TextBlade Update: An Inside Look at Production Troubles and New Info on Shipping Estimates

[redshifted]

Looks like it's finally leaving vaporware territory ...

https://waytools.com/threads/blog/firmware

Yay! I've been waiting (im)patiently since ordering in March and my current projected September ship date might actually happen .

 

[bobdobalina]

March seems like a lifetime ago. What was I doing back then? Do you remember where you were when you pre-ordered textblade? haha. Delivery can't come soon enough. I want to be happy like the people using textblade in this waytools video.

 

[Cazualchatter]

They are showing Completing Prior Order Backlog as in progress... Has anyone received theirs yet? When did you order your Textblade?

 

[bobdobalina]

They are showing Completing Prior Order Backlog as in progress... Has anyone received theirs yet? When did you order your Textblade?

Where did you read that? Can you please post a link?

I ordered in early March, and my order status link still shows "Revisions to Firmware" and "Firmware Validation" with their respective Aug and Sep dates still grayed out; my shipping window says "Sep". Last month it said "Aug". lol

I think one thing WayTools could have done better would have been not to push back the estimated shipping dates each month arbitrarily. I can wait personally, but I think that policy is breading some resentment as "early adopters" began to feel duped watching their shipping dates keep rolling over month by month.

 

[Cazualchatter]

Where did you read that? Can you please post a link?

I ordered in early March, and my order status link still shows "Revisions to Firmware" and "Firmware Validation" with their respective Aug and Sep dates still grayed out; my shipping window says "Sep". Last month it said "Aug". lol

I think one thing WayTools could have done better would have been not to push back the estimated shipping dates each month arbitrarily. I can wait personally, but I think that policy is breading some resentment as "early adopters" began to feel duped watching their shipping dates keep rolling over month by month.

Here you go... I have posted a snapshot of my billing screen. (Masked out my order number though)

 

[Cazualchatter]

Wow they slipped on delivery again! It's showing October now and also that they are completing prior orders.. Is this deceit?

 

[Dshanz1]

MacRumors has got some 'splaining to do.

 

[bobdobalina]

Wow they slipped on delivery again! It's showing October now and also that they are completing prior orders.. Is this deceit?

A week ago I thought to myself "if I see that 'ship window' slip to October, I'm out. I'm cancelling my order." But on the very day when I checked my order status waytools posted (can you read my thoughts, waytools?) a serious and plausible sounding update offering better resolution on their shipping, um, window. So, I'm back on the boat. If this latest promise-like update doesn't pan out then I'm definitely breaking—, I'm mean leaving, I mean cancelling my order.

 

[redshifted]

Well, I guess I should have expected it after all the delays so far. Shipping of first product seems to be slipping into November at this point. TextBlade seems to be caught in the Twilight Zone somewhere between vaporware and actually shipping a finished product to some very patient customers.

 

[craig1410]

I ordered my Textblade on 7th March (2015 in case this drags on into next year...) and decided tonight that enough is enough and I have requested a refund.

Any excitement I had at the product or respect I had for Waytools has long since evaporated and my intention is to go buy a Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 from Apple because unlike Waytools, "real artists ship"!!!

If the Textblade is truly revolutionary and starts shipping someday then I'll still have the opportunity to buy one but I'm done with providing them with funding in return for excuse after excuse. For a while the insight into production problems was "cute" and refreshing but 7+ months later the cuteness has given way to annoyance.

I wish WayTools every success but quite honestly they don't deserve to succeed and if they do then I'll be very surprised. This is no way to run a business.

 

[bobdobalina]

Nobody likes being strung along.

Waytools end of September update now feels like complete BS. One month ago they said: "…To begin releasing shipments this month, the firmware needs to be frozen by Wednesday.While possible, this weekend's testing shows enough details to settle that it's likely that first release will start in October.We'll know more this week, and will update status pages to reflect where we stand after working on the residual tasks. …" [my emphasis on "while possible"].

If you say, "it's unlikely we'll be finished by Wednesday" when the truth is "there isn't a snowballs chance in hell we'll be finished by Wednesday" and a month of Wednesdays later you're still not finished, well, that's not the mark of a trustworthy individual or company, in this case. This is how you get someone to project their own hopes into your statements without actually declaring the thing they hope.

If TextBlade is actually going to ship in this calendar year, or at all, the best thing they could do would be to say: "Thank you for holding on this long. We're getting close, but our team has indicated they will need six weeks to get this thing shipped. We're almost there! Just hold on a little longer!" But to say that now would contradict their infinite-loop, monthly "ship window" that holds buyers in perpetual, misleading, suspense.

What happened next? Oct 14 rolled around and they released another update: "…we currently estimate first release about the end of October…"

Now, it's Oct 23 and, not surprisingly, their most recent updates just says how grateful they are for "the extraordinary interest" (I'm happy they're enjoying our "interest") yet removed any statements about actual ship time and just reminded all of us that out "ship window" (remember the infinite loop?) indicates when our device is estimated to ship.

