With the rise of artificial intelligence, there have been quite a few devices that want downplaying the smartphone as we know it. One of these is the Humane AI Pin, a novel gadget that promised a lot when shipments to the first users began.
Recently, we learned about the processor that is packed into its tiny guts. It turns out that under the hood it runs a stripped-down version of Android with a launcher, and its performance has left a lot to be desired. So much so that some industry sources claimed that the company is looking for a buyer. It didn’t help that its charging case could catch fire, and now comes another hard setback: The rate of returns exceeds that of sales.
“I don’t want my AI Pin”
The story of the Humane AI Pin is not too well-known, and it is not necessary that, shortly after it came on the market, users returned their units. According to The Verge, between the months of May and August, more AI Pins have been returned than have been purchased.
The internal sales data to which the media has had access confirm this. In June, only 8,000 units had been returned. Today, 7,000 units are still in the hands of customers. fierce criticism They have done a lot of damage to this device, which seems to offer nothing different, contrary to what it might seem at first.
Things are not going well at Humane. In fact, The Information pointed out last week that they are in negotiations with investors to increase the debt. AI Pin’s profits amount to 9 million dollars, however, 1,000 purchases were cancelled before shipping, and products worth more than a million dollars were returned.
Let’s remember that Humane received more than 200 million dollars from investors from Silicon Valley itself, such as Sam Altman. Comparisons are odious, especially in this case: around 10,000 AI Pins have been sent, Humane expected to reach 100,000 in the first year.
For its part, Zoz Cuccias, a spokesperson for the company, has commented that there are inaccuracies in The Verge’s reports. The media outlet asked the Humane employee and received a refusal to provide details of financial data.
In any case, the company does not have an easy time with these returns, which is worse than losing the money deposited: Every AI Pin becomes electronic wasteas it is not possible to restore the device for a new user to use. Due to a limitation with T-Mobile, Humane cannot reassign an AI Pin. Apparently, the company would not have gotten rid of the returns, not in vain, “they still have hope that they can resolve this problem eventually.”
In addition to these problems, some workers in important roles have left Humane. And they are not the only ones who have left: in January, 4% of the staff were laid off as a cost-cutting measure, before the launch of the aforementioned device.
The future doesn’t look good for the San Francisco-based company. To calm the situation, though, co-founder and CEO Bethany Bongiorno said during the launch that no first generation is perfect, nor is “the whole vision.” We don’t even know if we’ll see a hypothetical AI Pin 2 after what happened.
Via | The Verge