Scott: A few questions...
But, first, thanks for starting this board. It's interesting/frustrating (in equal measures) how every board strives for and struggles w/ its special motif and ultimately has to settle for the consequences. Those consequences, from my observations, seem to flow from the gap between whereever it is that most of us sit typing these messages and those places where a company actually conducts its business. My hope is that this board, based on your described position as "VAR/reseller/R&D scientist" for XYBR & related technology/products in the wearable space will provide that ground-level perspective. That gives you and this board a particularly unique niche in the online community - and a unique responsibility. To the limited extent I am able to contribute, I will certainly try. So, with all of that in mind, here are 3 sets of questions that will hopefully add to the discussion (I generally tried to arrange them from specific-general):
* Are you limited in any way because of your relationship w/ XYBR to the amount/extent of information you can provide? Have you discussed this board w/ the company in advance of establishing it?
* Do you have a target market in mind as far as size/type of business for your XYBR-related marketing? Could you share a bit of your strategic thinking about how the company and its products fit in this economic climate? And, related, given the severe capex cut-backs, are prospective customers ready to even consider ROI incentives or are they still taking the wait-and-see perspective. (Those risk-taking first adopters, in this market, have got to be a rare find, I'm guessing.)
* Finally, there's a proliferation of competition in the developmental stages - OQO and Antelope come to mind (though "tablet" displays would expand the possibilities considerably). From the R&D side, how do you see the market evolving in the intermediate term (6mos-2yrs): will price constraints give advantage to "wearables" outside XYBR's space (cheaper w/out the HMD/hands-free capabilities) or do you think those same advantages will cut XYBR's way even considering the imperfections and relatively higher expense? From your perspective (and from beneath each of your hats), where do you think the IP lines are drawn in terms of these other offerings?
These are a lot of questions to ask, I realize, and maybe beyond what you anticipated being called upon to answer (and I understand that you don't have to at all), but I think they do define a certain realm of serious discussion that other boards simply haven't been able to address. Thanks for any light you can shed on these question and thanks again for giving one more opportunity to ask them. |
