[TenTec] Orion 2 situation

Jim Brown k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com
Sun Jun 30 15:42:36 EDT 2013


On 6/30/2013 12:08 PM, GARY HUBER wrote:
> We have to keep in perspective that TenTec builds their product for a 
> niche market with a relatively low demand. Production runs of 100 
> units at a time are the norm for their Amateur products. 

Let's go back to the original announcement -- the Orion II is going away 
because key parts are no longer available.  Period. Same thing that 
happened to the Hercules I.  And to a pretty large and very good pro 
audio company, Shure, Inc., based in Evanston, IL. They had invested at 
least 2 years by good sized design and marketing teams in a very nice 
and rather advanced DSP system for use in big complex sound systems. A 
few weeks after high profile product introductions to major design 
consultants and contractors, they suddenly announced that the product 
would not launch after all. The mfr of the chip(s) around which the 
product was designed discontinued them.  OUCH!

IMO, Ten Tec's most fundamental problem in the ham marketplace is 
MARKETING and communication with their (potential) customer base. From 
where I sit, they seem to not have a clue. As an example -- only a few 
days ago, I was looking for a high quality RX to recommend to another 
ham, and ATTEMPTED to study the Ten Tec website  I say "attempted" 
because while several products are listed, there's almost nothing there 
about what they are, what they do, and in some cases, what they cost.  
Several pages have an email link "for more information." I followed one 
of those links and composed a brief email telling them how useless their 
web site was to a potential customer.  It was returned "addressee unknown."

73, Jim K9YC


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