Open source voice assistant software maker Mycroft disappointed thousands by announcing on Friday that it would no longer ship its Linux-based smart speaker to people who backed the product on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The remaining inventory of the privacy-focused Amazon Echo alternative will go to those who buy the Mark II on Mycroft’s website for 171% more than early backers promised.
Mycroft says its open source software can run on anything from a computer to a car to a Raspberry Pi. The company promotes flexible customization for user and business needs and says it does not collect data unless the user opts in. Subscription data is published publicly for open source development. The tech-savvy can also set up Mycroft however they want and use it to run their own server or work offline, and the software shows potential for wider use cases such as Linux phones. Voice assistantsopen source solutions such as Mycroft have captured the attention of smart home enthusiasts, but their complexity has kept them from becoming popular solutions compared to Big-Tech voice assistants packaged in nifty hardware.
That’s why the Mark II Mycroft seemed like a good idea; and while open-source, privacy-focused smart hardware still exists, Mycroft upset many of its early supporters.
Mark II Smart Speaker Open Source
Mycroft began developing its Mark II consumer smart speaker in 2018 after successfully crowdfunding its own company launch via Kickstarter and Indiegogo in 2015 and a Raspberry Pi 3 based Mark 1 prototype for manufacturers in 2017. According to Mycroft, 1,500 sponsors received the Mark 1, but as is often the case, the follow-up was far less impressive.
The Mark II’s Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdfunding pages promote the Mark II as an “Open Voice Assistant”with an increased focus on privacy compared to Amazon and Google. The device uses a custom version of Pantavisor Linux with an Ubuntu-based Mycroft container as the operating system and Mycroft’s own voice assistant core as the software, according to the product page on the Mycroft website. Other specs include an Arm-based quad-core Cortex A72 processor (up to 1.5GHz), 2GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM, dual speakers, dual microphones, a 5MP camera, and a 4.3-inch IPS touchscreen.
The campaign raised $603,785 from 2,981 backers, according to the Mark II Indiegogo page. As noted by Liliputing, CEO Michael Lewis stated that 52 sponsors had received orders for the Mark II by December, but Mycroft did not disclose how many more sponsors had one in total. However, with over 2,000 people supporting the product, it’s safe to say there are many empty-handed supporters.
In updates posted to the Mark II crowdfunding pages, Lewis said:
We will continue to ship all orders placed through the Mycroft website because these sales directly cover the cost of manufacturing and shipping products. However, we do not have the funds to continue to receive rewards from this crowdfunding campaign or even continue meaningful operations.
The announcement follows a January 31 blog post by Lewis detailing layoffs that left the company with just Lewis, two developers, a customer service agent and a lawyer. Lewis’s blog also says that Mycroft “will have to stop development”by the end of January, but maintains that production and delivery of the Mark II were unaffected. This post also claimed that Mark devices would not be blocked.
“We have been diligently looking at options to ensure that all devices shipped today and in the future continue to work and our customers’ privacy continues to be protected,” Lewis wrote in a blog post. “The first action we have taken is to ensure that even if we have to shut down our servers at some point in the future, all Mark IIs will continue to work. Our efforts to bring everything to the “edge”and improve our privacy policies have made this possible…”
Rising costs for Microsoft and its customers
Now Mycroft is selling the remaining 103 (at the time of writing) Mark II devices on their website alone. Supporters can pay to get the device from the website for $349 instead of the suggested retail price of $499 with a coupon code. But that’s still 171% more than the $129 list price.
Lewis’ message was about what killed Mycroft and his equipment. The CEO took over after Joshua Montgomery, co-founder of Mycroft, who launched crowdfunding campaigns and is thus credited with the recent update, despite leaving the company in May (his departure may have been an early wake-up call).
The problem apparently began when Mycroft parted ways with its hardware partner because, in Lewis’s words, it “couldn’t make that hardware stable”and was forced to resell already purchased components. Mycroft began making Mark II hardware using “off-the-shelf components”.