Introducing the “Inside Dash” Blog Series
Greetings,
One of the most important things for us here at Dash is working hard to get to know our beta testers and future customers. That said, it only seems fair that we give everyone a chance to get to know us better too! I’m sure plenty of you are familiar with James Lipton’s Inside the Actor’s Studio? He asks the same questions at the end of every interview, and the answers can be pretty interesting, not to mention hilarious.
We have taken a page from Mr. Lipton’s book and developed our own set of questions, which I have included below. Kicking off today, be sure to check back each week to see the responses from some of the folks here at Dash. Needless to say I think this will be an entertaining series, not to mention insightful in terms of the ways Dash Express devices will improve your every day life.
Enjoy!
- What is the most unique thing you have ever searched for on your Dash Express?
- What celebrity do you think could most use a Dash Express, and why?
- What’s your favorite Saved Search button from MyDash?
- What was your most horrific commuting story?
- Do you have a special Dash moment that you can share?
February 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I only have 1 question for the folks at Dash. When will the Dash Express ship? T-minus 10 days and counting until the end of the month.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
How accurate will the maps / directions be compared to garmin, magellan, tom tom? Will the maps be automatically updated like the firmware?
February 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Same here, first I hesitated to order since the hanging pre-order status; second I missed the $100 off coupon, and find $499 little more resonable than $599…
February 19th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
There was a $100 off coupon?! Let me guess, beta testers only? Any chance it’s still around?
February 19th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
1..5: When will the preorders ship?
February 19th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
# What is the most unique thing you have ever searched for on your Dash Express?
NOTHING YOU HAVEN’T SHIPPED THEM YET
# What celebrity do you think could most use a Dash Express, and why?
UH - THE INVISIBLE MAN BECAUSE THEY ARE BOTH INVISIBLE
# What’s your favorite Saved Search button from MyDash?
A WHO??
# What was your most horrific commuting story?
CRASHING AS DASH TOLD ME THEY ARE PUSHING THE DATE OUT TO EARLY MARCH NOW
# Do you have a special Dash moment that you can share?
YES - OPENING THE BO - OH NEVERMIND
PLEASE STOP PLAYING WITH US. WE’VE SPEND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS - WE DON’T NEED JOKES AND GAMES, WE NEED OUR DEVICES. IT’S REALLY NOT A GOOD TIME TO BE SO JOVIAL WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO PUSH THESE DEVICES OUT AGAIN - IS IT!! WHERE IS THE 3D VIEW?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I am one of the testers who is frustrated because I have not received the VIP discount certificate. It is odd how all of a sudden your marketing team stopped their outreach to the initial testers community. I am a bit disappointed.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:12 am
All signs point to problems and the lack of communication only makes it worse. Time to cancel the pre-order and go with the TT920
February 20th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Radio silence since Jan and this is all we get? The people who are looking at this blog are your biggest supporters. It is time to be straightforward, honest, and most importantly communicative, not to mention time to ship.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am
There is actually a new video posted on the “Yahoo Developer Network” where Dash shows a few of the features on the unit. Most interesting is what looks like their 3d view, which you can see at about 3:24 into the video. You can find it here -
http://developer.yahoo.net/blogs/theater/archives/2008/02/developer_spotlight_dashnet.html
Admittedly, I’m growing impatient as well waiting for the unit, so any updated information Dash can provide on the street date will make many of us soon-to-be users happy. But even though I wish the unit was already out, I’d prefer that they spend time making sure the unit is excellent on day one (specifically, as bug free as possible) vs. the alternative of slightly rushing a not quite perfected unit to the marketplace. I know its tough waiting now, but a year from now when we’re using hopefully an awesome GPS, we’ll forget all about the extra few days or weeks we had to wait to receive the unit.
And I’m one of the most impatient of this bunch, since my existing GPS stopped working about 2 weeks ago – I’m amazed how lost I am without it…I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will be out soon.
P.S. I can’t get any line breaks to show up in this comment, so sorry for the apparent run on.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:16 am
If the shipped date is pushed back, I’m with Matt S, time to cancel and order something else that I could be using already.
