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Former Apple Employees' 'RearVision' Vehicle Camera Launches for $500

SteveJobs2.0 said:
Yes, but owners of older cars will not be spending so much money on this and there is always a delay in technological adoption by which many of the cars without a factory camera will be discarded. Plus, many people without a factory camera have already installed one of the cheaper alternative if they had the desire to do so. This product will not be very successful.
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I think many people missed some of the key points of this product...the fact that it is wireless, works automatically with your phone (or will soon), can be updated regularly...

I'm not saying it is worth $500, but the cheap backup cameras out today, even wireless ones are bulky, do not always connect that well, require a separate screen to be installed, cannot be updated with new features...

With that being said, I think people would pay $250...
 
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doelcm82 said:
If you buy this, your product may indeed "never be outdated".

However, I hope the company has more products in its pipeline. Starting in 2018, all new cars sold in the US must have standard backup cameras. Their potential market will begin to shrink almost immediately.
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And don't forget that everyone and their cousin is build a driverless car, which would also make this need moot. There are a ton of older cars and I am sure there is a market for folks that want to retrofit a camera. But in the age of driverless cars and car sharing, I agree that this will not have a huge market and the price also makes it their target audience a very small one.
 
MozMan68 said:
so...number of cars that will be sold in 2018 versus number of exisiting cars without back-up cameras???

There is a HUGE market for these...and yes, that market will shrink, but I wouldn't care since this is a first product that has a guarranteed customer base now. Gives them time to develop something else or just make this better.
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I'm not sure the market is HUGE. It's there, but a lot of people who have built-in backup cameras don't use them. If using a backup camera meant getting out your mobile phone, starting an app, and mounting the phone on the dashboard, then the number of people who do use it would drop dramatically. I suspect most people in cars without backup cameras will continue looking over their shoulders while in reverse.

I love my backup camera, with the guide lines that tell me where the car will go if the wheel stays in the current position. I love the sensors that warn me if a car is approaching from the side while I'm in reverse. That being said, I don't think I'd install one if I drove a car without the feature.
 
Cuban Missles said:
And don't forget that everyone and their cousin is build a driverless car, which would also make this need moot. There are a ton of older cars and I am sure there is a market for folks that want to retrofit a camera. But in the age of driverless cars and car sharing, I agree that this will not have a huge market and the price also makes it their target audience a very small one.
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Yet they are selling so many, their leadtimes are long?

Just try to think about what they are doing here...they simply need to add a front version and they have created a very good, full time dashcam capabilities. They are synching a camera to your phone which leads to a huge number of opportunities including car security.

It's the connection to the phone that is key imho.
 
Gasu E. said:
Only 110 degree field of view, vs. 180 for RearVision. Also, reviewers claim the device you link to has a .5-.75 delay between reality and the display-- which is pretty bad given the purpose. If RearVision can deliver, it is easily worth the difference.
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I disagree with your assessment of what's worth an additional $380.

Here's a complete solution for $40 from Amazon, which is likely to satisfy most people.

https://www.amazon.com/Podofo®-Fold...7_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BVPSC09AAYGRFWJTSX1G

Considering what this product offers for $40, does anyone really need to spend another $460 to get something marginally better?
 
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I'm in this business. The market for this stuff is huge. But at $500, I don't know how well they'll do when you can find a camera on Amazon for $70. I'm sure this will be better quality but most consumers now a days just look at cost and make their purchase decision based on that.
 
yeah… this thing costs them no more than $5. That's a 5000% mark up for something that's condoning distracted driving via your phone plus potentially illegal in some states. on top of that, have the illusion of updates by withholding "features" to release later.

this takes the cake for most useless overpriced tech. turns out these geniuses aren't all that smart.
 
My money says this startup gets flipped faster than a hot pancake. Gotta love companies now days where the warranty lasts longer than the company. This too, and also I, shall pass.
 
I'd much rather have one with a dedicated LCD I can mount somewhere on the dash. I can even buy such a device for a fraction of the cost of this pearl rear vision iGadget. And I don't have to fiddle with my iPhone to use it.

Since my next car will be a Volt it will have a backup cam. But my current car is a 2003 so I back up old-school with a twist of my head. Works great. But I do know a few people who use the braille method and could benefit from an aftermarket backup cam.
 
I was excited when this was first announced as I've looked at different options to get the backup cam on my 2005 car that I plan to keep for a couple more years...but then I wasn't sure how I'd install the thing if I'm already using my ODB2 port for the driving monitor 'automatic' or if you're using one of the insurance dongles that plugs into the same port - what do you do? Ive never heard of an ODB2 hub...or does that exist?
 
now i see it said:
If the car manufacturers stopped shrinking and shrinking and shrinking the size of the back windows with every new iteration of vehicle for no good reason but "style", we wouldn't need these GD backup cameras. Oh the madness of it all.
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I agree. Although this probably has more to do with growing pillars than shrinking rear window.

The rear pillars are bad, but the A-pillars in new cars are ridiculously big now. I'm all for safety, but at some point, these huge pillars are going to be a blind spot big enough to cause accidents.
 
They couldn't sell these in AZ.
No portion of any license frame can obscure any lettering or validation stickers on a state issued license plate.
This would block the upper portion of an AZ license plate.
This would result in a ticket (+ small fine) and the immediate removal of the frame.
 
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I love these rear view camera's in cars now, and having an option to put a third-party camera on is nice too. I have 2016 Ford Focus with the built in camera and I just love that thing and wished I had one of those in all my cars throughout the years. It makes parking so much easier, and provides a level of safety for pedestrians too.
 
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MozMan68 said:
I think many people missed some of the key points of this product...the fact that it is wireless, works automatically with your phone (or will soon), can be updated regularly...

I'm not saying it is worth $500, but the cheap backup cameras out today, even wireless ones are bulky, do not always connect that well, require a separate screen to be installed, cannot be updated with new features...

With that being said, I think people would pay $250...
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Wireless: Irrelevant for systems with fixed cameras and LCD displays.
Works with iPhone: Cumbersome, limites use of iPhone in car, and limits view to a relatively small screen.
Updated: It's a backup cam, it doesn't need updating. All it needs to do is show the rear view.

"Require a separate screen to be installed": This is a positive. The separate screen is typically larger than an iPhone display and since it is dedicated it will always be in the same place ready for use when needed by anyone who drives the car.
 
rjohnstone said:
They couldn't sell these in AZ.
No portion of any license frame can obscure any lettering or validation stickers on a state issued license plate.
This would block the upper portion of an AZ license plate.
This would result in a ticket (+ small fine) and the immediate removal of the frame.
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I was just going to post this......that is the case with most states. If the cops want to be d*cks they can easily ticket you for blocking too much of the license plate.
 
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rGiskard said:
Wireless: Irrelevant for systems with fixed cameras and LCD displays.
Works with iPhone: Cumbersome, limites use of iPhone in car, and limits view to a relatively small screen.
Updated: It's a backup cam, it doesn't need updating. All it needs to do is show the rear view.

"Require a separate screen to be installed": This is a positive. The separate screen is typically larger than an iPhone display and since it is dedicated it will always be in the same place ready for use when needed by anyone who drives the car.
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Your points make absolutely no sense...I don't think I can even address each of them. You need to research back up camera more and what it takes to install one.
 
Hennesie2000 said:
Not sure how a backup camera would work on something like a Jeep Wrangler with a large rear mounted tire, soft top and a license plate mounted on the side...
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For cameras that are factory options, I'm typically seeing them installed in the bumpers, not the license plate.
 
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