this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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Mildly Infuriating

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Philips has a net worth in the billions, $20.67 billion as of July 12, 2023. (Source link) Yet they decided to create a kickstarter, charging "early bird" buyers these earphones that's designed for wearing while sleeping, basically the same as any other earphones, just slimmed down and cables running around your head.

What's infuriating is that there's dumbasses who actually gave them money to make a product ($500k ~~million~~ in total), so Philips is most likely not taking any risk making this, but will enjoy the profits.

The kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kokoon/sleep-headphones/posts

I thought the whole point of a kickstarter was people with a product, but lacking the funds to get the project actually going getting a kick start to get going.... Not for billion dollar companies to beg for cash.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

14 people donated without paying enough to get the reward… that’s… wow

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that I do not get. It’s basically donating money to a corporation just to receive marketing updates about a product? I don’t get it…

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's pretty common in Kickstarter circles to pledge a dollar to gain access to the pledge manager and decide if you actually want to make a purchase there.

I assume that's what those people are doing?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

can you elaborate what the pledge manager is, and what the benefit of doing this would be? thank you!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

After a Kickstarter ends you get access to the pledge manager where you can change your pledge if you want. So if you donate one dollar, you could then change it to a greater amount in the pledge manager after the end date.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

oh ok, thank you. but that still does not help you for limited quantity rewards, which i guess is why those are so common?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Where are you getting $500 million? This drive is only up to about $650k usd.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Never let facts get in the way of a good story - Isaac Newton

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Oops, corrected, thanks. Was thinking half a million, ended up typing 500 and then a million.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Kickstarter is basically used like pre-orders for stuff like this.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

lol "AI sleep headphones"
What a load of rubbish

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a money laundering scheme.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

As a Dutch person, Phillips used to be something to be proud of. Lately it's mostly a source of shame.

MBAs totally ruined that company.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

From what I've heard anecdotally kickstarter is borderline more of a marketing / market research tool these days, not really the investment backer that it was originally portrayed as.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

You don't become a billionaire in the first place without using a few tricks here and there. Why change?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I've seen this bullshit with them running crowdfunding campaigns linked off Facebook too. They claim it "allows them to more directly interface with interested customers" but it really just feels like a big corp that's abusing a tool not intended for them

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They claim to reach being fully backed within 23 minutes. Yeah, no shit if you set the goal as low as £10000.

They also artificially keep the super early bird remaining stock low to pressure backers into a snap decision. When I checked there were 7 out of 2310 left. That number will probably increase once it actually runs out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Watching that video made me sleepy. The thing on the back of your head is comfortable? I doubt it.

Also Philips doesn't really exist anymore https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WE58YisgFeQ

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

&pp=ygUMU*********

FYI: You posted a youtube video with a pp parameter. It is not really clear what it does but as it is a unique identifier next to the actual watch id (watch=xxx), people assuming it is for tracking in some way. You might be leaking your identity or at least making it for google/YT possible to see where and who you are sharing things with. You can just cut of the &pp=xxx part to be save.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I thought the whole point of a kickstarter was people with a product, but lacking the funds to get the project actually going getting a kick start to get going…

I don't think that is the point of Kickstarter anymore, people are much more wary of Kickstarters nowadays after a string of high profile failures (Arist coffee maker, Skarp shaver) and under-delivery (Star Citizen.jpeg, Coolest Cooler), so they would much rather treat Kickstarter as a pre-order system from a known brand like Phillips to minimalize risk.

Personally, the only Kickstarter I would invest in is card/board games, since these seems to be the lowest risk; Games are sometimes OK, depending on the scale, but hardware are usually way too risky because people tend vastly underestimate the amount of initial cost it takes to take an idea to a hardware prototype, nevermind from prototype to production.

Also, note to self: promote next movie on Kickstarter after strike.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apparently, the actual company behind the headphones is a British firm called Kokoon Technology Limited.

I can't find anything that explains their relationship with Philips.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The company Philips is a very different beast from what it was. Almost all Philips products you know are produced by other companies who pay a licensing fee to Philips to slap the name on it. Philips itself is a shell of its former self and is focused on medical equipment. It's tragic actually, especially since ASML is a direct offspring of Philips. It should be a trillion dollar company but bad management and strategic shortsightedness have ruined it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I thought the whole point of a kickstarter was people with a product, but lacking the funds to get the project actually going getting a kick start to get going.... Not for billion dollar companies to beg for cash.

Yeah, that's what it used to be. Unfortunately, there has been a concerning trend in large companies using crowdfunding platforms as a way to measure market interest in a product before putting in the effort time and money needed for the old R&D process. It pays to check on the company or business for a Kickstarter before backing. Unfortunately it seems alot of folks use Kickstarter as a sort of shopping cart for new stuff, rather then a way to fund the future additions and innovation to an industry they care about. I fell for that a bit at first, but I've learned to ignore the FOMO.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Smells of money laundering

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It doesn't even seem like a breakthrough product.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Bose made this but wireless 4+ years ago.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have had a pair of super comfortable $15 earphones that I use for sleep for 6 years. They're made of silicon and you can lay right on them and you wouldn't notice at all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds nice, can you tell me what they are exactly?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That's a darn good question I don't have an answer for. They don't have a name on them, and I don't remember. If you look for silicone sleep ear buds you could probably find some.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

But you can already buy a sleep mask with flat profile Bluetooth speakers in it for 20 bux off amazon. If you buy a new model (because stress sweat is gross) they charge via USB C

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