On 3/6/07, Bob Axtell <engineer@neomailbox.com> wrote:
>
>
> > So maybe there's a US$ 100k/year market for these things which works out
> at
> > a mere 500 units per year and that sounds pretty easy to sell. However I
> > can't see how you would reach that market without spending a significant
> > portion of that revenue in advertising. Google ads might do for 50
> > units/year, for the remaining 450 what would you do?
> >
> The market is primarily with field service engineers. These guys drag
> around enough stuff, and want a CERTAIN,
> RELIABLE way of upgrading products. Are you saying they would like
> dragging around an ICD2, MPLAB, and
> a laptop, when a 4"x2" programmer with an SD card would do perfectly?
> Frankly, the ICD2 is too unreliable to be
> used as a field service tool; it takes too long to get it moving in the
> right direction, like an old steam engine locomotive.


Only a couple of years ago, updates consisted of replacement chips;
> first UV PROMS, then UV uPs, now flash
> uP's. MOST are now interfaced by some ICSP scheme. PICs are no different.
>
> The other application is on the production floor. The engineering
> department releases the updated firmware for the
> whatsit which is almost ready to be boxed up and shipped. The updated
> firmware goes into the bottom of the
> production programmer each morning. The programmer charged at its holder
> all night, and its LiIon or NiMH
> battery pack is topped off. The QC engineer notes which product needs
> final updates, dials it in, plugs in a tiny ICSP
> plug, and updates are done in a few seconds; NOT just the program
> section, but ALL of it; the config bits as well.


You're entirely right here. BUT you still need to convince at least 200
customers to buy 2-3 of your units. And that's HARD work .

Let's look at bootloaders for a second. I've written several, how about
> you? The customer dials up your website and
> gets the  "latest firmware" release to be installed. He points to the
> link, and in a few minutes, the new firmware is installed.
> Here are the pitfalls with bootloaders:
>

Again you're right about bootloaders. But honestly I=B4m not sure how the
field programmer competes with them. If my customer 500 km away needs a
firmware update do I put the programmer in the overnight mail?

I think it's a neat idea and it could work. But its a niche product IMO,
which means that for it to actually make money you'll have to be VERY clever
about selling it to the right people without spending a ton of cash on
advertising or becoming a full time salesman.
-- =

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