Announcement from Avalon

[jermwerty]

As a B#2 customer I just received this email update - my first email ever since the original order confirmation:

Batch one have mostly finished shipping, aside from a small number of orders with incomplete/wrong address or phone numbers. We've been getting these orders back from our shipper and getting in touch with people to update their information, this is a fairly quick process. If you have not gotten your order, especially people in Germany or Iceland that uses special characters in their addresses. I highly suggest you open a ticket with our support indicating your order number, full address with phone numbers, so if there is a problem we can pull up new information quickly and let shipping proceed. This also applies to batch two customers, please make sure your phone number is correct, and there is no typo in the address.
 
Speaking of batch two, we are unfortunately going to be late. This should not be too surprising as the delay from batch one will no doubt carry over. This delay also caused us to make drastic adjustments to our project timeline dealing with anything with a lead time like parts purchasing. We plan to start shipping majority of batch two orders starting on 15th of April. Not all the news is bad news however, originally around this period we are suppose to take this time to organize, make some changes and install a brand new SMT line in our facility. This upgrade will effectively double our production capacity, it enable us to put Avalon into the hands of our customer even faster. The new line is currently scheduled to come online during the last week of April. We expect batch two and three to ship much faster than batch one mainly there is no Chinese New Year and we have overcome the problems encountered in shipping batch one.
 
On to batch three, we at Avalon did not even wish to sell another batch. If you recall, our original plan was to produce only one batch, sell chips to thwart the centralization of mining, but due to the lackluster performance of our competitors we are here today as the exact centralization we tried to decouple. In addition, this delay is eating into our timeline for this project's future goals and various other projects. To be frank: it was a simple decision of build a mining farm ourselves and mine for a month or so to get the funding for things like the SMT line and next generation development vs. raise the price and sell units trying to get the money earlier to counterbalance the delay we have had. So, we came up with some terms and left the choice to the community.
 
More details on the F.A.Q. section of the Site. There will also be a follow up newsletter on chips for sale and the trade-in program.

[hchc]

And the associated FAQ:

    What form of payment do your accept, and where in the world do you ship?

The only form of payment accepted is Bitcoin, we ship worldwide.

    If I purchase Avalon Unit right now when can I expect to receive my unit?

At the time of writing Batch #3 is expect to start shipping early May.

    How is each batch’s unit price determined?

The price of each unit is the current mining difficulty which at the time of writing, just got readjusted to about 6,695,826. We take that number and multiply it by two ( predicting the network speed will double. ) and calculate the return in a thirty day window, which is about 75 bitcoins. See this site for more details.

    How can I find the latest firmware and documentation on the Avalon Unit?

The firmware, documentation and various other information is located on https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon

    Is there any plan to sell just the ASIC themselves and let others build their own units?

Yes, if you are interested and is ready to purchase 10,000 chips or more. ( the 65Gh/s unit has 240 chips. ) Please contact init.d (at) bitsyn.com for more information.

==============

Does that means batch #3 price will decrease to 75btc?

[Vagnavs]

sounds like 75 BTC. One thing I didn't see you mention was
Decide on 8:30AM EST, 3/25/2013.

on the newsletter..

what does that mean?
Regards

[Dalkore]

Thank you.

[GenTarkin]

1. Thanks for the update
2. Fuck you AVALON! fucking liars ..will there ever be a company that doesnt lie about when expected shiping dates will be...fuck... 1.5months late on batch 2..seriously?!
I guess u arent as bad as BFL... but shit... would appreciate an honest company someday...ugh

[vnon]

sounds like 75 BTC. One thing I didn't see you mention was
Decide on 8:30AM EST, 3/25/2013.

on the newsletter..

what does that mean?
Regards

No idea... A poll to decide whether they mine or sell the units at the more expensive price? Interesting. I find the specificity of 830am a bit odd considering that most people won't even read the email before then.

[HorseRider]

How is each batch’s unit price determined?

The price of each unit is the current mining difficulty which at the time of writing, just got readjusted to about 6,695,826. We take that number and multiply it by two ( predicting the network speed will double. ) and calculate the return in a thirty day window, which is about 75 bitcoins. See this site for more details.

600 batch 2 and 1000 batch 3 are 105Thash/s, this would be already enough to triple the difficulty. (What about BFL, Asicminer, bitfury, helvticoin? what about Avalon deploy the machine themselves?)

[Sitarow]

sounds like 75 BTC. One thing I didn't see you mention was
Decide on 8:30AM EST, 3/25/2013.

on the newsletter..

what does that mean?
Regards

No idea... A poll to decide whether they mine or sell the units at the more expensive price? Interesting. I find the specificity of 830am a bit odd considering that most people won't even read the email before then.

Understandably this is a business decision that supports a road map they have set in order to provide competitive products that will compete with other companies entering the hardware manufacturing arena.

[nbtcminer]

sounds like 75 BTC. One thing I didn't see you mention was
Decide on 8:30AM EST, 3/25/2013.

on the newsletter..

what does that mean?
Regards

No idea... A poll to decide whether they mine or sell the units at the more expensive price? Interesting. I find the specificity of 830am a bit odd considering that most people won't even read the email before then.

Poll isn't intended for their north american audience; mostly the chinese ones.

