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No story here. Not sure if this fine post made the news too soon, before TFA got updated. The vest is $800 all-in, perpetual forever. The mfr claims this is th
by jiveturkey 5y ago
No story here. Not sure if this fine post made the news too soon, before TFA got updated.
The vest is $800 all-in, perpetual forever. The mfr claims this is the price of other similar vests.
Or, $400 + subscription or until the mfr goes out of business, presumably soon.
It seems like a fair pricing model.
The vest requires the battery operated, internet connected (for enablement, not operation) component to work at all, so we can well assume that the rider will have ample opportunity to check the subscription status and not be surprised.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThe terms that surround nonpayment seem to lend themselves well to "stop paying in the winter when you put it away, resume in spring".
- jiveturkey 5y agoYep! That's one reason I find it a completely fair model. Pay for usage. If you believe that the technology will get better (as I would) and you won't even accumulate $400 of usage before. you'll want to replace it, then subscription seems the way to go. (say you ride 6 months a year, that would be ~ 6 years). It's interesting if the company actually makes less money per unit this way (total revenue per vest is less, esp after considering the cost of managing the subscription, nevermind the eventual hack which will give owners free lifetime service), but because the price looks like "$400" they sell a lot more, seriously undercutting competitors. And lastly, by being a subscription they can claim recurring revenue which is great for growth hacking. According to crunchbase they took a seed round, so this does make sense.
- jwalton 5y agoI think you are extremely optimistic if you think the $800 lifetime option doesn’t try to check in with a licensing server every time your turn it on.