[bambam12897]

So is selling stuff before it actually exists the new norm?

I get it when you have a kick-starter, but when you're already established doesn't it come off as a bit shady and scummy?

Are they low on money and desperately need to cash-in asap? Are they worried their product will be poorly reviewed b/c they aren't confident in the quality - so they're trying to lock-in buyers?

EDIT: I'm just putting out the question "Why do they have a preorder system? What's the rational behind it? Why just announce it when it's available?"

Preorders are a way of locking in buyers. You can trick a few people into buying it, that may have otherwise not bought it when it was actually released (maybe due to negative reviews, or a change in their financial position). Except... why would you ever want to do that with developers? So why are they trying to do that? I don't get it

[deelowe]

It's a dev kit. Things have always been done this way. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft do it too. It just typically costs thousands of dollars and you have to already have a business relationship with them. So you rarely hear about it. Most PC guys hate this model, hence this...

Example: http://www.retrotrader.com/catalog/product_info.php?products...

If consumers want to be dumb and ignore everything that states very clearly that this is a product for developers, that's their business.

[JanezStupar]

Why would you bitch about it? Why couldn't you wait until it becomes available and then decide if you want to buy it?

And yes, selling things before they actually exist is the new norm for a while now.

I hope you are not too confused since you got out of your 1990s time capsule.

Edit: And as for why would they take preorders... Because they can, because people are willing to throw money at them. Last september preorder queue was 50k people deep if you wanted to get in line. They would be mad not to take preorders as it helps them keep costs down (expected inventory, it is easier to get loan from a bank if you have N widgets already sold,...).

[chc]

When you're manufacturing things, preorders can also be helpful to calculate the size of your initial run. (I don't know if this is why Oculus is doing it, but they wouldn't be the first.)

[weaksauce]

they are only taking a deposit for 50 bucks and they recently got a lot of money from a VC. You don't call apple out on preordering the latest iPhone and I see this as about the same.