[rudrigorc2]

So I hope they ship at least the first wave of batch2 before going out on vacation. Am I right, yes ?  


before asic ----------20-25ghs
asicminer -----------12ghs
300x66ghz avalons---20ghz

current hashrate   54,227.62 GH/s

BFL asics, hashrate not affected

[dropt]

I find the specificity of 830am a bit odd considering that most people won't even read the email before then.

It's the same time that batch 2 went on sale.  In fact, Batch 2 initially sold on a Monday as well.  I can't comment on Batch 1, though it's likely it proceeded the same as well.

[ALToids]

1. Thanks for the update
2. Fuck you AVALON! fucking liars ..will there ever be a company that doesnt lie about when expected shiping dates will be...fuck... 1.5months late on batch 2..seriously?!
I guess u arent as bad as BFL... but shit... would appreciate an honest company someday...ugh

Careful now.  Upset Bitsyncom and your order may mysteriously disappear, be lost in customs, have an address malfunction, or any myriad of problems.  You must show respect!

[BitSyncom]

batch #3 is 500 units. and sales will begin at that time.

[Dalkore]

sounds like 75 BTC. One thing I didn't see you mention was
Decide on 8:30AM EST, 3/25/2013.

on the newsletter..

what does that mean?
Regards

No idea... A poll to decide whether they mine or sell the units at the more expensive price? Interesting. I find the specificity of 830am a bit odd considering that most people won't even read the email before then.

Poll isn't intended for their north american audience; mostly the chinese ones.

I don't think it is a poll, that may be when the sale goes live.

[Wayne_Chang]

I got this news letter too.
Looks what we can do is waiting. Nothing else.

[zedicus]

Wow they actually guessed the exact time i was gonna be hurling rubber penguins at my screen!



 






(disgruntled ex potential customer - locked out from price hike)

Besides the major gripe about the price hike. $6300!!!!! **** Gotta keep it 100!!! At least avalon came thru, ill give em that! I think batch two peeps got it worst.. the delay is at a critical time..

Can you IMAGINE a delay on batch 3!!!!


que off pitch piano>   DUN DUN DUN

[creativex]

Yeah, the batch 2 delay is brutal. ASICMiner is talking about rolling out 50Th in April.

[BKM]

With respect, as someone relatively new to the game..... may I offer the following insights and comments:

• The timing and structure of this sale prevents a newcomer to the BTC economy such as myself from gaining access - I needed to sell stocks, settle the trade, transfer money to a bank account, wire money to Mt Gox and then finally get BTC to fund a purchase of Avalon equipment. Total delay estimated at 8 - 10 business days - not your problem I know, but worth mentioning perhaps
• Despite issues of timing, if I take the $16,000 investment for 2 x 85 Gh/s (ttl 170 Gh/s) from Avalon and (ahem) pre-order BFL machines now for an estimated total of 720 Gh/s purchase AND allow for in excess of doubling of difficulty from 12,000,000 to 25,000,000 for delayed delivery I show a total return of $125,000 for Avalon and $273,000 for BFL respectively based on a time frame of 12 months
• NB- I have a window of recourse with my credit card company and perhaps paypal should BFL not show sufficient evidence within the next 30 days that they will deliver product - no such opportunity or recourse exists with Avalon
  

Clearly, I have opted to order from your competitor.

Should your value proposition and business model shift to a more competitive stance in the future I look forward to having the option to become an Avalon customer as well.

Best of luck with Batch #3 and beyond and thank you for your groundbreaking contribution to the future of Bitcoin for all.

[GenTarkin]

Yeah, the batch 2 delay is brutal. ASICMiner is talking about rolling out 50Th in April.

Really?! they are still makin more asics? psh...

[organofcorti]

With respect, as someone relatively new to the game..... may I offer the following insights and comments:

• The timing and structure of this sale prevents a newcomer to the BTC economy such as myself from gaining access - I needed to sell stocks, settle the trade, transfer money to a bank account, wire money to Mt Gox and then finally get BTC to fund a purchase of Avalon equipment. Total delay estimated at 8 - 10 business days - not your problem I know, but worth mentioning perhaps
• Despite issues of timing, if I take the $16,000 investment for 2 x 85 Gh/s (ttl 170 Gh/s) from Avalon and (ahem) pre-order BFL machines now for an estimated total of 720 Gh/s purchase AND allow for in excess of doubling of difficulty from 12,000,000 to 25,000,000 for delayed delivery I show a total return of $125,000 for Avalon and $273,000 for BFL respectively based on a time frame of 12 months
• NB- I have a window of recourse with my credit card company and perhaps paypal should BFL not show sufficient evidence within the next 30 days that they will deliver product - no such opportunity or recourse exists with Avalon
  

Clearly, I have opted to order from your competitor.

Should your value proposition and business model shift to a more competitive stance in the future I look forward to having the option to become an Avalon customer as well.

Best of luck with Batch #3 and beyond and thank you for your groundbreaking contribution to the future of Bitcoin for all.

How are you modelling this?

Unless you have a good model of what the mining difficulty will be between the moment you start to mine and twelve months later, you can't estimate the btc earned. Further, unless you know what the exchange rate will be during that time period, you won't be able to calculate total return in dollars.

I wouldn't go making plans based on the figures you provide.