Neither am I a patent attorney. I was just pointing out that some things you just cannot patent. I do know evolve has some patents but I don't remember or fully understand for that matter the details.
Not sure I buy that it was a patent reason either in calling it joules.
I didn't think of a marketing issue but it does sound better. Quite frankly to the average vaper, joules is meaningless.
I do believe in fairy tales, to a certain point. It may not be fairies, dragons and monster but the underlying theme is general true. Of course, one has to read deep into it. Pigs flying? In Cincinnati, we have the Flying Pigs marathon every year, so maybe they did? Lucky accidents are one in our national debt X 100.
When you sell something for 4x what the competition charges, you have to have some sizzle, some
Product Differentiation. And when you have a competitor trying to do the same thing (Evolve), you again need some serious
Product Differentiation.
You are right that most people do not understand Joules. That is why it makes a good marketing Secret Sauce. It's hard to over-hype something everyone clearly understands. It was interesting to listen to PBusardo tap dance around it. He seemed to think it was much to do about nothing but was uncomfortable actually calling them out on it because he was perhaps still trying to get his arms around the disconnect. And he seems quite knowledgeable about electronics.
Now think about the SX Mini M. What differentiates it from its competitors, both the $50 TC mods and Evolve's DNA series? Really only two things stand out to me, the one year warranty and
Joules. If they had called the Joules setting a watts setting, and not made a big deal about Jules except to highlight the Jules Counter eye candy, what do they have left that makes you want to pay 4x for it, or steer yourself away from an Evolve?
And interestingly, I searched their site for specific warranty terms, but a site search (via their site search box) turns up nothing. I only found one sentence in their user manual in quite rough Chinglish. And I've read a couple things suggesting they have hidden warranty terms. For example, on some guy's web site they were supposedly interviewed, saying that their warranty is void in the case where the product is bought below retail price. That is not how I want to find out about the warranty terms backing my $200 (4x the cost of similar) product. But my concerns over the warranty do not seem to bother others?
In any event, take out the Joules thing and now see how this product appears, relative to it's $50 competitors and Evolve. That's marketing (the Joules thing).
Joules is actually the cornerstone of their marketing.