@GerradoNUH were definitely not the first to bring true wireless buds to the market
Onkyo were first ( 2015) Earin ( 2015) , then Bragi in 2016 just slightly behind) Samsung Gear Icon X ( 2016) Motorola Verve 1, Jabra Elite sport ( 2016 ) Airpods (Dec 2016) Nuheara Feb 2017 ( as were late delivering product after indie campaign )
Max as i understand was developed to supercede IQ buds which were plagued with issues ( as had most of the first gen releases listed above) Max has always had the gain required for OTC, as did IQ buds ( which was the diferential between Nuheara and the other manufacturers listed above ) however they did NAL testing for that launch and with the documentation which moved them away from CE into the hearing space. They had some very large customers in the eharing space, but with the lack of sales uptake from the end consumer, had little success.
This is where i have my wobble, because they are prediminantly going into the same space ( hearing ) with the same product , and the only difference is it can now be marketed as a hearing aid. There was no customer uplift from that market segment before, so does having an FDA approved stamp on the box sllow it to sell more now ( customer confidence perhaps lifted) or is there just no consumer demand for this type of product as this time? Primarily because people with mild hearing loss do not know they have mild hearing loss and therefore do not go out and purchase a product for a problem they do not know they have,
The upside is as far as i am aware they have never been in any mainstream audiology stores in the USA, so perhaps ( and this is why i have taken a punt buying shares over the last week) the audiologists in the states will actually sell this product in store for people who come in and are disagnosed as mild to mid. My fear is ( which is why i have not invested further at this time ) that the numbers sold will not be enough to stop consistent funding rounds and further dilution, so i have invested what I am prepared to lose and write off should that transpire. I am disappointed in the annoucement as it is easy to state what the advance orders were in the annoucement, to give the market confidence that they are on the corect path. Any company with great advance orders predominantly announce the advance orders and sales. That has not happened here, so perhaps the *shipping to customers" are only small initial online orders that they have been taking advance money for over the last few weeks, which would in turn give them numbers to guage the demand before going into real manufacturing.
The upside is that it takes off, i make good money then i buy more shares, so for me it is a 50/50 gamble that i took, hopefully it comes good both for me and everyone else that has invested money.
(20min delay)