Please I give. You are right on all accounts. My god you are so smart I bow to you.
Geesh! I guess nothing anyone says can possably be viable. RealTouch should hire you to save the company from utter failure. Im sure that the people who are in charge of RealTouch just read a book they found.
I wont waste anymore of your time or mine with this thread.
(02-24-2010 12:24 PM)Ray777666 Wrote: [ -> ] (01-10-2010 05:46 PM)Reset Wrote: [ -> ]As much as I hear users and others complain, Realtouch is not having all that much trouble with subscribers as you think. Yes maybe they could sell more as you say, but then the price would be much higher. It’s called differed cost.
I have strong doubts about that, but without either of us having seen their books it's impossible to say what they're making.
I'm fully aware of their strategy, and it's not a good one. Many console sellers have tried it in the past and they all died because people simply are not fond of dropping a couple of hundred bucks and then turning around and spending a fortune more just to use it... and the kicker for this product is that it won't even work unless you do pay per use.
The one thing that can be done easily to gauge how popular a product is and what the public opinion of it is, is to search the internet, and considering that this is a largely net-based product targeted at net-users, selling over the net, that search tells us a lot. Basically, a search of this product doesn't turn up even nearly enough buzz to get the sense that this thing has taken off, and certainly not much positive buzz from their potential customers. Will it take off someday? Perhaps, but not with its current model. It's not going to happen.
(01-10-2010 05:46 PM)Reset Wrote: [ -> ]They are working on making it more affordable to more people and as it grows it will get cheaper.
Here is the problem... they could go nuts and sell the unit for 2 cents and it still wouldn't be practical because of the pricing model of pay per minute. No matter what they do, anyone who buys it will have spent a fortune over time in order to use it. That's the problem. Making the unit cheaper will do nothing. They will have to at some point include a use-any time pack-in. If they don't they will fade away.
The VR Sex Machine had a great shot to take the market, but the product got bad reviews early and lacked content (and many felt the content they had was no good). But they got one thing right and that was including a pack-in product.
So Real Touch couldn't maintain their current set up and include one coded disc of one experience maybe lasting a few minutes or so, then direct customers to their site to buy more on the disc's internal program the way video game companies do demos or how Porn studios do with DVD's? Of course they could, and they'd get more business by doing it. You have to get people on board with a little piece of content they can own. There are all sorts of ways to make continuity sales, and more effective ways than what RT is doing have been and are being done in all sectors of business.
(01-10-2010 05:46 PM)Reset Wrote: [ -> ]There will always be a part of any market that you cannot sell to. Should a luxury car company sell its cars at the same cost as a small economy model, just to sell more cars? If it did it would go broke. Cost is cost.
That's a bad analogy. If you go to a car dealer and plunk down cash and pay in full to buy a car, you're not being forced to go to the dealer and spend more money every time you want to drive it. It's not the same deal.
The flaw in RT's approach is that the unit itself IS affordable for what it does. In fact, it's a brilliantly put together invention. And, it actually would appeal to a HUGE market. The problem is, paying per minute to use it does not appeal to that huge market, it instead turns them off. So they've effectively made a great product and then turned the gun down at their foot and pulled the trigger.
(01-10-2010 05:46 PM)Reset Wrote: [ -> ]Initial R&D and bringing a product to market is expensive, just as Plasmas were over $30,000 dollars at one time. Now look at the prices.
As I explained earlier, these analogies don't fit. It doesn't matter how much cheaper the unit becomes, the pay per use issue will keep people away.
Let me let you in on a little something... it's a fact that when console makers create and sell a console it's mostly at a loss. They make that money back through software licensing. This is sort of what RT is doing, but the method to which they're distributing as the sole channel of distribution is the issue that's going to keep them from soaring. Like I stated, it's more than likely that they're selling each unit at a loss when factoring in R&D, manufacturing, and other miscellaneous costs. They COULD in theory make it back through the pay per use videos, but the problem there is that they aren't going to get enough people to do that. So they've put themselves between a rock and a hard place.
(01-10-2010 05:46 PM)Reset Wrote: [ -> ]If right now all you can afford is a Fleashlight then that’s what you buy. Unless Obama will do a stimulus plan for Realtouch. I have no problem paying for what I know is a good product from a company with good support and vision. The prices will adjust to market demands as it grows.
You should visit the Doll Forum (dollforum.com). You'll find thousands of members with plenty of money to spend who spend huge amounts of money on sex dolls and various types of sex toys. What I gauged from that audience is that the RealTouch is a great idea, but even they--people who have more than enough money to spend on these things--won't buy RealTouch because of the pay-per use deal. This is not simply an issue of whether you have the money or not. There is some principle behind people's reluctance to buy it.
The demand is there and it has been for a long time. It's the company that needs to adjust, and they will if they wish to survive long-term.
(02-23-2010 02:31 AM)realman Wrote: [ -> ]If you watch videos on YouTube about the RealTouch nearly everybody is saying that they won't buy it because it's that sex toy you 'have to pay every time you use it'. However, that negative perception might also take a lot of effort to shift even when the new options are introduced.
Unfortunately for RT, it's not a perception. It's reality. You are technically paying each time you use it.
(02-21-2010 08:32 AM)WolfpupNX Wrote: [ -> ]I for one am quite happy with RealTouch. Even if they didn't change their pricing model, I'm personally pretty happy, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'd actually be very curious to know how well the product is doing so far.
We'll have to agree to disagree on the other points. But in terms of how well this product is doing... well... consider this:
*This is a forum dedicated to Real Touch. It comes up high in the search engines, but it doesn't have a whole lot of activity...
