> You're making the mistake of assuming that because occasionally new products are dismissed incorrectly

Well your mistake is that my assumption is less correct than yours. What makes you 100% sure that your dismissals are correct? Right now the market hasn't proven either of us right. Give it 3-5 years. Right now the Kickstarter campaign is in my favor.

> Yeah, you haven't actually enumerated real problems that this solves.

I can argue that you're ignoring problems I bring up just because it doesn't apply to you personally. Having to carry a laptop everywhere is a real pain point which increases depending on where you live. Just because it isn't a problem for you personally it doesn't mean that it's not a real problem that a lot of people face, even in the US. It's hard to understand this if you've never lived in a dense urban metro. People don't usually go straight home to their closet sized apartment. They stay out for hours before going home and usually they don't have a car.

> You are ignoring real issues with this design (useless without a phone)

It's like arguing headphones are bad because you can't use them without an audio device. This is just a bad argument. Both headphones and this dock augment the products that they pair with; not being an independent product doesn't make it bad.

> Yeah, the first chrome books were too expensive and basically no one bought them because they were a terrible buy.

Yet the price eventually came down and now they're a force to be reckoned with even though they still have most of the weaknesses that pundits complained about. It's still possible to buy a real laptop for a little more cash. I'm pretty sure this favors my side of the argument and not yours.

> The set of people who can install the app and get this working overlaps hugely with the set of people who can manage basic sync.

How can you be so sure about this? Installing an app is much easier than syncing two or more devices. Besides this isn't only issue preventing sync, which again you're conveniently ignoring.

> And people who can't afford Android phones are the target market? Which is why this thing only has a qwerty keyboard and an American power plug?

I was speaking about the long term potential of the device, and not short term, initial quarterly sales figures. Chromebook wouldn't exist if Google made its decision solely on the 1st year of sales.

> I also don't know if I'd spend $100 on a dock that requires Android to operate.

It probably wont' be $100 by the time it reaches those markets.

> Yep, because a TV and satellite provide real entertainment value

And phones with installed movies and video games don't?

> But this product is perfect for the rural Chinese market they are clearly aiming for with their English Kickstarter page and high end phone requirements

Yes it totally makes sense for them to market a Chinese product for American Kickstarter backers. /s rural China isn't the only part of the developing world either. You're thinking in too limited of a time frame and too small of a geographic area as well as demographic, it doesn't have room for vision.

> At this point, I should point out that you aren't even arguing that this is a good product anymore.

The iPhone wasn't a good product. It was a revolutionary one with lots of flaws. The same goes for the iPad and a lot of devices that made a major impact. This one included. Whether or not this company succeeds is another matter, but I fully believe that this class of device will be part of the future.