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Filed under: Business •

Building Good Hardware (is Harder Than it Looks)

So why my beef with lead times and long-term reservations? It’s a great product, so “all’s well that ends well,” right? I suppose that’s fair to a certain extent. However, I believe that the issue here is related to when indie gear companies announce a product prematurely, and specifically when reservations are taken in advance. I would argue that when you go the advance reservations route, you risk alienating the very people you are depending on to purchase your product. It’s clearly human nature for people to wish for the best and have unrealistic expectations, so when you take reservations for a product that is still very much in development, you have provided your userbase a nail to hang their unrealistic expectations on. And the benefits (advance hype, viral/word-of-mouth marketing, presales) may be quickly outpaced by the risks (distrust, brand badmouthing, and pre-order cancellations). What pains me the most is when a reservation holder puts their next filmmaking project on hold pending the release of whatever camera or tool they desperately want for that production. I’ve counseled a number of independent filmmakers to NEVER postpone their projects for gear in development. But many do. As they say, hope springs eternal.

The latest bump in the long road of companies who conduct business this way is small outfit called Birger Engineering. Before Jim Jannard even announced he would build the Red One camera, Birger was working on an intelligent lens mount system for 35mm adapter users. The idea was that it would interface with Canon EOS lenses and electronically control focus and iris. It’s a brilliant idea! They had various versions built, and I believe even sold a few early models. Then Red came along, and in April 2007 Birger announced they would refocus and develop a third-party EOS intelligent mount for the Red One camera. What followed was the typical cycle of early hype, delays in design and manufacturing, constant revisions, etc. Ship dates were announced for the fall of 2007, reservations were taken in advance, and most recently existing reservation holders paid their final balance in August of 2008. Tracking the 3000+ post Birger thread at Reduser, it seems that the first few units are now being shipped out. So a year after announced ship dates and 16 months after the initial product announcement, Birger is on the cusp of delivering the mount to Red users. But it’s too late for many who have either lost faith or cannot afford to wait any longer for a lens mount solution. And just think of those who may have shelved a project while waiting for this solution! For an excellent example of this, I’d recommend reading this post over at Indie4K. They eloquently lay out the reasons that turned them from full-on Birger supporters to canceling their reservation.

It can be argued that the value in these new business models and open-ended development cycles is that of allowing end users the opportunity to be involved in the process. Certainly, Red seems to espouse this philosophy. But the question is, is this really a community-driven dev process, or just the mere illusion of involvement? While community involvement appears a good model on the surface, I have wondered if companies aren’t just filtering the input down to those they really want to hear from anyways, the valuable beta testers. It is very important to note that these power users would be polled anyway by a smart company. These users would have some of the very first beta versions, and be providing valuable feedback on the design and feature set. So is it good to have open development cycle? I would argue that if it is truly open, then yes there is value there. However, the reservation model is something I have an issue with. I think the real reason for the reservations model is that companies are basically floating reservations to beta testers to provide venture capital for a project. And that feels like a injustice to the end user. Who is, ironically, complicit with the whole arrangement.

So why do we end users tolerate this approach to doing business? Kendal Miller, my associate at FreshDV, has taken to calling this phenomenon “The Cíbola Complex.” Cíbola was the famed city of gold that early explorers willingly sacrificed their lives trying to find. Too often it seems that we independent-minded filmmakers with tight wallets and big ideas tolerate uncommon business models due to the promise of the next greatest piece of gear at the lowest price. Of course we all want the latest and greatest gear, and the promise of the Technical Cibola is too much for us. We need it now! I personally feel that the current reservation models being used in many instances are unfair to filmmakers and should be re-evaluated. If the true desire is a way to get feedback from end users and companies really do wish to open a transparent development process, then I argue that we need a better way to do it. And in my humble opinion, money should only be collected when an actual shipping product exists. I sincerely hope that in the coming months and years that we’ll see a lot less advance hype and a lot more brilliant surprises from the great minds of indie gear companies.

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