What a ride.

I ordered my Textblade on 7th March (2015 in case this drags on into next year...) and decided tonight that enough is enough and I have requested a refund.

Any excitement I had at the product or respect I had for Waytools has long since evaporated and my intention is to go buy a Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 from Apple because unlike Waytools, "real artists ship"!!!

If the Textblade is truly revolutionary and starts shipping someday then I'll still have the opportunity to buy one but I'm done with providing them with funding in return for excuse after excuse. For a while the insight into production problems was "cute" and refreshing but 7+ months later the cuteness has given way to annoyance.

I wish WayTools every success but quite honestly they don't deserve to succeed and if they do then I'll be very surprised. This is no way to run a business.

 

[Kabeyun]

Attention Juli Clover: anything to say now? Had a recent PR coffee with the Waytools team? Cooking up a new article on how Waytools should be congratulated for being so perfectionistic that they still don't want to "spoil the magic" with flawed hardware. How 'bout freaking VAPORware?!

It's now coming up on Thanksgiving. It's the 7 month anniversary of my order. Scrub the Waytools site and you'll find not a single real mea culpa anywhere. It's as if they really believe their behavior is reasonable. They give real entrepreneurs a bad name. I'm never again buying crap until I see a physical box in a brick and mortar store.

 

[Dshanz1]

I'm not sure how this works to Waytools' advantage (since they refunded my money so what's their upside?), but the site, their responses, the faked-up videos and "production and testing" photos and so on just reeks of scam.

 

[Cazualchatter]

I'm not sure how this works to Waytools' advantage (since they refunded my money so what's their upside?), but the site, their responses, the faked-up videos and "production and testing" photos and so on just reeks of scam.

Just cancelled my order. Takes them 7 days to refund. I have lost eight months interest on the price of 100 dollars. But I can live with that rather than be taken for a ride. No more checking this thread or their site, Peace!!

 

[BRUCELIM]

I am new to this forum, ordered NOwaytool in Jan have no news from them and they dragged month by month faking delays in shipment and productions, anyone received products or news about them? any received any refund so far?

 

[ZipZap]

I have to imagine they a close. Sometimes project teams just cannot get over the urge to keep tweaking. I think some of that is happening here.

Testing should have a clear start and end. I dont think they can bring themselves to end.

 

[BRUCELIM]

This is THEIR response to my complaint.

Hi Dennis,

We're very sorry for the extra time, and we understand your perspective. The best communication to address your points is delivering a great product, and we are resolved to focus there to expedite release.

We're completing our firmware QA checklist now to let us release our TextBlade inventory. There's just a few points that remain, and we're pushing to wrap up and start first shipments, hopefully within a few weeks.

High quality firmware is fundamental to the experience, so we can't ship before that. The firmware controls physical parameters for operation, so we need to quantify performance and re-validate with units from the latest production batch before they go out the door.
We're in the thick of that work right now, and those details are the reason this product is such a significant step forward. Sorry that's nontrivial, but it's getting done. FYI, there are about 100 production and engineering staff on this program.
Given there's some orders ahead of yours, it's likely yours will go out around the end of this month. We're sorry we can't promise a guaranteed date right now, but we'll have more info to confirm dates after we start shipping to customers and shipments start flowing.
What has made our completion estimates challenging is when our testing identifies unexpected points that require attention. When you do things that are entirely new, especially many innovations at once, there are interactions that reveal themselves only when you make a lot of them. You discover the details that need further work, and you do whatever it takes to fix them.
It may seem hard to understand in the abstract that we lavish so much effort on refinement, but when you use it, we think it will all make very good sense.
It's an important principle for us that in all cases, each customer is in control of their choices, to get what is best matched for them. If you are in any way uncomfortable having an order before release, you can wait to reorder after we begin shipping. We can take care of a prompt refund if our timing does not fit your needs. That's very quick if you need it. Just let us know.
If you decide you can wait for the release, we do think you'll be quite pleased with the product, and find what we do for early adopters compelling.
We are grateful that you're part of this exciting advance in typing technology, and we're working very hard to honor it with a great product. Looking forward to getting it in your hands soon.
Thank you,

WayTools Team

 

[Cazualchatter]

This is THEIR response to my complaint.

Hi Dennis,

We're very sorry for the extra time, and we understand your perspective. The best communication to address your points is delivering a great product, and we are resolved to focus there to expedite release.

We're completing our firmware QA checklist now to let us release our TextBlade inventory. There's just a few points that remain, and we're pushing to wrap up and start first shipments, hopefully within a few weeks.

