Let's start building ICS folks... I mean *you* start ;)

Let me read between lines if you will humor me.

On Nov 12th, the CEO of Notion Ink said this on his blog

"17th is when we are expecting ICS to be finally out with the source, and then you will see whole community (aka TabletRoms) and NI pushing in ROMs with different flavors."

And then today (Nov 15th) he said:

"So, Let’s start building folks!"

See something common? If the Honeycomb experience is anything to go by, I guess the Tabletroms people better start cracking because that's what this really means: TR to help again. Don't expect NI to deliver much I suppose, maybe they'll surprise me.

So, NI, don't pull a Honeycomb on us. get original - don't release TR's ROM as yours once they do it. On the other hand I don't even understand why the TR folks are wasting time on a device that has a few hundred users and a dying community and instead focus on fast growing devices/communities where they can make a change. I say this because you can see for yourself the utter lack of interest in whatever Rohan has to say these days... 19 - 20 comments for big announcements, tell you not many care anymore (I do!)

 

migration of support system is done... what?!

So the CEO of Notion Ink put out a blog post today stating that "Support is up again. Migration was successful"

Good.

Except that you should be asking - what the hell does that mean? In my mind "migration" means you were at point A and then moved to point B.

There was no point A to begin with. Remember, back in Oct 1st, he put this post about strengthening customer support  and that after 4 months of "study" they had implemented a new system with ticketing. That ticketing vanished soon after, and I kept asking why. It's now back with the CEO saying "migration complete" which makes me laugh - it wasn't there to begin with so what was the migration? Just making stuff as they go along.

So it took then 4 months to "study", implement a FAIL system, and then spend another month+ to bring back essentially what is was to begin with. How brilliant.

100+ employees, someone could help this guy!

I haven't posted much because not much is happening. But look at this post in conclave today - poor guy has been waiting since June!

I mean, c'mon. NI has been waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich. They aren't selling Adam 1 anymore. They have 100 or more employees! And can't one of your busy engineers or managers help him out with some truth for a change?

 

 

Update: the link doesn't work.Maybe the author deleted it, but quite likely that NI decided to as well. "if you ignore them they will go away"

What's going on at Notion Ink?

Here are three things I've noticed.

1. Posts on conclave has almost slowed down to a trickle/nothing. Think of this - the company's official forum has 0 new posts in the last 24 hours. Nothing.

2. The much touted, "researched for 4 months" customer support site is up but voila, there is no link anymore to submit a ticket. Why? Why did this vanish?

3. Flipkart - an indian online retailer - now has a bunch of Adam's for sale. No mention of it on NI's websites or blogs. How did Flipkart get hold of them? One theory - NI is liquidating their stock because no one in their right mind would be buying Adam 1 / or their inventory hasn't cleared yet.  NI's own site & their support site FAQ says the only way to buy an Adam is via an Invite... if so, why are they on sale on Flipkart? (yes, possible Flipkart purchased them in bulk from NI and is trying to sell them... would you actually believe they did that? I don't.)

These are bad signs.

Where is the ticket submit on the new support site?

anyone noticed that new posts on conclave has trickled down to 1 or 2 per day?

And 10 days ago Rohan unveiled his 'support system' after about 6 months of wait (since he first spoke of it) and after 4 months of study of several other system. The end result of 4 months of "study" of support systems? A very basic FAQ & an anemic troubleshooter, and now I cannot even find the submit ticket (for the last 3-4 days). Isn't that supposed to be #1 on the system? Where is it?

Can someone point out to me how you would submit a ticket because I cannot find it on the site. I definitely remember it being there the first day of the unveiling.

Either I'm being a clueless idiot and can't find something obvious on the website, or this is Notion Ink being absolutely incompetent again. This is how it looks to me (~4 PM UK 10th Oct)



Let me repeat: After 4 months of "study" by the CEO of the company, what you get is a basic FAQ and "troubleshooter", hahahahahahaha. Genius. This company blows all my expectations out of the water. Such speed, such rapid progress!

Goodbye Steve

And thank you for showing how it's done.

 

Notion Ink Support site... finally!

So, finally, Notion Ink seems to have gone live with a support system. That's a good thing, no complaints from my end. Now of course one needs to see how quickly they respond to the tickets and how well they manage it.

Here's the journey -- in Rohan's own words

03 March 2011
Dev team is maintaining a TRAC (moved out from wikidot now) for the current development process which will be opened for all to see, especially the wiki part

29 March 2011
In a couple of days, Notion Ink will go live with its forum and next, live chats with the moderators and support staff will start

28 May 2011

Last 6 weeks we were integrating all support pieces to an advanced online system, which you will soon see go live on support.notionink.com.

So finally, On Oct 1 2011, a basic support system fell in place - keep in mind that in 28 March they were already 6 weeks into it -- which means it took them about 5 and 1/2 months for a basic ticketing system. Now that kind of speed is....

