Quote: "I'm sure they had settled on a prototype before launching the Kickstarter, thats what most Kickstarter projects revolve around; a prototype that works that requires a little more funding to get marketing, manufacturing connections, etc up."
Yet all they have on their kickstarter page is 3d renders and some very raw prototypes? If they had a product ready for manufacturing they would show it. Just like if you had a nearly completed game you would show game play footage not just concept art.
Quote: "I really don't see why you think a controllable lightbulb is nearly as complex as a complete video game winch (I know you didn't specifically say this, but you mentioned "kickstarters like this", which makes me think you mean a product like this is more complex than the Kickstarter norm which is usually a video game."
I wasn't really talking about complexity like that. More how the economics work over the products lifetime.
Video games are very different to a lot of physical products in that respect which makes them a lot more suitable for the kickstarter model.
1) They tend to payback relatively quickly. Nobody develops a video game with the aim of turning a profit in 10 years time.
2) They cost next to nothing to copy and distribute via the internet.
3) The copying and distribution process scales easily.
Physical products on the other hand.
1) Due to economies of scale often have huge initial investments that payback slowly. Like having to spend huge sums of money on automated assembly lines that spit out cheap components 27-4. If you don't have other sources of income this can cause horrendous cash flow issues while the machinery is paying itself off.
2) They can be expensive to manufacture and distribute.
3) The manufacturing and distribution process can be very hard and expensive to scale.
Quote: "As far as the interest this would develop for the average consumer, I would have to disagree there as well. I discovered this product through Facebook, as several of my friends had posted it with a comment along the lines of "Im getting this!!!". And these friends aren't technically savvy, they just think its a cool idea."
That's part of the problem as well. The company where I work usually takes a couple of years from the start of product development to the product launch. Production usually starts to ramp up 6 months before launch if things have been going well.
Is the average person on the street really aware how long the pipeline between early prototype and getting the product in their hands really is? You could easily put your money in today and get the product a couple of years later. Especially if they have cash flow problems and start prioritising new orders over kickstarter orders.
Quote: "I would think $100,000 is more than enough to develop something like this, but to each his own I guess."
How much do you think it costs to get type approval for a device that a) connects to the mains and b) communicates over RF? The $50,000 you would get to play with from that $100,000 would be gone on that alone. You can save money over the big corporations with a lean talented and committed team to a certain extent but there are fixed costs you can't avoid.
By way of demonstration, he emitted a batlike squeak that was indeed bothersome.
