Sure, we all agree to that. On the other hand, quote from September:
February is the Chinese New Year and effectively the entire country is shut down for that month. Therefore, we can only restart the production ramp-up process in March, with first units to be produced in April.
What shoud a news post at this point give us? “Guess what happened: no progress with our hardware partners in China, as unexpectedly they don’t respond to our mails.”
Also, that is nothing to put in a blog post, because it does not make a good impression on those that don’t know the background. (That’s also part of effective communication).
It could be communicated to the backers via email. But then that could create rumors.
So, I’d be okay if the next update comes in march, and then it has actual content.
Two more notes:
- That quote already leaves room for interpretation that the phone production could begin end of April, and thus shipping would be in May.
- Even if they anticipate further delay, it would not be the smartest to hint at that right now, during a time they hardly get Chinese feedback. In march they have a much better chance to give fact-based estimates. Also, announcing a delay is nothing they want to do on a regular basis. If they have to do it, they’ll want to make sure it will be exactly one more time (again, part of effective communication).