Scarcity

[omf]

I'm not aware of any other seemingly simple and modern products out there that are as difficult to get as good keyboard switches and parts.  MX Clears are sold out everywhere and not expected for A YEAR.  Topre key caps are listed in many places, but never in stock.  You'd think this stuff was made out of unicorn nail clippings or leprechaun nostril hairs!

So, is it simply that keyboard enthusiasts make up a tiny market, and we only get excess scraps from very large manufacturing runs?  What explains this scarcity?

[dorkvader]

Clear availability is merely a question of supply and demand, as well as partially ZF electronics being a bunch of old-school stooges. The same thing happened with browns not long ago, and older members might remember when reds were rarer than gold. It's simply more mismanagement on a keyboard company, which is surprisingly common.

Topre scarcity is another problem entirely. The Topre corporation caters to a very specific and niche market, and it's only due to their unbelievable popularity that they are available outside Japan at all.

What needs to happen is for unicomp to wizen up, stop mucking around, and devote actual resources to marketing, promotion, and (possibly) some real R&D. Sadly, they are like cherry / ZF: unwilling to change.

[omf]

It strikes me as bizarre that it would take a year to restock on the Cherry Clears.  It's like we're in the 1800's and they have to create new iron casts to change from one manufacturing run to another.  Or the vein of clear plastic they were mining in the Himalayas ran dry and they're going to have to hire a team of Sherpas to help find a new source.

[Puddsy]

It probably won't take a year.

[smknjoe]

So, is it simply that keyboard enthusiasts make up a tiny market?

That's part of it. Keyboard geeks are pretty rare.

Dorkvader is right about the reds too. Everybody was going ape**** over them and some were paying double what they were worth. Remember the special edition Filcos?

[dorkvader]

It strikes me as bizarre that it would take a year to restock on the Cherry Clears.  It's like we're in the 1800's and they have to create new iron casts to change from one manufacturing run to another.  Or the vein of clear plastic they were mining in the Himalayas ran dry and they're going to have to hire a team of Sherpas to help find a new source.

They can't just pick what switches to make that easily. They likely don't have the production capacity to fill the increase in demand. This puts the management in a peculiar position: do they stop making blacks, blues, etc and switch a line over to clears for a bit? they have upcoming contracts to full for those switches too.

What needs to happen is for ZF to decide they have enough of an increase in their market share to necessitate building another line, or moving to a larger plant.

[dante]

I'm not entirely sure if it's Cherry's fault.  The factory who is producing the WASD could be lazy or requesting a stupid high MOQ - or even WASD themselves really need the cash badly and want boards to fly out of the warehouse as quickly as they come in and don't want to take chances.

It's great to have the opportunity to support the fans but you've got to put food on the table first.

[phatdood9]

unfortunately, wasd is likely a small fish in a big pond

[metalliqaz]

Clear availability is merely a question of supply and demand, as well as partially ZF electronics being a bunch of old-school stooges. The same thing happened with browns not long ago, and older members might remember when reds were rarer than gold. It's simply more mismanagement on a keyboard company, which is surprisingly common.

Topre scarcity is another problem entirely. The Topre corporation caters to a very specific and niche market, and it's only due to their unbelievable popularity that they are available outside Japan at all.

What needs to happen is for unicomp to wizen up, stop mucking around, and devote actual resources to marketing, promotion, and (possibly) some real R&D. Sadly, they are like cherry / ZF: unwilling to change.

Amen about Unicomp.

[Tony]

Of course we geekhackers are the minority, very rare indeed.

If we didn't have the bad, peculiar habit of collecting a lot of keyboards that we hardly use, Cherry, Filco and Realforce would be out of business long time ago.