If the unit ships with some bugs, then can’t we just get an update later on to fix it? As long as its not something major, which if there is something major, then there should not be proposed shipped date.
If the date is pushed back, I think $100 discount or a free year of Dash Service for existing pre-orders would make things cool again.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:58 am
It’s really pretty sad that mid February has passed and we’ve heard nearly nothing from
Dash concerning our units. We’ve spend hundreds of dollars and they don’t even respect
their customers enough to say “we are pushing out again”. Instead, they finally updated
their blog wanting to play games - in fact, the’ve gone as far to ask their customers “what
is you best Dash experience” ARE THEY KIDDING??? Maybe instead of joking, they should be
updating their customers about the shipping date of these devices we’ve paid hundreds of
dollars for.
When this device was originally slated for release in early 2007, it was revolutionary, but
now many other players in the game have either caught up, or are just about to; and we’ve
seen 3D maps from them. Dash needs to stop joking, grow up and realize that their fate
lies in making happy customers, as they have a very expensive gps unit, and the only way to
get people who are teetering to buy, are good words from their initial customer base.
I still believe that the Dash is going to be a good product, and I am willing to back them
if they treat me like they actually care about me as a customer, but I am starting to look
around at other offerings and pricing to possibly come up with a cheaper alternative with
similar features.
Besides - what’s the hold up?? I though they could release software updates to us
seemlessly - as needed!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:34 am
FYI, I just called and asked about the ship date and after the CSR called me back he said the ship date is still set for the end of Feb
February 20th, 2008 at 11:48 am
they now have shut down the comments
February 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
?? They work
February 20th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
The interesting thing about these connected GPS units, is the early adaptors are highly incentivised to “sell” the unit by word of mouth to other potential customers. The driver network depends on critical mass. As the upstart Dash will need help to defeat the Garmin and TomTom connected devices in this “format war”. I have no doubt they are working to get the device shipped, as first to market will have a big impact as to which connected device dominates, but I think the frustration in this blog is from the lack on communication. It doesn’t take much, an email or two and some relavant comments on this supposed blog as to their progress. Keeping the early adaptors happy is the biggest key to a succesful product of this nature.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
All - This is Mark Williamson from Dash, and I want to start by letting you all know that I just posted an apology for the lack of communication through the blog. I have had my head down focused on shipping and been neglecting this blog, and I am sorry about that.
To start with, I recognize that all of you are passionate about the product and you haven’t gotten all the information you want. I am more than happy to have any conversation here in the comments but if you want to reach out to me directly don’t hesitate to email me Mark AT dash.net
Ok, time to move on to specific questions raised here in the comments:
1) We will be reaching out with an official communication around ship date shortly, so if you can wait another day or so you should hear back from us on this blog and via email.
@nday - TeleAtlas is our map provider. They also provide maps to TomTom, so hopefully that gives you a sense of the map data quality.
@dashless - I want you to know we do take you, and all of our potential customers, very seriously and I apologize for the lack of communication. As I mentioned above, we are going to have an official communication out soon about shipping preorders so you should hear from us about that shortly. Please email me directly, or post a question here, if you have additional comments / questions.
@Sam - As a former tester you are entitled to your discount and if you didn’t get it I want to fix that. Please email me and I can help you. Mark AT dash.net
@Matt S - I hope you consider sticking with us and if you have additional questions please ping me.
@Tim - Radio Silence = my bad. I know our readers are our greatest supporters and I want to keep the conversation going so bear with me as I get this thing ramped back up.
@Ken - glad you liked the Yahoo! Video. For those that haven’t seen our night mode or 3d mode please be sure to check out the link he posted.
Mark
February 20th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Glad to see a phone call and suggestions are well recieved. Thanks Mark!!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
$100 off was from Dash @ the CES event. Unfortunately I missed the promo period, so I did not pre-order. $600+monthly is too much for me, even if the product seems really promising.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Yes, I believe $600 is too much for a device that requires monthly service fees. After buying this device, users still have to pay 120 a year (for 2 yr plan) to use the service.I bought a drobo storage device which I paid $600 in the beginning, but they lowered the price and mailed me $100 check for paying full price in the beginning so I think dash can learn from them for customer service.