They'll be using the parts in other units. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kathy Williams Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 5:10 AM To: Braillenote List Subject: [Braillenote] What's The Purpose of Transplanting?
I'm confused by the "Transplant" program people keep talking about. As I understand it, you send in a perfectly good used voice or braille note with a braille display and they take its braille display and put it into an MPower for you and according to Jonathan, junk the rest of the perfectly good unit. Now I may be letting my recycling nature get the better of my undrstanding, but this seems terribly wasteful, and I can't come up with an excuse or even a justification for such waste. I could understand Humanware taking the used units in on trade towards the new mPower then reselling the refurbished units at a discount to benefit customers who could not afford the full priced new units, to benefit the person trading in the unit, and to benefit themselves by thereby giving them two sales and the pr of helping two customers. Instead what they are doing is wasting perfectly good voicenote equivelants just to remove their braille displays, and move those displays into otherwise new mPowers thereby creating a highbred new/used unit with the Braille Display already somewhere along its continuum of wear and devaluation. Now if as we've been told, the "Classic" units still have value, will still be upgraded and have things developed for them, etc. etc., then this surrender for scavengering of display program is nothing but a wasteful means to compensate for the fact that the braille display isn't removable leaving a usable unit behind which could then be sold by the person wanting the new mPower. Doesn't this original unit have more value financially if sold to someone who wants it than simply that amount which goes towards the price of the mPower because it provides the used display for the unit? Wouldn't it be better or at least just as good for the individual wanting the mPower to first sell their original unit then apply part of that money towards the new mPower they choose thereby having a completely new unit? By selling the original unit that buyer would benefit by getting a unit at a lower price. By applying that money the mPower buyer would have the benefit of an all new unit. And by doing so the future used market would not be confounded with a mess of old display older display and new display models being sold at a later date. Why is Humanware creating this chaos in the first place? Why aren't they simply taking units in on trade as an option, reselling them after bringing them up to spec as refurbished units, and thereby keeping the market clean for new mPowers as all new units aging as a whole device rather than componants? If the mPower customers don't care that they are throwing away a perfectly good voicenote, couldn't Humanware come up with a coverplate for where the Braille display was removed and leave these scavenged units as working non-Braille units to be donated where needed or something useful? Is this foreshadowing a loss of a market for these type of devices in the near enough future that Humanware doesn't care that they are creating these highbred new/used mPowers because a resale market of mPowers or any other braillenote version is not going to be there very shortly if, in fact, the upcoming screen reader technology for off-the-shelf PDA's and Smart Phones is successfully combined with portable Braille displays? Why are they deliberately damaging the resale market of the new mPowers? Why is Humanware removing the number of Braillenotes from the used market that are becoming doners for their displays alone rather than selling them as used units for the cost of the credit towards the mPower thereby benefiting people who want them? Is this simply a matter of figuring if these used units are off the table, people will have to buy the new versions directly from them rather than either used units from individuals or refurbished units from Humanware? Where is the benefit in this policy?? ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
