Last year, a team of three Sydney entrepreneurs headed by former Telstra employee Robert Yearsley gained media attention in Australia for announcing a new Kickstarter-funded venture: an iPad stylus system touted for its high precision writing and collaboration features. One year on, with the now San Francisco-based Collusion having shipped the product, disappointed investors have widely panned the product for not delivering on the accuracy and features promised.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTnF4XHsHBM]
Stuart Ryan, UTS Analyst and Collusion Investor, uploaded a YouTube video publicised yesterday in The Age outlining issues with stylus recognition in the app. In a recent comment, he also expressed concerns about communication between himself and Collusion, suggesting the company has been ignoring concerns raised by Kickstarter investors of late.
Well I like the concept, it is the execution/complete lack of communication and updates and lack of responding to any communications by the Collusion Team that presents the biggest problem right now. I WANT to see them succeed but currently there are huge problems that just aren’t being addressed.
It is reported that several promoted features were also left out in the initial release, particularly the ability to import documents for annotation, the ability to zoom in/out and to work offline. For Kickstarter backers, these omissions have compounded the disappointment from the buggy stylus recognition. The mood from backers has become one of exasperation, with some disappointed at Collusion for “hiding” from its problems.
Robert Yearsley claimed in The Age yesterday that $1 million extra funding has been procured since Kickstarter. He also stated that Apple did not allow Collusion to publish a non-stable app in the App Store, and that updates would be rolled out in the future.