File this large and expensive piece of wearable technology as a controversial product.
More of Humane’s AI Pins were returned than purchased between May and August, The Verge reported. The pin retails for between $700 and $800 — plus a $24 monthly subscription for $288 a year.
In total, the company reportedly saw $1 million in returns — and thousands of its units were canceled before they even shipped, according to the report.
And overall sales are not going as planned. The company shipped just 10,000 units — when it hoped to sell 10 times as many, or about 100,000, according to the New York Times.
Of those 10,000, 30% reportedly returned.
The situation — $1 million in returns versus $9 million in sales — is especially bleak after the company had raised $200 million from Silicon Valley executives, the report noted.
Months after its release, the device, meant to be a camera-driven virtual assistant, was heavily panned by reviewers.
The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern described the jacket’s large accessories as “your grandmother’s bulky pin designed by Iron Man’s designer.”
“What have I done to deserve this? Error messages. Delayed response times. Batteries always dead,” she continued. “My 2 year old heard the Humane pin say ‘Enter the passcode’ so many times he started running around the house shouting it.”
In its review, The Verge pointed point blank in a headline: “There’s just one problem: It just doesn’t work.”
“We knew we were at the start line, not the finish line” when AI Pin launched, spokesman Zoz Cuccias told the media, adding that the software updates were made to “address user feedback.”
Regarding the sales report, Cuccias said: “We do not comment on financial data and will refer it to our legal counsel.”
The company’s leadership, reported to be in flux by The Verge, also appears to have missed early warning signs reported by product testers.
Users called it “disorienting” and “frustrating” and raved that it didn’t work at all as seen in a corporate demo video.
Such backlash “destroyed the company like a bullet,” according to the outlet.
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Image Source : nypost.com
