Quote:
Originally Posted by Walk Broad
Again, I agree with you BOb (we seem to do a lot of that  )
At any rate, I do applaud RobertB for stepping up and personally getting involved. 
The true problem is we now have a responsible expectation to see things come to fruition as stated.
It's the same way when there is less personal involvement and only hear of things through press releases or other means. If Apple or Microsoft make announcements of product X being available on Y date, we should look to see that come to pass.
Imagine the outcry and PR nightmare if the upcoming 3G iPhone misses it's July 11th date? Apple would never let that happen. They'd ship with half working iPhones before they'd let the date come and go and issue mia culpas (sp?) and replacement models until all the problems were fixed and the customers were happy.
"Yeah, my iPhone had X problem(s) when I first got it but Apple took care of me quickly. I love my iPhone" for example.
The same thing happened to Microsoft with the XBox360 although they don't engender the same feelings of love and goodwill Apple does 
On the other hand, most times, we do not get this same level of communication with any other company, and for that, we should be grateful. 
On the other, other hand, continual delays of any product passed the promised date leads to consumer frustration and loss of confidence as evidenced in Moz's post. Begining of June slipped to end of June which became August which became end of July. The price went from around $150 to now around $250. 
It will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. If RobertB were to disappear from these forums, some will feel they've been proven right. When Astak finally ships the device(s) the negative feelings will only have grown. 
As difficult as it may be at this point, RobertB is going to have to keep the lines of communications open. The company may lose some potential customers who are turned off by the repeated missed deadlines and price creep, but will gain more in good will down the line by continuing the communication instead or severing it. 
(Personally, I just wanted a slim, light, 5/6 inch device (eInk, LCD, plastic, metal, didn't matter) that had native eReader support at what I considered a more reasonable price point (e.g. below $200 USD), everything else was superfluous to me.  ) |
Hey guys how about getting off Robert B's back for a while. If he spends every waking moment answering your never ending questions which just get more and more technical when he is supposed to have the time to organise the damn thing!!
ALL you seem to be saying constantly is I WANT!
Unknown to most of you Robert has actually been working REAL hard to make these available in other countries as well such as Asia and Australia!
YES it looks like ASTAK will be the only company that will have outlets selling an ebook reader in OZ other than the Iliad which none of us can afford to buy anyway ($900)
So watch this space and you may just find out that ozzies will be able to walk down to the local shop and get one off the shelf!
Now do you see that he is doing lots and lots and lots of things to het this product launched?
Come on the guy has given us more time than anyone else would have.
Sorry for the rant. St
ill love you guys!
