Re:Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch
by s73ver_ on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @03:53PM
(#15351658)
But their strategy was still go to after the high end market, instead of try to target the low end market and go up.
Re:Essential has sold just 5,000 phones since launch
by jandrese on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @04:20PM
(#15351910)
That is true, and it works because there is a market for high end vehicles. The market is there because the high end companies make a product that is measurably better than the mass market product from traditional manufacturers.
Such a thing really isn't possible in the cell phone market. A tiny shop can't build a phone notably better than an iPhone or a Galaxy. The only luxury phone provider I know about just glued diamonds on old dumbphones and went out of business.
Essential was apparently banking on people finding the modularity concept to be a killer feature worth a price premium, but that has not been the case apparently.
Small players in this market have to go to the ultra-niche extremes where you sell like 20 cars a year for millions of dollars per and usually still lose money.
The electric drive was the killer feature on the Tesla. Without it the car has no reason to exist.
Also, by luxury car standards the interior of a Tesla is absolutely subpar. They were competing against cars with handcrafted mahogany dashboards and precision stitched leather seats where people will spend hours and days fine tuning the static and moving resistance on the heater control knob to get it just perfect.