Hi all, The Trekker is still being made and still selling well. The original $2000 Trekker had to go because the PDA disappeared from the market. Along came the self-contained Trekker Breeze which, in case you are not informed is still being made and still selling. In fact, it has been selling at a lower price due to the pressures put on the market. It still fills the needs of many blind people and I am one of them. Nobody can make me believe that any app available right now for the IPhone equals the features of my Breeze. When I get to where I am going, my IPhone battery still has a full charge to face the day because I had another device to get me to where I was going. When one device fails, the other is still working. My Breeze is thicker than a smart phone but it is about the same length and just about the same width. It gives me all the information I need without having to jump from app to app. Travelling with a dog or a cane doesn't leave too many hands to do all that finger flicking while walking. My Breeze around my neck and listening to what it says is all I need to do
Some people forget that all these companies who made special devices were taking advantage of us. Had it not been for these companies, most of us who are blind or visually impaired would not had a job and led a productive life. The developing of these devices cost a lot for the size of the market and that is the only reason why they were so very expensive. A lot of companies came and went over the years because there was no real money to be made. Three companies had to merge to form Freedom Scientific in order to be able to continue to produce the devices that kept us working and enjoying doing what we are doing right now and that is communicating with people around the world. At least 2 companies that I know of had to merge to form Humanware and there probably are many others. I can only think right now of Visuaide who were the original makers of the Trekker and the Victor reader. Had there been so much money to be made, these companies would still be out there making their big money but that is not the case. Technology has evolved to the point that we now have devices like the IPhone and the IPad which are sold in the multi millions and not in the hundreds and thousands. Splitting the cost of accessibility into hundreds of millions of devices put out is far less expensive than doing it for a limited market. Let's not only look at what has been done by Apple in the past short while and look at what we have been enjoying for decades. Stevie Wonder paid over $50,000 for his first reading machine which wasn't that great and, now we are very close to getting some very powerful reading apps for under $20. ----- In my opinion, nobody was so called "sticking it to the blind". Just people working very hard to keep us going with our education and future careers. I wish some people would remember the wonderful side of things without biting the hands that fed us. Just an opinion Ron & Danvers Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Christopher Chaltain Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Trekker GPS App I'm not so sure that companies from 20, 10 or even 5 years ago that were making custom devices for the blind were charging the prices they were just to "stick it to the blind". The world was quite a bit different. You didn't have off the shelf devices that had the computing power to run a full blown OS, a built in screen reader, a software speech synthesizer, a GPS and so on. Of course those devices cost more than an app for the iPhone would cost today. I'm not saying that companies making products for the blind, didn't over charge for their products, I'm sure some of them did, just like companies may try to get more for their products in every free market than some people think is fair. I think it's great today that we have so many off the shelf options, and I know I tend to favour an off the shelf option myself when it meets my needs. I still wouldn't hesitate to buy a device or an app made with the blind in mind though, if it meets my needs and helps me compete with my sighted peers. I'm not a fan of the term blind ghetto though, and I think it does a disservice to all of those products and people who gave the blind the opportunity to be successful in various careers before we could piggy back on top of devices like the iPhone. I also think that companies making products for the blind can smell the coffee. As mentioned below, the Trekker is no longer made, and how many products like it do you see out there anymore? Access technology companies aren't stupid, and they see what's happening with access technology and the developments they can take advantage of, if they so choose to. On 16/02/13 21:35, M. Taylor wrote: > Hi, > > I was one of those who paid 2000 plus dollars for the original Trekker > Maestro device. It changed my life in so many ways. > > Never before had I experienced such navigational independence. > > I have been lobbying HumanWare for a Trekker iOS app ever since it > became clear that Code Factory was not going to port it's Mobile Geo to iOS. > > Mark > > > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Alan Paganelli > Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 6:38 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Trekker GPS App > > Maestro Trekker was back in 2005 and went belly up in 2007 when the > Apple iPhone changed the world. I think companies wanting to remain > in business selling products and services to the Blind need to wake up > and smell the coffee. The days of sticking it to the blind because they can are gone. > Blind people today understand that they vote with their dollars. No > way could they charge 2 grand for a Trekker app. They probably could > get 20 dollars for it if it had all the features of the Trekker. > > At this point in time, there aren't enough people asking Humanware for > a Trekker app. They do listen though. A good example is the survey > that was done about features people wanted on a book reader. As a > result of what blind people wanted, the Victor Reader Stream is out > with wireless connectivity and lets you directly download NLS books, > Bookshare.org content and much more. But it happened because enough > people contacted them and asked for it. Humanware is awhere of the > fact that there is some interest by Trekker users in a Trekker app for > iPhone but so far, not enough blind people have made enough requests > for even a survey to be put together for usage and features. That's why I gave the contact info. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Sieghard Weitzel > To: [email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 9:24 PM > Subject: RE: Trekker GPS App > > Hi Alan, > > I am not sure if Humanware would be the right company to talk to. > Their Trekker product utilizes Sendero's technology and as far as I > know Sendero is and has been working on a more complete GPS app geared > towards the blind for some time. I believe they are funded by Seeing > Eye which of course is a good thing because Seeing Eye has the money to back such a project. > > I used to own a Trekker Maestro about 5 years ago and while I am sure > there are people who had good experiences with Humanware, their > products and customer service, I was never very impressed and I have a > feeling if Humanware was to come up with a GPS app they would try and > charge through the nose for it. > Remember Orator or whatever it was called? It was the screenreader > they developed for Blackberry and even though it only worked on a few > devices they were charging $450 which is more than half of the most > expensive 64 Gig iPhone without contract. I bet those very likely few > people who did buy it probably regretted the decision. > It's really too bad Blackberry didn't integrate accessibility into the > Blackberry 10 platform because the Z10 and Q10 really do sound like > very nice phones and the initial feedback I heard has been rather positive. > > Anyhow, I don't want to stray into another discussion of accessibility > of other platforms and so on, but maybe somebody on the list has heard > something new about Sendero's GPS project for the iPhone and will share it. > It would really be nice if they came up with a really comprehensive > GPS app this year; if it had similar features to a Trekker or MobilGeo > combined with the stability of the iOS platform it would really be worth something. > > > Regards, > Sieghard > -- Christopher (CJ) chaltain at Gmail -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. 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