*More importantly, the forum on the Real Touch site doesn't have much activity (just 76 registered users). Considering that this is a product sold over the net to net savvy users who would more than likely check-in to a forum about the product they bought... I'd take the low activity as a good indicator of how well it's doing... but I'd bet the farm that if they start doing something to allow content ownership we'd suddenly see a sharp rise in participation.
For the record, I have the financial means to buy a Real Touch and all of its content countless times over (plus a room full of Real Dolls if I wanted). I've worked hard in my life and saved harder in order to reach that position. But, without being able to own any content, it's a no-go. No matter how much money you make in this life, wise savers understand that they didn't get to that financial position by throwing their money into bottomless pits...
YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT!
i dont understand, that the realtouch company not see this problem!
i can tell you one thing, that vod system with pay per minut not gonna work in europe!
the way of peoples thinking is others then in US.
in europe people would own content on disk...
they will sell 1000000 of units, if they could make this true!
also with partners with nice studios as bangros, naughtyamerica, & others...
they will make big $$$ & have the content, you'll never get seen in a life time
Ray777666, yeah, we're going to have to agree to disagree here.
I will give you forum activity isn't what it could be yet (I'm not even registered myself on the official forum - I should do that). And I'm not arguing content ownership - I would very much like to see that. I'm just saying I wouldn't stop using it without it either.
We just see things differently I guess. I don't see it as a bottomless pit. I'm paying for time using a product I enjoy in moderation. I pay for electricity and gas and water and shampoo and lube as I use them also.
Also, single-use sleeves like TENGA sell like hotcakes (especially in Japan, where I think RealTouch might do very well once it goes international), and if you only use them once, they end up being more expensive.
Personally my thought isn't so much its VOD nature as being the main problem (though hopefully other pricing models will help) - I tend to think there's still a taboo in the US in regards to automated sex toys that needs a bit of time to wear down. Sad but true, most people I know still have a bad impression of an interactive sex toy - even among those I consider my friends, most who know I use a RealTouch just think it's weird and would never consider using one themselves - it just kind of weirds them out (as do sex toys in general, but moreso automated ones). I tend to think it's just a symptom of being a fairly sexually repressed society.
That said, I think there's still enough hardcore users out there that as RealTouch gains momentum, it will do quite well. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but with a few exceptions, most people who've actually used it seem quite pleased.
Neither of us have the financials, and I'd love a better indicator of how it is doing, but I think we also have to give it a bit of time.
Well currently I am a very interested person in the future of Real Touch. It looks amazing, but I am another person really uncomfortable with the Pay-Per-Minute feature. I'm curious as to what the new subscription options might be. I see a couple people mention it. Is there any time frame anyone has heard on when the new options could become official?
I'd be really curious to see what they come out with. I don't mind supporting the device by buying more content that I could either keep and use more, or maybe on a monthly subscription base. But I really would like an option besides per minute. Even though per minute is useful sometimes, I would appreciate a device that can work other ways as well.
Haptic Encoder could comment better on this as he's an insider and I'm not, but last I read in the forum, the plan was to start offering, in addition to the current pay per minute model, clips you could buy for unlimited use (owned essentially, though still streamed and requiring an internet connection), clips you could rent for a week for unlimited use (also still streamed), and some sort of barebones unlimited use functionality (ie. repeating sensations without video). I also recall reading March timeframe, but don't hold me to that.
I can certainly understand people who want other models besides simply pay per minute, and hopefully RealTouch will accomodate many of those people soon.
(02-26-2010 12:51 PM)WolfpupNX Wrote: [ -> ]Haptic Encoder could comment better on this as he's an insider and I'm not, but last I read in the forum, the plan was to start offering, in addition to the current pay per minute model, clips you could buy for unlimited use (owned essentially, though still streamed and requiring an internet connection), clips you could rent for a week for unlimited use (also still streamed), and some sort of barebones unlimited use functionality (ie. repeating sensations without video). I also recall reading March timeframe, but don't hold me to that.
I can certainly understand people who want other models besides simply pay per minute, and hopefully RealTouch will accomodate many of those people soon.
i hope they have the right point at realtouch, but i dont think so...!
people would own content on discs, so they are pretty sure they will have it untill end of life time
second problem, stay connected to the internet, why?
what about people that are on the road (truckers), not gonna use this >> only streaming options!
My response to dancer in another thread:
As for Dancer, well sometimes you just can't break through that guard they have up. Oh well, we understand and accept that some people will never be a customer. We are tying to find better ways to get them but sometimes it just is what it is.
dancer, I can certainly see why disc content would be nice while on the road, etc. (Though personally I'd much rather a TENGA or something more portable for that situation.)
That said, I can also understand RealTouch's point of view. Internet connection required frankly means a much more robust rights management system to prevent hacking the unit/pirated discs.
From a business standpoint, it makes sense to require an internet connection. The vast majority of users won't have a problem with that requirement nowadays. Sure, there will be some that do, but you can't be all things to all people. Just my opinion of course. Personally, owned content streamable without limits is more than enough of a compromise for me - in fact, I have to give props to the company for (hopefully) implementing this soon as I frankly didn't expect it, at least not yet.
And we understand that. I can't go into details but we know that we will make more sales if you can use it independent of video/internet. I don't even understand Dancer's complaint considering we don't even sell in Europe right now. Can you say beating a dead horse?
(02-27-2010 05:39 AM)Haptic_Encoder Wrote: [ -> ]And we understand that. I can't go into details but we know that we will make more sales if you can use it independent of video/internet. I don't even understand Dancer's complaint considering we don't even sell in Europe right now. Can you say beating a dead horse?
It is a calculated business risk. Essentially the question is how much piracy would go on if it were to use of independent video from dvds and the like versus how many additional customers realtouch would gain. You'd probably see about a %75 rate of piracy so you would need to sell at least 4x the number of real touches to make up for it. I think the way you guys are expanding now is the way to go.