Later today I will send an email to the first forty clients

Rob,
Can you please keep us informed how the 'invite to order' process is going, so we can have some idea on our chances to score one of the 40 players ? Things like: when you sent out the first invites, how long you're prepared to wait for confirmation, how many invites have been declined/go into the next batch of invites, etc.

Henno
ex 00120
all ready to score one of the 40

It's easy - if you haven't been invited to order by tomorrow evening, you're going to have to wait for the next batch.

Rob

{clicking check-email every 5 seconds}
:-/


...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

The first bunch of invites are going out right now, so if you don't get one in the next five minutes, don't bother clicking again for a while!

In all, we had about 160 upgrade confirmations from Mark 1 owners, so quite a lot of people are going to be disappointed this time I'm afraid.

Rob

Hmm... (slipping rob a 20)
:-/
-m

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

...so how long do these people have to confirm or pass?
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

slipping rob a 20

Pounds or dollars?

___________
Tony Fabris

They have 24 hours - sorry folks, we need to get these empegs shipped :-)

Of course, when we start shipping in quantity there will be a lot more time to get an order in.

Rob

Quote from an e-mail:

If you would like to order a player from this batch, we will need to receive your online order by Wednesday 28-June-2000 7pm EST (midnight GMT).

Yes, I did receive the invitation :-))). Will have to check my bank account tomorrow though before I decide.

Daniel

I only needed 5 minutes
I just hope:
a) I filled in the form correctly ("This here's the empeg, the most powerful car stereo in the world...did I fill in 6 fields or just 5? In all the excitement I plum forgot!" )
b) I got the order in quickly enough to get the player I asked for!

Now I just have to start waiting... all over again!!!!!

Geoff
---- -------
Saving hard for a Mark 2...

Not me, I have been waiting quite a while for this and couldn't be happier! Ordered the 36 gig version but will take what I can get.

pax
clt

Got the e-mail as well...
12 gig ordered, job done... =)

Anyone want to buy a slightly used mk1? =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

WOohoo!

From: "Rob Voisey, empeg Limited"
To: hitman@fiendish.net
Subject: empeg car Mk.2 Purchase Opportunity

I just got the mail... Took me all of about 30 seconds to fill out the form. Hopefully they have some 12 giggers available for me. 8)

Just in case you are wondering, my Reg # was 0596.

*so glad he put his name on the list so early waaaay back in the day*

(O|||||O)

Hey Rob,

Is SSL on in the store? I've been playing around on it, and it doesn't appear to be?
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

Mark,

Yes, every page in the store (once you pass the EC or RoW entrances) is SSL encrypted. Unfortunately the browser doesn't reflect this, as the page lives within a frameset - but if you dig for the certifcate you can see it for yourself (that and the fact that all the links are https).

I'm going to get some verisign banners on there soon.

Rob

I see it now (by telling IE to break out of frames...) - but as a consumer, I dont' usually buy anything unless I see the lock symbol, despite what the site might say.. Might not be a bad idea to make sure the consumer knows it's secure.. (maybe by securing the top frame or by breaking out of the frames?)
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

I am one of the disappointed ones, but not with empeg. Unfortunatly, my bank account dosen't have enough, and due to an issue with work, my last paycheck was 1/2 what it should have been and the next one won't come. Lucially I have most bills accounted for, and should recieve a big back pay check soon so I'll be ordering in mid July.

As a consumer I could care less about secure web sites. I know that it would take an awful lot for someone to sniff out a credit card number and expiration date with all that packets that are sent back and forth from my browser to the server. My best protection comes from when I reconcile my credit card bill every month. Even a hacked site could reside on a server with ssl.

pax
clt

As a consumer I could care less about secure web sites...

You're not kidding there. Both me and and a close friend of mine have had bad experiences in that area. Sure, you fill out the online form with SSL, but you have no control over what happens to your credit card number once the vendor's got it.

In our case, we both placed SSL orders at two different companies. In both cases, we discovered that the web sites were just "storefronts" at a hosting service which simply e-mailed the orders in clear text (card numbers and all) to the actual companies who filled the orders.

In my friend's case, the actual company's mail server was briefly down, so the mail message bounced. It happened to have HIS return address on it, so he got the bounce message. Imagine his irritation to have his own credit card number bounced back to him in a clear-text email.

Of course, we happen to know that this isn't the case with Empeg, I'm just illustrating the fact that SSL gives you a false sense of security. What's more important is how much you trust the company you're sending your credit card number to. This is no different than placing a credit card order over the phone- you have to trust that the company will keep it secure once they have it. Fortunately, we know that Empeg will do the right thing.

