Yeah. I figured I’d lose out due to all the currency and fee issues. I figure there might even be conversion fees on BOTH transactions (bank gets rich; I lose my lunch–typical).
And, yeah, it truly seems like an unfortunate choice to have marketed a device to North American and European markets–but made the campaign based in Hong Kong with HKD currency. I suppose, that makes it slightly easier to get the money to the (almost certainly) Chinese manufacturers–but it seems likely to have been a (if not THE) key reason the campaign got a significantly less-than-desired response.
And yet xiaomi gear is so popular in the West? My take (as I mentioned previously) is that the marketing of the device appealed more to the hard core HA enthusiast than the average user who might be considering ST/HE etc.
Sure - often at a hefty premium (of course you’ll get it in days rather than weeks if bought from China).
Over here in Australia we’re less spoilt for options so getting stuff from China (Aliexpress etc) is probably more commonplace. TBH I’m less concerned about exchange rate fluctuations than personal data security.
Hi all. I’ve been away for most of the summer and will be for the next few months. I’m sorry to hear that the campaign didn’t hit the goal. As much as I believe in Core, I declined to participate due to the project being based in Hong Kong and in HK currency. I understand that is where Markus lives but it was still a non-starter for me due to past experiences.
I am very eager to see what plan B is hope to be able to participate in good conscience. Wish you all the best of luck.
May be different for USA people, but for me as european HK or USA or Bulgaria does not make any difference. The difference is made by people. And I trust you guys
Personally I didn’t give a monkey’s where it’s based. It’s just a currency exchange as far as I’m concerned. Having lived in HK for years, it’s an awesome place and any way to support the people and economy there is all good for me. It’s also a common financial gateway for businesses operating in that region for obvious reasons compared with basing yourself on the mainland. Good luck to the team however they plan to move forward!
I’m happy so many of you, cosmopolitan guys, are evaluating if it worth subsidizing the HK/PRR economy or not buying a CORE or two while googling on your pcs, phones via a fiber modem “made in prc”…
Me as well, and I’m sure a lot of people had some measure of concern, whether great or small.
I’ve seen similar thoughts posted before, but I will reiterate that if there were some sort of beta/dev/testing unit available direct from OLL, even if not the final, final hardware (but fully functional,) I’d certainly signup for one of those, even at a price premium. I’d like to think that would further the cause, but perhaps I’m underestimating (read: just blissfully ignoring) the logistics necessary to make that happen.
While that would be awesome, I don’t think that would have the greatest return on investment for OLL. To have a decent return on investment, it would likely have to be sent off to press/YouTube so that it can actually attract new customers, the issue with that is setting up a new smart home is no simple task, especially for beta/alpha/whatever hardware, just imagine trying to migrate your Z-Wave or Zigbee devices, let alone the automations. So to make that feasible for the reviewers, some sort of migration software would have to be made, and my understanding is that sort of migration software is a frosting on the cake sort of thing, not a meat of the development, but again maybe I am wrong.
And this isn’t even speaking to the logistical issues that are undoubtedly massive for a startup like this in a good climate, and this isn’t exactly a good climate
+1
