Assuming it works, or that it ever gets produced, which we can’t verify either for the mindstream.
I’m well versed in bringing hardware to market. That’s how I know that “preselling” hardware and charging upfront is a great way for companies to borrow cash.
So paul with all due respect I will go ahead and assume you were not involved in bringing:
Tesla where they charge thousands a year or 2 in .advance to pre order
Pretty much every car when you want to get the new model or add customization and have to pay huge downpayment and wait for the release
iPhones and iPads where they accept pre orders (payment) the day they announce
Every single
Amazon device where they accept pre orders paymenta at least 3 months in advance
Irobot products who accept pre orders 2 months before shipping
All the GoFundMe and crowd funding sites that people give money before product is even developed(many good products came out of these sites)
Oculus where they charged payment before they even had the product developed
Playstation where they charge in advance to book early release
Furniture stores like ethan allen or boconcept making you Pay full advance and wait 3 months for your furniture to arrive.
Every single cool gadget I know off for the last 5 years had a pre order and most commonly a payment was associated to hold your order in place
But thank you for your valued point of view in how consumer
market is;)