Trouble is this is not MS, this is an extremely time sensitive hardware investment and it loses value every second of every day and that includes the time frame between when the pre-order is placed and when the pre-order is(hopefully) delivered.
Every investment in a ground-floor startup in something emerging is time sensitive because your potential profits will always be behind the curve. In this case it's a piece of hardware, in MS's case it was getting the sale.
The risks are off the charts and they're being 100% handed to investors. Please see nearly any BFL investor for confirmation.
Uh, No. BFL is off the charts. KNC is a spec when you compare the two, which is why I put the comparison against all current OEM's. To say KNC is off the charts just doesn't fit, not to mention, their model is very different from BFL's.
at least shoulder some of the risks themselves, but they did not do this.
Yes, because taking credit card payments and paypal doesn't offload any miniscule amount of burden from the consumer, and doesn't load risk onto KNC's shoulders at all.
Considering no other company currently provides so many reversable payment options, the risk isn't 100% on the individuals.
Let's say I have 100 Jupiters ordered, after they're in transit I could call my business credit handler and tell them whatever I need in order to reverse the charge. They'll be more than happy to do so and give me my open credit back. Or, I could simply cancel right now. It's not nearly as risky as, say, paying in bitcoin, or a bank transfer.
While I understand what you're getting at, the picture isn't quite as goth as you're trying to paint it.
I'm just disappointed that they've not helped to move us beyond this pre-order model and it's lopsided share of the risks heaped upon investors.
They've gone from about a 90 day window to a 30-60 day window, with the probable progression to a 15-30 day window. That's positive progress. It just sounds like you want Amazon Prime ASIC Foundary or something, but you're not going to get it. Anywhere. For quite awhile.
Either you're a genious or your viewpoint is skewed because hardly anyone else sees it that way, especially considering KNC has taken more risk than any other startup in the ASIC world. There's risk with ANY altcoin mining OR purchasing OR preorder of equipment. Any! There's risk with the stock markets for heaven sake! Presently, every other option out there is 99.9% vaporware compared to KNC. At least with KNC's "pre order scheme" as the spirit of your posts call it, you can get your money back.
You mean like the guy that voiced his agreement almost immediately after mine?
"hardly anyone" != "nobody"
The market is moving away from the pre-order model anyway as more and more vendors enter the space.
A moment ago the complaint was the market is still stuck in a preorder phase, and now the market is moving away? KNC is the only OEM making "leaps and bounds" toward a shorter delivery window. So yeah, I agree with you there.
Vendors are having a lot more difficulty getting investors to throw pre-order funds at them even now.
Could also be because most systems are becoming more expensive than ever before, and word is getting out about all of the OEM's. Not just because people don't like preorders.
I believe THIS is the post you're attempting to pick apart, so let's put it here for context shall we?
The pre-order model flat out sucks for investors. At best it's a zero interest loan with the purchased gear as collateral. The gear that hasn't been built yet mind you. Yes knc is offering refunds and I wouldn't even have given them a second look otherwise, but we need to move beyond this ridiculous sales model. Just because you can get a refund doesn't mean you don't have losses. Those that are ordering are plainly interested in BTC and as such have numerous investment opportunities. When knc announced their plans to develop this hardware those that invested made their choice. Whether it was the right choice or not remains to be seen, but if they paid with BTC at that time then they're already way behind because they locked in an exchange rate that was most likely lower than it is now. If they paid with fiat then they likely could've purchased BTC directly and been better off. Again, nothing against knc as they've acted in good faith thus far, I'm just disappointed that they've not helped to move us beyond this pre-order model and it's lopsided share of the risks heaped upon investors.
Yeah I'm familiar with the post.. the context as well. Doesn't change where I'm coming from.
The way I see it, KNC's model and execution (thus far) is an exponentially better system than BFL or others have had, and I believe they'll be leading the way toward a less "preorder" system. At the same time, I'm confident someone else (putting money on Cointerra) will likely perfect the system and bring a model which is more along the lines of what you describe.