In his blog he says a few things that make my head scratch - why would he spend 4 months studying customer support systems of big companies?! I mean 2 1/2 years after the company started does it require special customer research to figure out that you need to be closer to customer... it all sounds strange. Anyway, his dear supporters are all ecstatic, but see the complete lack of responses to his new posts - tells you that all interest has pretty much dried up.

But, it's finally there. And I will dutifully update the 'list of things done' now in fairness.

Adam 2 selling strategy

If we were to agree with the fundamental philosophy that a company must make money (not just revenue, but positive profits), I wonder what Notion Ink's Adam 2 strategy is - Is it to sell a premium hardware at a high price with high margins or is it to sell huge volumes at low price but at a low margin?

Think about it closely - would you think either of those would work for this company?

Some interesting Notink Ink investment / financials research from a fellow blogger

 

 

 

 

take a look:

http://isthecakealie.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/notion-ink-who-owns-runs-and-funds-the-company/

That's pretty interesting work there, moistcake. I'm no expert in financial matters (OK, I know a bit of this and that...) but the whole Suncorp thing looks rather strange.

BTW - it would be nice if you add a few links to the filings for those who want to look at it further.

 

 

Paying some attention...

It does appear that NI is paying attention to outstanding customer issues (see the last 2 posts... very unusual that they've come in succession, and you can also see Rohan responding to some customer posts on the blog rather quickly). Why the sudden change or behavior, your guess is as good as mine.

This is a good sign.

Too early to tell much, and in my opinion too late to make a real positive impact, but at least you see movement. And for that reason I'm going to wait before I bitch about his new promises on the last senseless post.

Just one note - Rohan, get SOMEONE ELSE to manage PR & support responses on a consistent basis. Or is there no one else?

Hey, why am I the villain for pointing out what they do?

I had 2 topics to discuss

(1) Notion Ink economics and

(2) Response to the 2 new posts on the Notion Ink blog

But something hit my comments yesterday so I need to digress a bit. Here's the comment (the one that's titled 'AREN'T YOU BEING AN A**HOLE?'), and I thought I should respond to a few points.

1. Don't you see the delicious irony? - I mean, you post something that's critical on NI on their blog, they moderate it out, and then you post it on my blog while also calling me an a**hole! And I allow it.

2. Why am I the a-hole for saying the things that you're saying anyway - I mean, out there in your own comments you say they botched the launch, their co-founders are dumb, they don't keep their promises and so on, but apparently I'm the a-hole for saying it on my blog

3. You're upset that my blog is out to cause them to fail - That makes no sense! Let me say a couple of things in my defense. There were 5 Notion Ink fan sites before my blog even started, www.notioninkfan.com (now defunct), www.notioninking.com (dead), www.notioninkspot.com (dead), www.notionaddicts.com (pretty much dead), www.notioninkhacks.com (became tabletroms.com once they realized the limitations of sticking to NI), and now they're all gone. Did I cause it? No. Notion Ink and their behavior caused it. Why are you upset about my one blog when all these fan sites couldn't keep the fan going?! I mean if they're the great company that many say they are, then why bother about my blog? Here's another thought - I started my blog in April 2011. Guess what? I waited all that time to see if they cleaned their act, and they've been getting feedback since late 2010!

4. Your statements about " he is trying to get things right in his own unprofessional way. But he is doing it none the less" is just silly - Seriously. Do you need industry experience to figure out that a product needs to be supported once released? does it take a genius to know that people expect you to follow-up on what you say? Have you seen one post from him since Jan to say 'hey, we screwed up, we'll do better next time?' - do you honestly believe that the guy is actually trying?! What did he do to get a  pass from scrutiny? Why are they special now? They were in 2010, and that's long gone! You do know that the CEO has said that they have '100+ employees', 'operations in dozens of countries', and they are doing research on so many areas... so they're a big company now, no?

My blog is the only active blog that's highlighting this company's behavior but you want me to stop, and yet my blog is the only one where you have an outlet to complain! 

Think about it. You complain in NI's blog, they censor you out. You complain on Tabletroms you'll have a bunch of people telling you to get lost - and the moderators are very clear that they are friends with NI so won't push for changes. Complain on Notion Addicts and no one cares because they're dead. Complain on conclave, and they will moderate you out. So here's a company with tons of problems and misleading behaviour and you want everyone to " be quiet"? Why? so more people can buy and cry? Is that the right thing to do?

Sorry, I'm not stopping. If I see change in their behavior I will gladly come out and say good words, I've got no innate hate. But right now they're a joke.

And for you my friend, my blog is always home - you comment and it will appear so long as it is not abusive. I'm not Notion Ink.

New round of investment closed at Notion Ink

That's what the latest post mentioned today, and then went on to describe more mumbo-jumbo. There are some real nuggets in the newest post, and I'll get to it in a new post tomorrow - there's so much to write!

The phrase "a fool and his money are soon parted" comes to mind when I think of investors putting money into Notion Ink.

All I can tell you is that after reading the full post I threw up violently on the side and then laughed uncontrollably at some of the hopeful clowns in the blog comments.

Keep tuned for tomorrow.

