Below is my most recent email from Amit at Flytrex. I responded back with some suggestions to reduce the cost of the new units. Even though they are again offering a 30% discount to those users that bought their last Live 3G from Flytrex or one of their dealers which is nice, but also offset the fact that we are now for the 2nd time of having to upgrade in order to have a working Live Tracking device to use on our quad.
The 1st upgrade was due to the US loosing 2G support here by the minute. We upgrade to a new device with 3G capabilities, and can-bus link which was to open up a new set of feature abilities which never happened due to the new birds becoming available.
This 2nd upgrade focuses around a completely new bit of technology. And because of this technology is why I shared some nice suggestions with Amit, and which I mentioned should lower the overall expense. Time will tell.
-Frank
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Hi Frank,
Regarding the upgrades, this is part of a fast growing market and our team is working hard to stay on top of the latest technologies. As a reminder, it's been less than 2.5 years since the original Phantom (version 1!!) was released. During that very short time there have been SO many changes! Phantom 1, Phantom 1 with upgrade kit (if you recall..), the introduction of CAN-BUS data with the Naza 2, Phantom 2, Phantom 2 Vision, the Vision Plus very shortly after, Vision Plus v2, v3 and now the Phantom 3 (and Inspire 1).
To be honest, we had no way to design our original systems to work with today's technology -- the Phantom 3 is a completely different machine than the original Phantom 1, or even the 2 Vision Plus. One way is to slow the market, but I don't believe that's in the favor of any of the users or community.
With that said, we do make sure to improve with each new version and keep adding more power and technologies so potentially our newer systems will be able to work better with future technologies, but it is really hard to tell what the future will bring.
One thing that we do, which I honestly believe we're among the very few companies that are doing that, is trying to offer rather large discounts to our existing users in an effort to help and make the upgrade slightly simpler and more cost-effective. Offering 30% discount for existing users for a hardware company, unlike software companies, is much harder. Our revenue shares aren't that high in the first place, and cutting 30% really makes it far harder. We do believe its the fair way to go though. From my personal communication with our users over time I do believe that most users understand this and appreciate this.
Regarding new sites and technologies that are available today, our team is definitely working hard and I don't believe we'll stay behind. We've been able to lead and innovate with new technologies since our first days, almost two years ago, and we will continue to do so. A lot of new things are in development for our web-site these days and we will post more details once ready. We try not to rush our developments (or not too much) and prefer to finish proper testing before releasing new features. I do hope we'll have some exciting news for our site and mobile app users available shortly.
We're currently in the very last testing for the Phantom 3 (finished recently with the I1) and just doing final production adjustments. But keep in mind we still need a bit more time before the P3 version will be ready. The I1 will come in about a week, but P3 will take a bit more time.
Thanks!
Amit Regev,
Flytrex - The World's Leading Quadcopters and Multirotors Pilots Network