UPDATE January 7th, 2022 - THE FUTURE OF PHONOCUT
Dear PHONOCUT Supporters
Sorry for the super long wait. Finally we are in the position to provide the long awaited update regarding the future of PHONOCUT. Below please find 2 versions:I: As very short summary.
II: As much longer explanation.
I:
We have made positive progress but realistically your machine will not be in your hands before the end of 2024 at the very earliest. As explained below, the refund option remains open for you 24/7.
II:
The reason for the many weeks of silence that have passed since our last mail is still grounded in the painful fact that we had to learn and thereafter acknowledge that we considerably underestimated the complexity of our task. This emerged during the extensive tests with our first 5 prototypes.As amazingly as they do perform, even exceeding our wildest dreams regarding the quality of cuts, we simply could not get the usability down to the essentially needed level of simplicity and automatisation. "Mass producing" these machines and sending them out all over the world would simply only create a total nightmare of troubled and disappointed customers and kill our dream forever.
We have made positive progress but realistically your machine will not be in your hands before the end of 2024 at the very earliest. As explained below, the refund option remains open for you 24/7.
II:
The reason for the many weeks of silence that have passed since our last mail is still grounded in the painful fact that we had to learn and thereafter acknowledge that we considerably underestimated the complexity of our task. This emerged during the extensive tests with our first 5 prototypes.As amazingly as they do perform, even exceeding our wildest dreams regarding the quality of cuts, we simply could not get the usability down to the essentially needed level of simplicity and automatisation. "Mass producing" these machines and sending them out all over the world would simply only create a total nightmare of troubled and disappointed customers and kill our dream forever.
So, every single drop of our energy in the past weeks was spent to fight for new solutions, new investors, new strategies and finally - for many of you most important - a new timeline with concrete dates.
As you maybe can imagine, also the COVID crisis contributed a lot to make our very delicate situation even more challenging, with many partners locking down and prices for parts and materials going crazy. To be completely honest, I never have been feeling so close to giving up on our dream.
But - and here finally the short positive part of this update begins - we did not only survive these super tough months but we also found new super strong partners who do share our visions and are willing and ready to cover the costs for our next steps of development. On top of that new energy booster also our old friends and partners Creaholic as well as early investors agreed to actively continue their incredible support of our journey.
What has to be done now is to build another 10 prototype machines as fast and as focused as possible. Implementing all the incredible development concepts and new solutions which we have worked out over the past months. We are more than optimistic that these updates and changes will solve most if not all of the issues we are currently struggling with. These next gen machines will be up and running and ready for extensive 24/7 testing and cutting in Q4 2022.
So much for the good news and our new realistic target for 2022. Now for the question which rightfully raises your eyebrow, regarding the delivery date of your personal PHONOCUT machine.
Playing with open cards, we want to inform you that even if these new prototypes will finally get us a major step closer to the machines we are fighting for since more than 2 years by now, we realistically will need a minimum of another 18 to 24 more months before we finally can start to fulfill our promise and deliver your personal machine to you. So, realistically your machine will not be in your hands before the end of 2024 at the very earliest.
We do understand that this is a continued disappointment for you.
Playing with open cards, we want to inform you that even if these new prototypes will finally get us a major step closer to the machines we are fighting for since more than 2 years by now, we realistically will need a minimum of another 18 to 24 more months before we finally can start to fulfill our promise and deliver your personal machine to you. So, realistically your machine will not be in your hands before the end of 2024 at the very earliest.
We do understand that this is a continued disappointment for you.
However, before you slam your computer, hit the refund link below and hate us to the end of eternity and beyond, please allow me a few more words:
A.
First of all, we want to carefully whisper SORRY again from the deepest bottom of our analog heart. We really really underestimated the whole project, and even without the crisis we would have been wildly and breathtakingly delayed. We are truly sorry that we have over-promised so profoundly.
B.
We still think that maybe it could make some sense if you really can afford to stay with us, tremble with us, dream with us and finally succeed with us as we just closed the pre-order and will NOT re-open it until after all the existing (remaining) orders will have been shipped and tested by you, our wonderful Pioneers.
A.
First of all, we want to carefully whisper SORRY again from the deepest bottom of our analog heart. We really really underestimated the whole project, and even without the crisis we would have been wildly and breathtakingly delayed. We are truly sorry that we have over-promised so profoundly.
B.
We still think that maybe it could make some sense if you really can afford to stay with us, tremble with us, dream with us and finally succeed with us as we just closed the pre-order and will NOT re-open it until after all the existing (remaining) orders will have been shipped and tested by you, our wonderful Pioneers.
You will be among the very first PIONEERS to receive their machines at your original pledged amount as soon as they will be finally ready. That, although we had to learn that the final price for producing such a machine will be about 3-4 times higher than originally calculated, resulting in a new estimated RRP of a minimum of 8,000 - 10,000 EUR / USD. So, maybe, the prospect that your expenditure could turn into a satisfactory long-term investment might ease your anger and pain (that we really do understand and apologize for).
Ok, perhaps with a better understanding of our PHONOCUT struggle, you can now take your decision for a refund or - as we still do hope for very much - to stay with us, as we will continue this fight not only with all our energy, blood, sweat and tears but also with the best team of powerful partners, supporters and friends we ever had.
As has been the case for the past year and will be in the future: The REFUND STAYS OPEN FOR YOU 24/7 as long as we have not delivered our machines. All you have to do is to go to our online contact sheet at PHONOCUT.COM and select the refund option. So you do not have to take your decision right away
Yours truly
doc
Ok, perhaps with a better understanding of our PHONOCUT struggle, you can now take your decision for a refund or - as we still do hope for very much - to stay with us, as we will continue this fight not only with all our energy, blood, sweat and tears but also with the best team of powerful partners, supporters and friends we ever had.
As has been the case for the past year and will be in the future: The REFUND STAYS OPEN FOR YOU 24/7 as long as we have not delivered our machines. All you have to do is to go to our online contact sheet at PHONOCUT.COM and select the refund option. So you do not have to take your decision right away
Yours truly
doc
for the whole PHONOCUT team