Zach Supalla, Founder and CEO at Spark, wrote a frank introspective on why Kickstarters are always delayed. His thoughts are particularly germane, as he and his team are currently working hard to deliver on the Spark Core’s Kickstart campaign promise. They have taken an ultra-transparent approach to updating supporters on their progress, and their challenges — an approach that takes a lot of courage and thick skin.
You can read his thoughts here.
Oooh. Spark would be useful for some fun products in the CEDIA industry. Integrated accessories for home automation, third party add-on modules for control systems… I just want to text my apartment to buzz me in when I drop my keys down the storm drain. I don’t ask for much. :P
Seems very similar concept to the Electric Imp ( http://electricimp.com ) , which has been out for a while (I have a couple) – only physically larger and with more i/o’s. The Imp is kinda aimed at OEMs though which is an interesting business model.
@DrTune that is a fair comparison. The Imp is a much more locked down environment however. You can only work in Squirrel, all traffic has to go trough their servers, some kind of per user/per year fee is going to be required, etc and if they ever go out of business you are more or less SOL (unless you pay for the option to run your own servers if they do).
Spark is a lot more open, and lets me connect directly to any network location I choose. I feel much more comfortable using something like Spark than I do the Imp, though I am doing work with the Imp right now.
If only the founders of Ringbow (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/669350010/ringbow-next-generation-gaming-accessory) understood the value of transparency! Almost a year late, and 2,000+ backers are very, very upset with them.