It's not that far fetched at all, think of it as a brand new shop opening up and they need to create new clients so the mechanic has a grand opening sale and offers cheap at cost oil changes. I have seen many new mechanic shops do this and it works well. Consider it as advertising. It's a good idea as the need for new products comes along the reputation of the company is well enforced through the products durability and the fact their in the hands of those customers already.
I like it.makes sense. As everything else the more they build the cheaper the RnD
It's not far fetched but it's not in the right market for barn sales.
Consider this:
-WHEN do you do barn sales? When you have inventory.
-WHY do you do barn sales? To get rid of inventory.
-HOW do you make money on barn sales? By buying liquidated inventory (i.e. ex-bankrupcy, overstocks, etc) or selling high margin products cheaper (like tire sales).
-Do they have inventory? No.
-Do they want to get rid of said inventory? No, it's a lossleader, not overstock.
-Will they make money on the inventory? No, it's a lossleader.
As Bitcoinorama rightly pointed out, the Mars sale is a way to lock you into buying a Jupiter. It's not to make a profit to fund development, they're pretty much selling at cost already. They'll make their money when you send yours for the preorder.
Bitcoin mining is a niche industry. In niche industries, you don't do barn sales, you sell know-how at a high price. The performance leader sets the price. If you have a low price, you're automatically "less good" and/or suspicious.
You shouldn't mix commodity market techniques and niche markets. They won't work together because of the low volumes. If you did do barn sales, you wouldn't make any money and YOU'd be the one whose inventory gets bought by bankrupcy sharks. It niche markets, you need to be a performance leader.
edit: when I mean they sell at cost, I don't mean it will just cover the BOM. I consider the R&D and other normal company expenses as well.
Your making it sound like it's going out of business. They have questions like what will make money? What do the customers want? Will I make a profit from this? How long can I sell this product or its shelf life?
They understand that this market the products sold affect the product that have already been sold and in turn also affects the products value before they are sold.
So the problem here is this. How do I make my company relevant to the market in such a hostile environment? People don't know me, and as a result don't trust me. How do I make and keep making money? If I build 1 prototype it costs the same to me if I sell 100 or 100,000.
Will I be able to sell 100,000? If I'm going to make them and their is a demand how do I push these out in batches or a super release of all at the same time?
I would need to make the first batch small but not to small where its not profitable. I have to do this quickly provided I have the demand to do this. My competition will work against me.
These products make money literally, I mean if banks where in the business of selling you branches of the bank would it work? thats basically what their doing here. This is another reason these companies like BFL still don't understand that the act of making these products kill currencies like steroids kill weightlifters. However the need is there to be fulfilled, the need is greed.
So I would first register names by making a poll to see if there is demand. Then use FPGA technology for litecoin as a stepping stone to gain relevancy in the market. They need a gimmick a flagship product that will generate revenue for other products.
When my name is more out there I can quickly push products out in batches and adjust prices according to profitability and need of the consumer.
Barn sales are products that are discounted and discontinued where the value of the product is reducing and has already been advertised and well known. Even the brand name is not even required at times. As seen on TV shit and stuff like that.
They will have a tough time entering but I feel they can learn from others on how not to do it.
Oil changes is a bad analogy due to the oil change value would not affect future oil changes but the goal would be customer awareness that they exist. That is their needed goal here for now.