I, too, have been frustrated by the delays (I pre-ordered shortly after they opened pre-orders). However, I wasn't surprised they missed the January ship date,

I, too, have been frustrated by the delays (I pre-ordered shortly after they opened pre-orders). However, I wasn't surprised they missed the January ship date, and probably less surprised that they missed the Q1 ship date: - It's a unique product. Identifying demand is difficult. My guess is their demand was underestimated. This is a product focusing on an area of life that everyone I can think of wants to "fix". All of my coworkers who I consider "early adopters", also pre-ordered after I IMed them the URL (16 people) - It's priced significantly lower than the few alternatives that are out there. It's also designed in a way that is more convenient than similar products offered by competitors (no head bands). - Smartphones are common now, so the barrier for entry really is the $50 for most people - Hardware is difficult to get right. You can't just tweak a few lines of code and recompile. If something is wrong with the trial units (and I'm not saying there was, I have no idea), it can be a serious setback. It's too late now, but here's the formula that should be applied: - Decide the amount of pre-orders you think you can safely get out the door on time (be incredibly conservative). Set your web app to stop taking pre-orders when you get anywhere near that point. - Before turning pre-orders back on, up the price committment, and push back the date (while notifying your initial pre-orders that they can still expect theirs on time). I know when I visited the site, I thought "Gee, I'm out $5 if they fold, who cares?" It's also the only reason I haven't cancelled my pre-order. - Pick a very conservative ship date, then add more time. Have an option at check-out that says "if we can ship earlier, would you like us to?" to catch folks who might be caught off guard by the unexpected $45 charge. Or skip that and simply e-mail your pre-orders to see who wants one early. Nothing makes me happier than when I get something I want sooner than I expected. - Hire someone with a history of dealing with sourcing parts, dealing with vendors/manufacturers and getting stuff out the door. These are usually not geeks and not folks who are attracted to start-ups. - Don't take any preorders until you are sure you have the hardware right (as I said, I'm not sure if this was the problem but the delays are so long it certainly smells that way)