a remote. Then Neeo might go bankrupt after delivery. That means no updates. Some stuff is in the cloud, we need the Neeo apps to be updated everytime android or IOS is being updated. We need new product to be added to the Neeo ecosystem.
I would like to ask you to keep your calm for a while. Lets wait what happens in februari. or march. I'm angry about the communication as well. Not angry about non-delivery, I want a good remote. And I'm sure what qualities they lack at communication is being made up for in their development skills ;0)
@Neeo; keep involving your backers. Thats part of the "kickstarter-game". Kickstarter backers dont have any guarantees. But they backed you because they believe in you. And therefore they want you to succeed and be part of that. It's better to not say it in an update now and then, but to show it by placing small updates. This is for me and a lot of people part of the fun. With a lot of people more and more dissapointed at kickstarter negativity rises quickly. Only thing that helps is being open and transparant. Exacly what a company in 2016 should be; open and transparant. Your last update was great fun and a whole lot to read.
Update smaller and more regular. Saves you the pressure of negative backers, saves you the pressure of knowing you promised an update and you didnt write it. I'm sure you're busy (3 countries equals a lot of overhead, but can still be a good choice). I see the dedication in your movies, posts, CES presentation and eventually in the product. But small updates dont require that much time and can be a lot less polished. But they will keep backers involved. And feeling involved scares away negativity (for most of us).
Thanks for the update, in a lot ways it was better; we now know the last evaluation faled for EU devices. Next try february. Awesome! Well, not the failing part, but knowing you guys already picked up the glove and are fixing the issues. Better luck in februari. Looking forward to your next update.
Creator Thomas Nissen 1 day ago
I will also rather wait for a very good product.
However I dont really beleave in the idea of a perfect product. No products will ever be perfect, the iPhone will never have been introduced if they were seeking the perfect.
Thats why the same product is not forever.
Every product is a compromise, and if there ever going to be a product, you need to accept that. technology is moving, and if you keep postpone the product to keep up technology you never land anything.
So a great device is welcome, but dont beleave that you'll ever get the perfect one. I will soon rather see a product that maybe not perfect, but with a posible to buy a version 2 in 2 years. However you will at sometime be releasing a newer version to keep up. So this device will never be perfect and never stand forever.
Im waiting, and i will until the sun burns out, but please dont let it be 2017.
Creator Sylvain Harent 1 day ago
Nothing new on the last update.. Wtf ?
But we have to send them good vibes and be patient.. LoL.
Creator Loic Samson 1 day ago
Hahah
They did it. They published an update. One more after which you have absolutely no better clue about when we will get our devices. New validation run, no date ... Wait until February and we will see
An what about the big CES announcement ? Nothing once more
Promising and failing ...
This time I loved the part where they even dare to complain about bad comments which are not helping. Fantastic. Good comments are not a given sorry. Start being honest and to communicate and you will get what you want. This is so ridiculous...
Creator Rune Jacobsen 1 day ago
@Mark Gray: We all agree that they could be better at telling us what is going on (but I expect the update we just got will hopefully fan the flames a bit), but I don't think you're fair comparing a startup to a major corporation.
A major corporation will have people dealing with PR, with human resources, sales, marketing, technical stuff, support, development, there will be someone watering the flowers and delivering the mail.
For a tech startup, typically everyone will frantically be working on getting the product out the door. And yeah, technicians, engineers and software developers don't always make the best communicators. As a software developer working for a distributor, I have seen countless examples of companies started by tech heads who create AMAZING products but are completely unable to sell them because every employee is on the technical side.
Sure, eventually Neeo will have this in place. But at the moment, they have ONE potential source of income beyond what they already got from us - they need that product out the door. That doesn't excuse radio silence, but it also doesn't justify panic and looting in the streets. I am sure they have learned a lot from this apart from just designing the product. They can do better PR wise, but I see no evidence to justify a revolution, and reality is that they are not in a phase of their existance where operating like a "major corporation" is even a possibility.
Creator Julien Weil 1 day ago
thanks for the update! looking forward to february!
@Henning +1
Creator Robert 1 day ago
"as they've stated previously that they are not aiming for "prototype level quality" like many other kickstarters do, but to ship a proper, retail worthy device."
They didn't state this at all in the campaign. They stated quite clearly that they had a working prototype and were ready to enter production. That was a lie. They were stating as far back as May 2015 that they were about to ship. That was a lie. The untruths just stack up the more you read of the updates. The poor comms and delays pale into insignificance against this backdrop.
Nothing in this update to make me feel otherwise.
Creator Julian 1 day ago
@Mark Gray I assume you mean the update in February 2017?
Creator NEEO Inc. 1 day ago
Kickstarter page refresh sucks so you might want to refresh your browser manually ;-) Thanks!