CST-01 Watch Project May Be Dead

Some of the coolest products that we see around here come from crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The problem with any project that turns up on these sites is that there is no guarantee no matter how legit it sounds or how much press the product gets that it will ever come to market. The most recent case in point is that slick CST-01 e-ink watch we saw back in 2013 at CES.

The CST-01 reached its $200,000 goal in only 48 hours and the project went on to rack up $1,026,292 in funding from 7,658 people. Some of the earliest backers of the project spent $99 to get the watch while most backers shelled out $129. Things started to go south for the world's thinnest watch when a contract dispute of some sort arose between Flextronics, the company chosen to put the watch together, and the makers of the watch.

This led to the CST-01 watch team telling backers that Flextronics wasn't a good fit for manufacturing the watch. Word is that the production costs also went up significantly leaving to the watch actually costing $260. As of now, the project isn't officially caput, but the company says that it will be picking up all the parts it owns from Flextronics.

It sounds very unlikely that that another company will be able to build the watch if Flextronics couldn't. Reports indicate that CST is thinking of selling off its assets or publishing its design documents so other firms can make the watch. It seems unlikely at this point that backers will ever get a product.

SOURCE: Engadget