Ok, a suggestion was made to me at work that I'd like to hear opinions about. Right now, this beta test is looking to cost me a fair bit of money to get the first units produced. I'm happy to shell out the cash because I think it's vital to the development to get user experience and see what needs to be changed, if anything. However, this will stretch my own finances a bit when I should be paying bills. Some of you have already offered to preorder the kits to help support the development, something that was extremely gratifying, but I didn't feel comfortable taking anyone's money until I had made it a bit farther. I've said in the beta applications that the boards would need to be returned at some point, mainly due to the cost for me, however I would like to do at this point is offer a compromise.
What I'd like to do is put up a small indiegogo campaign to cover the cost of production for 20 beta kits. These kits will be offered with & without switches, and each kit would come with frosted keycaps for the backlighting. Basically, I'm looking at roughly $100 without switches, and $150 w/ blue, clear or black switches. This means that the prototype is yours to keep, and you'll still be able to buy a kickstarter/retail kit @ cost when they become available. I'm also looking at offering 20-30 sets of the clear frosted keys (in DSA) as well for $40 to help with funding as well. Would anyone be interested in this option?
I would actually prefer to be able to keep the prototype by funding it directly actually - since shipping back and forth isn't particularly convenient in my case (not to mention the shipping is pretty much half the cost of one board). But it all depends on how far along the keyboard is - is it ready in your opinion? how functional would the beta kits be in comparison to the final kits in your vision of the product?
a feature list that's already been tested so far would be reassuring -
ie.
- wireless working?
- battery life/charging methods?
- reprogrammability - how will it be handled? Is there going to be a downloadable application/web interface?
Or for that matter, are there any major features that's still omitted in the current boards?
If the keyboard is at a stage where you find your original feature list satisfied, ie. a completed production model, and simply require end user testing for comments/further modifications, I'd be more than happy to pay for a beta unit and give feedback where relevant, rather than having you come out of pocket to provide the kits and pay for shipping two ways (after all, stuff costs money
).