if nothing else, the idea could have been put into play sooner... but the fact remains that it probably was put into play exactly when it needed to be. I primarily say that due to the nub and LCD cable fiascos. Had they jacked the price up and put things into production faster, they'd have a lot more bad builds on their hands, a lot more RMAs and a lot less positive feedback on the hardware more than anything else.
So though they are late in producing a viable profitability/productivity method, had it come any sooner it wouldn't hold as much weight. I may be waiting still, but I have to admit, I'd prefer a product that is as finished and stable (hardware more than software, but software is a close second) as possible. I have been going through the gamut of temporary place holders while I wait for my PND and NOTHING as truly stacked up to my expectations of standard level usability yet. Either hardware malfunctions that could have been prevented with a bit more care/effort (all the netbooks I have put my hands on aside from the fairly expensive ones) or the software was just so buggy that I wanted to smash the device against the wall AND force them to give me my money back (my Archos PMA420 AND Archos 5 - non Android version AS WELL AS my SmartQ V5-II with broken Android and horrible Ubuntu Mobile that has rendered itself useless when I installed the bluetooth drivers and my Samsung Intercept smartphone with broken Android that is not upgradeable to anything worth having, just like the SmartQ). All of these devices are pretty easy to get my hands on, have some level of community and corporate support, and have all proven to be crap on some level or another.
I am not expecting that from PND mostly due to it's hardware functionality coupled with the fact that I am not forced to use the version of software installed. I can modify the software (with effort, but it's still open to me, nonetheless) swap out the software completely (again, with a bit of effort, but that's fine by me... I'm the one that wants to change things) or run my own thing without changing any software internally (gotta love the SD boot functionality!) which are all things I highly appreciate with standard desktop and laptop systems.
There is a focus on software, which is fine... make the in-house as best you can, more power to you), but there is more focus on getting the hardware right. Which makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE because a software related RMA is just ridiculous! download the firmware and reflash... do it yourself! The company loses more money on software RMAs than hardware RMAs by far because the return/guarantee of a software fix is much less quantifiable than a hardware fix, and it can be done on the user's end (even having tech support on the line is better than shipping it back).
So this is my long-winded way of saying I support the choice in the grand scheme of things and I think they are doing things right as a startup vs any well-established conglomerate. Though a bit more efficiency would have been nice, this is how start ups go in the world we live in. I'm amazed they've been around for the two years they have, as most startups die if the profit is low or negative within the first 18 months.
Rant(?) over...