___________
Tony Fabris

Hopefully no problems with money! (40 untis, about 810 pds each makes 32400 pds - not less money - can afford the missing parts then ?)

Are there some sponsors for your empeg project or how can you afford the empeg crew and production street and payment of the parts, developing the new facial and all that stuff? I think this is not too cheap and a bit hard especially if you couldn't sell units till now to earn some money not just spending some in developement.

*hoping that the missing parts come soon to get a Mk2...*

TeeMcBee

I recall that empeg have private investors, and don't forget the oem work for [insert name of oem companies]...

I fully believe that the parts are difficult to get hold of, because there aren't any available, not that empeg couldn't afford them... (Look at 3dfx and ATI for other examples of component shortages)

Remember, the empeg car is the only _visible_ product, not the only product...

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

I know that the Mk2 is not the only thing they are working on. But it seems to be a lot of time they are spending with it. And this time isn't paid for till now. (I don't wanna say that they shouldn't do that!!!)

I truely believe that it's hard to get some parts like rob said. I was just kidding.

I also hope (like many others do) that they'll get the parts soon so that the guys@empeg earn some money with their great work by selling the Mk2 units.

TeeMcBee

To clarify, our ecommerce system encrypts the entire order before saving it to the web server - even if the server is hacked, the data can't be decrypted because the private key isn't stored there.

Orders are then transfered to our internal network at empeg, which is firewalled, before being decrypted and imported into the sales system.

Personal details are never exposed to the internet in an unencrypted format.

Rob

Considering we have already paid for the majority of the parts to make 1000 players, and quite a lot of the parts for a further 1000, our investment to date is a little greater than the figure you mentioned!

Obviously we're keen to translate this investment into sales revenue, however the main reason we need to ship this batch quickly is because it is serving to test our new back office systems before the greater quantities begin. The developers are also keen to get feedback from real clients as soon as possible, so any issues or suggestions can make it into the consumer release (which is only a couple of weeks away).

As the web site states, empeg is a privately funded company. Of course, the car player is not our only source of income - we have achieved some considerable success in developing products for other brand names.

Rob

As far as I'm aware, everything has now been sourced for the next 1000 units. The power control component that recently held us up is due to be delivered this week, and the manufacturers have provided tentative delivery dates for quantity starting in mid July.

Rob

So it's going to come sooooonn !

Looking forward to it!

When will the next invitations happen? Will they happen when the units are ready produced or will it be before?

TeeMcBee

Edited by teemcbee on 28/6/00 11:12 AM.

It'll happen when we have a definite delivery date from the manufacturer (or at least, to within a few days). We want to be able to ship to clients within two days of their order being placed - but preferably the SAME day if it arrives in time. Of course, because there will be a constant flow of players from the manufacturer, you'll be able to wait a while before ordering if you want to.

Rob

Don't wanna wait to order. I'd prefer to order right now or as soon as I'm invited .

My heart starts beating faster every day now... Hope it'll work till shipping only a couple of weeks of sleepless nights left...



TeeMcBee

Oh crap. This isn't good. I was afraid of this when you said "end of the summer."

If it still only takes 1 day to deliver (or even just take the orders) for 40 units, that equals about 25 days at least for 1000. So that means the end of July/beggining of August. I'm most likely in the second batch, but I'm leaving for school in mid August, leaving me a very small window and not much time to get it installed. Damn.

Well, we'll see how it goes. I hope to be ordering in early August.

DiGNAN

No fair... I'm number 170 wwwaaaaaahhhhh... I wish I had purchased the original so much more now!

;)

drool drool...

Don't worry, your time will come soon, and your wallet will be lightened... =)

Jazz
(List 112, Mk2 on order. Mk1 Unit for sale S/N 00030, 4 gig blue, apply within)

how can you afford the empeg crew and production street and payment of the parts, developing the new facial and all that stuff?

They're probably financially healthy. Have a look at the empeg sites. It says they're a privately funded company, not interested in additional small investors . . .

Henno
ex 00120
ready to score one of the 40

Just a question, what if the back-orfice part fails and our (my) order goes nirvana ? Haven't received a confirmation yet (was invited). Everybody seems nervous now...Like on chris mess. Or before having sex the first time. J.

Don't worry, I wrote the backoffice system, it can't possibly fail! :-)

You haven't got a confirmation yet because I haven't had time to start juggling orders and working out how to allocate the limited stock that we have. I can guarantee that you'll have received an email by the time I go home tonight (but that could be rather late!).

Just incase you really don't have faith in my programming abilities, I'll mention that the orders are automatically backed up when we receive them, so there shouldn't be a problem.

Rob

oh boy, I wish you hadn't made that analogy.

But you're right, everybody does seem to be getting nervous.