Looking back... and where we are now. Even the most loyal fans are turning back.

Way back in April I had my first post in Notion Ink's official forum.  I titled it

"Supporters, wake up. This needs to be said"

After a few days, Notion Ink promptly 'locked' the thread preventing further responses. It's open now, but when I post into it - it gets moderated out. I guess the attitude is "if you can't hear criticism, it mustn't be there"

In case the thread is removed, the exact text was my first blog post too. I urge you to read it and consider where we are now.

Today I noticed a few posts on the Notion Ink blog. Some of the most loyal fans are now beginning to say that NI did not deliver and it's been promises. I actually applaud them for coming out and saying it out aloud after supporting NI for long.

I don't intend to question their loyalty - to each their own. What saddens me is how Notion Ink, and Rohan, treated their/his supporters - people that might have helped spread the word and help NI get traction. I said  repeatedly that this company shows no inclination to learn or act on feedback - I point it to the CEO's arrogance and stupidity, all the more so because the co-founders are spineless and voiceless. But that's what it has been.

I have zero respect to the integrity and vision of this company, and no expectation that they will deliver Adam 2 in a way it must be. And it's not about blind dislike, in my next post I'll point out to the sheer market challenge they have and with their current level of lack of skill, intelligence and work ethic - it's unlikely they are up to it.

The coming of Adam 2

So, it seems Notion Ink is hard at work on Adam 2 and Eden 2 or whatever it is. All in time for the next CES. Good for them, maybe they're finally focusing on something and it will be a decent release. Hey, power to them if they actually do a good job of it, but I personally won't believe it until I see at least 2 production releases from them.

I also wonder who they're planning to sell to...having alienated their entire customer base. And no tablet company is going to survive selling a few piddly hundreds or thousands. Has anyone noticed that the number of new posts on a given day in their official forum has dwindled down to single digits? And on TabletRoms too you see steady increase on other tablet forums and notionaddicts for all practical purposes is dead. I guess I can say 'I told you so'

And with that, my next crappy masterpiece.

Notion Ink - Paper Tiger Company & CEO / Maybe mine should be the, ahem, Notion Ink Blog?

You know, the CEO of Notion Ink not so long ago said he'd blog every week. That didn't happen. So he said "every 2 weeks!", that didn't happen as well. It's been 6 weeks since the last post and even the ardent fans are getting a bit restless waiting for his pearls of wisdom.

But I'm pretty consistent - perhaps I'm the Only Notion Ink Blog that's consistent! Most of the blogging  fans have long vanished and the company CEO doesn't do it much either. That leaves the burden on yours truly, jksaur. And I intend to hog the limelight if you will please allow me. Maybe Notion Ink should simply call mine the official Notion Ink Blog, at least my blog is more true than the official one, don't you think?

So, what was I going to say? That Notion Ink is a great example of a paper tiger company. Great on paper (or blog) but terrible in reality. Most buyers buy the dream and deal with a nightmare, and some will keep singing his praise and vision and Tegra 4 with root capability and 9000 ports while forgetting that a company with no clue about its target market cannot survive.

Let's just break down the operations of a typical small consumer electronics company, shall we? Nothing fancy. From ideation/inception all the way to customer service. So, the basic steps (not necessarily in the exact sequence)

Ideation->R&D->Strategy->Supply chain->Production & Quality Control->Marketing->Distribution->Product Support->Reverse Logistics (customer returns etc.)

Now we'll see where they did well. Most reasonably successful companies tend to most of these steps quite well, with spikes (strong performance) in some areas and improvement points in some other. How does NI fare?

Ideation->Pretty good

R&D->Mediocre - when you consider choices and performances of various components

Strategy -> Disaster. They have absolutely no clue what the their target segment is or what their clear value proposition is (well, if you don't know your customers you don't know what your proposition is either...)

Supply chain->Bad but perhaps got a bit better by PO3

Production & Quality Control->Terrible, absolutely terrible quality control

Marketing->Used to be good. Now bad. Keep in mind their only marketing in the blog and involvement of media in some interviews. And you'll all agree that there's no marketing anymore.

Distribution->No distribution except an average site

Product Support->Terrible, awful

Reverse Logistics->Disaster

So, the 2 areas where they did OK was ideation - which is lot of paper and some design and Marketing - which is all words. Everything else? Argh. So - it is a great paper tiger.

Don't also forget that their development capability is "incompetency" - from the really bad software quality to the fact that if they weren't propped up by TabletRoms they'd be dead by now. Which brings me to the first cartoon for this site! Enjoy my Leonardo Da Vinci like artistic capability!



 

So, like all of you I await the next blog post on the official blog, which will hopefully prove me wrong by not being about "research on shades of gray on the left lower quadrant of the Adam when in 70% brightness under fluorescence light conditions and how it will affect the 4th generation Adam" (and I kid you not that there will be blog responses to that too saying "Oh thank you Rohan for posting something! You are a visionary!")

You'll hear from me again soon

Warm Regards, (about 40C)

jksaur