High quality firmware is fundamental to the experience, so we can't ship before that. The firmware controls physical parameters for operation, so we need to quantify performance and re-validate with units from the latest production batch before they go out the door.
We're in the thick of that work right now, and those details are the reason this product is such a significant step forward. Sorry that's nontrivial, but it's getting done. FYI, there are about 100 production and engineering staff on this program.
Given there's some orders ahead of yours, it's likely yours will go out around the end of this month. We're sorry we can't promise a guaranteed date right now, but we'll have more info to confirm dates after we start shipping to customers and shipments start flowing.

We are grateful that you're part of this exciting advance in typing technology, and we're working very hard to honor it with a great product. Looking forward to getting it in your hands soon.
Thank you,

WayTools Team

They seem to take more time than apple in creating their product and come to think of it the complexities of the product in order of magnitude is more in the iPhone than their key board.

Incidentally I must give them credit for expediently returning my money but no credit for an endless loop in tweaking the product.

 

[bobdobalina]

Since Waytools never provide meaningful updates we can only speculate. At this point, my speculation is they are trying to get acquired. The only fact we can verify is that shipping is not their first priority; perhaps it's detrimental to their business plans.

If you think that is unfair, please reflect on nine and soon to be ten months of incremental, and inexplicable shipping date slippages. I will be very happy to be proven wrong. That would require genuine communication from WayTools. Shipping would also disprove that, but that's the one thing that WayTools has proven unwilling to accomplish.

 

[rmeurant]

I ordered my Textblade in mid-March, and was charged for it on my credit card. Nine months have gone by. That is a lifetime for new technology. It is feeling more and more like a rip-off, as the shipping date is continually extended, with excuse after excuse. Juli Clover, I really think you have a duty and responsibility to investigate this again, determine just how real the likelihood of an actual product being shipped in the forseeable future is, and advise us disgruntled customers of that likelihood. If it truly is vapor gear, I want to know that.

 

[bobdobalina]

I ordered my Textblade in mid-March, and was charged for it on my credit card. Nine months have gone by. That is a lifetime for new technology. It is feeling more and more like a rip-off, as the shipping date is continually extended, with excuse after excuse. Juli Clover, I really think you have a duty and responsibility to investigate this again, determine just how real the likelihood of an actual product being shipped in the forseeable future is, and advise us disgruntled customers of that likelihood. If it truly is vapor gear, I want to know that.

I think this is a reasonable request.

When MacRumors first posted the WayTools 'Hands-On' post I defended it against claims that the MacRumors post was essentially a WayTools advertisement. The initial post was highly favorable. I personally paid out over $100 for the TextBlade minutes after reading the article. I'm sure others did the same. I certainly don't hold Juli Clover accountable, not in the slightest. A Juli Clover inquiry put to WayTools would, however, be a nice followup gesture to the MacRumors community. It might even qualify as journalism...

 

[riverfreak]

I think this is a reasonable request.

When MacRumors first posted the WayTools 'Hands-On' post I defended it against claims that the MacRumors post was essentially a WayTools advertisement. The initial post was highly favorable. I personally paid out over $100 for the TextBlade minutes after reading the article. I'm sure others did the same. I certainly don't hold Juli Clover accountable, not in the slightest. A Juli Clover inquiry put to WayTools would, however, be a nice followup gesture to the MacRumors community. It might even qualify as journalism...

I bought in after reading the article too. And I backed out months after my order was to have shipped.

Amazed people are still waiting. But I enjoy checking this thread periodically for progress. So hang in there!

Oh, and can I borrow $100?

 

[redshifted]

Maybe the light at the end of the lonnnnngggg wait tunnel?...

https://twitter.com/waytools?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

I don't know what to think about ever getting this product anymore.
Oh yeah, there's an iOS app in the app store too - search "TextBlade" to find it.

Happy Holidays

 

[bobdobalina]

Maybe this

Maybe the light at the end of the lonnnnngggg wait tunnel?...

Hopefully so. But I would be conservative with hope. The WayToolsters have proven very crafty at keeping people teetering with just enough hope to hang on just... another... few... maybe...

"…we hope to begin releasing TextBlades in the second half of January."

My guess is that this thing will eventually ship. Yet, the marrow of this latest update reads quite a lot like the monthly boilerplate we've become adjusted to.

 

[redshifted]

Maybe this



Hopefully so. But I would be conservative with hope. The WayToolsters have proven very crafty at keeping people teetering with just enough hope to hang on just... another... few... maybe...

"…we hope to begin releasing TextBlades in the second half of January."

My guess is that this thing will eventually ship. Yet, the marrow of this latest update reads quite a lot like the monthly boilerplate we've become adjusted to.

Yeah, that's what gives me pause. There's no overt statement of a "code freeze" that they've been using as a one week benchmark to release/shipping. I'm a "glass half-full" kind of person and I think it will eventually ship and be great - but this slow-motion incrementalism is just tedious.