And dude, 170? oh no, poor you, you'll get one of the first out of the big batch after they've gone through all this small testing process. I personally would rather be in your position than number 1. at least you're not 13 thousand 6 hundred something. Wait a minute, what do you mean 170? aren't they starting at 6500?

DiGNAN

@Rob: That's different. For some reason, I associated backoffice with MS. Do you run visuals on yours ?

@DiGNAN17: 170 ? No, actually I do own #53. The MK1 will be dumped into my girlfriends car. I figured this is the best way not to make 40% loss on a just one year old blue MK1.

What's actually the first consumers MK1 serial ? Haven't seen anybody here with a serial like #15 or 20.

Cheers, congrats for the first batch! J.

> For some reason, I associated backoffice with MS.

Ermm, well, actually I use Access rather a lot - but I still maintain it's one of the few decent pieces of software that MS wrote (or rather, took over).

> What's actually the first consumers MK1 serial ?

The demo player is 00005 and I believe we started shipping to clients right after that.

Rob

What's actually the first consumers MK1 serial ? Haven't seen anybody here with a serial like #15 or 20

..that's me (or rather Emma the empeg) you're talking about...

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Serial numbers 1, 2 and 3 went to some very early testers last June/July, so they're the lowest ones. I can't remember where #4 went, actually...

Hugo

Woah, you're an original!

Sorry about that confusion guys. I forgot about deferals. It's just my sub-consciousness trying to get that empeg to me sooner...

DiGNAN

Yeah, what he said! :)
Number 6500 gets tended to after those who previously purchased, then those who previously deferred.

I am still hoping for an email anytime now... please oh please oh please.

How many prototype was there / are there before #1??

When booting my Empeg, it says hardware revision 4 or something.
Are there many different HW revisions out there??

TommyE

Thanks a lot for the info. Are you partying, now that the MK2 went ? J.

I can guarantee that you'll have received an email by the time I go home tonight (but that could be rather late!).

Rob, are you still at the office? Didn't get an email yet, and I'm getting nervous...

I did some math: from the originally 6500 registrants that you invited to buy a Mk I, around 350 bought, and from those around 160 expressed an interest in upgrading to the Mk II. The first mini-batch consists of 40 Mk II, so exactly a quarter of those who are willing to upgrade will get one from this batch. Assuming all 160 will have confirmed their order by midnight, and assuming these 160 clients' registration numbers were evenly distributed between 0 and 6500, further assuming that the original registration number determines the order in which Mk II's are assigned to customers, then everybody up to reg no 1625 will get one of those 40. So I should be on the safe side with my reg no 1044, right? But then again, you never know... do you plan to also send out an email to those who filled in the online order form, but were so unlucky to not get one of the 40 Mk II? Would probably save me from some nail-biting tonight!

Daniel

I am too fidgity to party right now... just checking my email every second I get!

Actually the Mark II will make the differenc to whether I go to a party or not. There is a big festival Around July 15th nearby and me and a bunch of my buddies are counting on the empeg to supply us with all the tunes for the campsite and to make quite the impression on the thousands of people that will be there. For information on that party check out my homepage at http://www.geocities.com/renejeddore and navigate to the pictures page and look for Red Cliff/Salmon Festival pictures. Lots of drunken party goers there who have cash and lots would love to see an empeg in action! (*ahem* hugo... altman...).

You can also find a link to my del Sol page there which shows a pic of my stereo install which I had previously mentioned in the Installation Forum, all it lacks is the second amp and an empeg!!!!

#170... previous deferrer in denial about not receiving one from the first mini-batch of Mark II's

Unfortunately I am still in the office, yes. I've finished processing all the orders now (a rather manual process this time, double checking everything is working properly) and you should have received either an order confirmation or a delay notification.

I think it's time to go home, considering I have to be back here in four hours!

Rob

I think the Mark 2 is actually revision 7, and there were several versions of revision 7! We keep thinking of new cool things to put on :-)

Rob

Seems my assumption that the 160 who are willing to upgrade are evenly distributed among the registration numbers from 0 to 6500 was incorrect - there must have been more than 40 Mk I owners with a registration number below 1044 ordering a Mk II ...
Well, so I'll have to wait a little longer .

Daniel

No, there must have been more than f(X) where X is the capacity unit you requested and f is the number of machines available for a given capacity.

e.g., if you ordered a 10gb unit, and there were eight 10GB units and you were the ninth most "Senior" person requesting one, you'd be SOL. That doesn't mean that, for a different capacity, someone in the mid 2,000's reg number couldn't get one.

D

A lot of very early clients have chosen to upgrade - several with numbers under 100. I think the lowest is number 3, followed by 21. It's very gratifying to get so much repeat custom!

Rob