With Samsung planning a U.S. launch of its Origami tablet on Monday, the folks at TabletKiosk had hoped to already be shipping significant quantities of their rival device.
Instead, the tiny Southern California company discovered a manufacturing issue in the first prototypes; the internal fan was striking the devices" outer shell, causing a myriad problems. As a result, the company had to make some tweaks, and most of the devices won"t ship until June.
"It"s extremely frustrating," said Gail Levy, TabletKiosk"s director of marketing. Doubly so since the company has already sold out its first production run (though it won"t say how many have sold or shipped) and its phone continues to ring with people interested in buying the tiny tablets.
But while the company has lost some of the pride that comes with being first to market, it has managed to win points from customers pleased that it is taking the time to get it right, as well as the forthright nature by which the company let the public know of its woes.