Perhaps my biggest concern is that we may spend countless hours debating the "Why's" and "Wherefore's" of a photo such as this - and that the credibility of the Engineering fraternity as a whole is going to be defined by these types of discussion.
By casting a few morsels before the ravenous hoard and letting them go into a feeding frenzy, the apparent desperation to 'attack' is going to become the definitive measure of the Engineering position - at least as far as the public perception is concerned. And that is all the Batteroo boys would need to do....
It may well be that they do have a product and, if so, we are already making it easier for them to release it...
1. Delays.
Once the product is actually released, then the delays will be summarily forgotten by those who have been waiting - they will be so happy to have received them! The response from the 'faithful' will be something along the lines of "Oh, you poor little engineers. You said there was no product - but here it is!". Bob and Co might come up with a couple of more 'reasons' for the delays, but it won't matter. The punters couldn't care less - they will have their sleeves.
2. Function.
Engineers (and others) have been critical of the fact that the Batteroo sleeves will not perform as (originally) advertised - but the perception has been that the Engineers are saying they will not work at all. This is clealry an incorrect perception that only needs a sleeve to do what is expected by the customer for 60 seconds (or even less) for the howls of denigration to flow like a Tsunami. Batteroo has won! Forget the fact that it might cease to do so in the second minute.
Engineers have also been apprehensive about higher current capability from the beginning, but since the performance claims have been dialled back, there is less strength in that argument.
These functional failings may well have been problems that Batteroo have been trying to address, but without success - something which would be no surprise to us. However, to successfully release the product, then they would need to do two things - manage expectations and discredit the critics.
Managing expectations has been easy. They have simply adjusted their claims to something more modest - without saying the Engineering critics were right. The average punter will either not have noticed and/or will see that as something they feel is more 'real'. Remember, even some of the fanboys considered the Batteriser worth having even if it was only a quarter as good.
Discrediting the critics is going to be really simple. The more we carry on about a range of issues, the more high profile the banner we are holding. All Bob has to do is produce a product that does something and we will have given him the perfect distraction.
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