OneEng1 I totally get your line of thought and generally it is very rational and logical, by "modern economy" standards (where growth and profit is the ultimate goal). However it requires one more factor: CK would need to _want_ to do it. Kemper is on the market for many years and I'm pretty sure that if CK was thinking like you outlined he'd not deliver Stage but something like above described Mini. They can do this any time, to be honest (and I'd buy one for sure!). But not all companies are constantly chasing growth and expansion, fortunately. Some companies, especially privately owned, just want to stay small, are fine with what they have, like to have great relationship with customers, as long as they can make a decent living out of it and have fun while doing so. Kemper had at least 4 - 5 years to create killer, low cost, made in far east, mass-produced unit which would bring them fat $$$, but they didn't do so. So to me it looks like as long as don't have to, they just don't want to do it, and they don't care about having even more $$$ as much. Their goals and values seem to be different. And this is fine and actually quite admirable.
Well, you are right in many respects.
My assumption is that all companies desire to move up in the food chain and that even private companies with a single owner want to maximize their profit.
Honestly, I have been doing this so long that it is alien to me to think about any other strategy than market dominance ;).
Display MoreI would go for WiFi all the time over BT. Why?
a) The KPA ethernet spec is potentially already existing (see Remote)
b) WiFi is more stable than Bluetooth and can be easily repeated
c) The KPA could be included into existing ethernet networks (e.g. at stage, at home, in studios) - since a lot of guys for sure use digital mixers, there is a network existing in most bands anyway
d) A potential app would be compatible with the classic profilers (not with the stage due to the lack of an ethernet interface - I still do not get why they "optimized" it away ... ethernet is always good to have on a future proof hardware these days which is intended to get several software updates enlarging functionality)
Just my 2 cents as someone working with product designers. Working on this piece of hardware would be indeed a cool job, I second you.
My only concern with WiFi is that it requires more knowledge to setup. You can get a combo wifi/bt module (embedded) today for around $15.00, you can get just a wifi or just a bluetooth for about half that though. Bluetooth is really simple to pair with.
I hadn't thought of making an attachment for the existing rack and head units though ;). That might be a nice bonus since there is a large existing customer base that would flock to buy the adapter ;).