I think evolv learned something from the DNA 40 launch. They're testing the product through real users and they don't owe anyone any information. What they choose to say or allow the folks they have signed NDA's to say is up to them. I can't wait to see this product once released and if it is something I want, I'll buy it. If the documentation sucks and nobody can figure out how to use it, I won't buy it. I'm not getting worked up about it.
By the same token, your expectations are different and I can't say you're wrong, just that I don't agree with everything you say.
I wasn't a vaper at the time of the DNA 40 launch, I started in March, so I'm not familiar with that reference.
I think a key word is
owe - I think this might be at the heart of a lot of what happens in threads like these, which for some reason I still can't fully fathom tend to become quite emotional.
You're right, they absolutely don't owe anything to anyone who isn't a customer. To customers they owe that the product does what they said it did and that they will support it in the way they said it would, but those are different issues.
They could choose to distribute the boards in an oily rag and never say anything to anyone about it if they wanted, and no-one would have the right to say they were owed anything different so long as they knew that that is what they were getting.
My point is not that they owe anything, but rather they
should be doing this as a responsible manufacturer who wants to be maximally successful and as beneficial to their customers, and potential customers, as possible. That if they communicated more, and better, they would be providing a better service to their users and this would benefit everyone; Evolv included, in terms of sales and good will (which leads to sales.)
People have different expectations of different companies and services. If one buys an unbranded cheap product at a market stall, one expects exactly zero after-sales support. If one buys from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft or any number of other big manufacturers, or one uses the services of Google, Facebook, Yahoo or an any number of other big providers, one has a very different expectation. Evolv is not the former, but nor do they appear to be aspiring to be the latter - even by the lax standards of vaping manufacturers in general. That is what I feel they should be trying, at least proportionally to their size. We seem to get more direct information out of the Chinese firms like Yihi than we do out of a company that makes a point of being "Made in the USA."
I gave the example of Dicodes because I was genuinely impressed with their publications: in fact they published just one seven page PDF (in English; there might be more in German.) But it was highly notable and visible to me because it was literally the first technical document I had seen from a manufacturer describing TC - and coming out many months after TC had revolutionised the vaping market. It made me think highly of Dicodes, but more than that it made me look askance at Evolv - "shouldn't some of this info have come months ago, from the pioneers of TC vaping?" That made me think how really
nothing had come from them directly, only fed to certain high profile individuals - well, really just Busardo, that I saw anyway - to be trickled down piecemeal, and to a limited, random audience. If one didn't happen to watch all of his 1.5 hours of DNA 40 reviews, and if you don't read forums all day, that's tough if you missed crucial info.
That for me is an example of how communication "wins hearts and minds" - and loses them, too. It's also an example of how I feel all vape manufacturers, not just Evolv, should be trying to raise the bar on the industry as a whole, trying to move it from a niche, back-room, part-time industry into something reputable and long lasting. That was fine in years past, but it feels to me that the industry should aspire to be doing better now - should aspire to any number of examples in any number of other industries. Press releases, complete documentation, blog posts, twitter posts, comprehensive customer service, manufacturer's own forums, etc etc. (And if that sounds expensive, Evolv surely have a rabidly dedicated fan base who I am certain would fall over themselves to help.)
Like you I base my purchase decisions on the facts available and where there is a lack of information I weigh up the pros and cons accordingly - and usually go ahead anyway and figure it out myself. Sometimes, lack of information is even a pro - the challenge of figuring something out! But that's not the general case for most people.
For some reason others seem prone to get emotional over this - and really would use a word like
owe. But I don't think the overreactions of some should cloud the fundamental point that by any standard Evolv clearly
could do better at communication. The Evolv fanbois are want to exclaim that Evolv are raising the bar in every way with their hardware. In some areas, and in a more limited sense, I agree. But what I don't think anyone can claim is that they're raising the bar in terms of communication and education -a bar already set very low by their competitors. In my view that is something they should try to improve; not because they owe it to anyone, but because we all, Evolv included, will benefit from it.