Quote from: n0nce on February 11, 2023, 12:28:23 AM

Thanks for the heads-up! I will try it as soon as possible and see if there are any noticeable changes from the beta version I had tried. However, that was already miles better than 2.0.4, as posted above.

Having some presence on Bitcointalk is definitely something I'd recommend to Foundation Devices. You could also create your own thread in this subforum (like Tibu is doing for his Satochip wallet) for announcements, updates and whatnot. But feel free to just keep posting here, if you prefer that.

I'm sure there are also ways to contribute e.g. as a sponsor for larger forum events like Bitcointalk Community Awards and similar to get more forum member hands on Passports and maybe more discussion and feedback.. Wink

Instead of being available for 24h, I recommend setting up something like LoyceV's notification bot or the Telegram bot linked there.

Then you can have a look at your notification page from time to time and see if you got mentioned somewhere.

Thanks, I'll check with my team, I really like the idea of setting up our own thread for announcements and discussion. We'll look into potential sponsorships as well.

I'll also check out the notifications bot, because I've been relying on email notifications and it seems like I've been missing a lot.

Quote from: RickDeckard on February 11, 2023, 02:47:40 PM

Thank you for coming here once again Zack! As someone who likes the whole concept of your product, could you share some details/road ahead regarding selling directly to consumers in Europe? Currently, according to one of your resellers[1], the price for a Batch 2 devices is 350 [2] which makes a high barrier for entrance for users that may even like the product but the price is outside what they would like to spend on such device when they can, for example, buy a Trezor Model T for ~ 210 - this difference is particularly important in the times that we currently face with high inflation and extreme energy prices in Europe.

The current price in USA for the device is $249 which translates to ~ 241 . Considering your business model, I don't see it possible to happen in a foreseeable future to have two parallel assembly factories in both USA and Europe so that you could try to decrease the price between each regional area. However, I would like to ask if there are any plans to have a fulfillment center in Europe that could allow you to ship directly to EU customers. This is a similar approach taken from Trezor[5] - and Europe based company - where they have a fulfillment center in USA that allows them to ship their products directly to consumers (of course they still have resellers[6]) but I think that having a fulfillment center in Europe would contribute to have a smaller difference between USD and EUR price.

Thanks for the feedback! I think we just need to ramp up and have higher volumes before considering a separate distribution center. But it's definitely something we'd want in the future.

One thing we've done in the last ~6 months is enable better import tax estimates when purchasing directly from us. For example, plugging in a random address in Portugal, it tells the customer that estimated taxes and duties will be $71.21 if shipping via UPS Worldwide Saver (in addition to shipping cost). It's just an estimate, but at least it's better than blindly ordering direct from us and getting hit with a large unexpected import tax bill.

I think we can, in general, reduce Passport's price over time as we scale production. Increased volume will mean lower costs, and we can pass those savings to our customers.

Quote from: n0nce on February 11, 2023, 07:50:10 PM

Although I do agree that 350 or $ is a lot of money. I already suggested that maybe they could make a 'light' version of the batch 2, using the exact same hardware and software (no additional R&D costs) and further reduce costs through cheaper materials (no metal parts, just all plastic). That should allow them to drop the price drastically, especially since a device at half the cost opens a much wider market. I don't really see why not to make a cheaper Passport.

My preference for now would be to drive down costs via higher volumes and manufacturing optimizations, as opposed to releasing a new low-end device (at least in near term). I'd love to get Passport's price point to $199.

Quote from: dkbit98 on February 12, 2023, 10:06:38 PM

Available how exactly?
I sent you personal message in forum more than two days ago and I still didn't receive any reply... maybe you didn't check your inbox

Sorry dkbit98, the email notifications on BitcoinTalk are pretty bad, I will just keep it open in a tab in my browser and check frequently. You guys have a great community here, hoping to participate in more discussions.