UGOBE's Pleo stock all dried up

After the months on end of waiting anxiously for UGOBE to actually announce that the Pleo was more than a very lovable piece of vaporware, you'll now be forced to seek other vendors or wait even longer before receiving one of your own. Nary a month after pre-orders went live here in the US, UGOBE is now stating that it is all sold out of its own cash cow dino. Regrettably, we've no idea how long it'll be before the next batch hatches, but if yours is currently on backorder, give us a heads-up when the line starts rolling again, wouldya?

[Thanks, Robert]

[mark @ Jul 27th 2007 3:07AM]

I stalked and waited for this thing to announce, for almost a year. They finally hit - 50% over projected price, and the demo video was pretty lame considering how much talk they had about it looking natural... and then there were the wrinkles that looked like a crumpled paper bag.

ehh...

[Sean DL @ Jul 27th 2007 4:47AM]

Mmm.I actually had to go look at the archive post to even know what this was about....

[Robert Oschler @ Jul 27th 2007 8:24AM]

Fortunaely, at least for now, Ugobe's retail partners, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon, and Target still have inventory available for preorder:

http://www.robotsrule.com/html/buy-pleo.php

Regarding videos, there are some newer ones out now, especially the ones on Pleo World, that are a lot better:

http://www.pleoworld.com/

There have been a lot of Pleo prototypes seen on the web in video and picture form varying wildly in looks and capability. The best bet it to go to Pleo World and look for the latest stuff; both multimedia and technical specs.

[shanoboy @ Jul 27th 2007 9:21AM]

I've been following the Pleo for a while. Mark (comment #1) is right. The price has went up $100 and the videos haven't gotten any more impressive. I am glad to see that people are interested in it though. There's actually a lot of really cool engineering behind the "pet".

[Ken @ Jul 27th 2007 10:04AM]

Last weekend I met one of their coders who brought a Pleo with him. I have to say that it's an excellent toy with a great emotional response. The build quality is also quite high and it stands up to abuse very well. After playing with it for 30 minutes I can definitely see girls carrying these around the mall like a baby.

[mark @ Jul 27th 2007 10:30AM]

I agree with shanoboy and Ken, I don't mean to diss the tek. It's quite an achievement.

Something else though that put me off... A 4 hour charge time gets you an hour of play time. I saw somewhere that spare batteries will be $65 or so. That'll be another $200 to set yourself up with one battery on the charger, two in waiting and one in Pleo in order to get continuous life.

Now, "chumby"? I'm still all over that. :)

[Robert Oschler @ Jul 27th 2007 11:45AM]

mark,

Where is the Chumby as far as formal release? I've been expectantly waiting for that one too. It's pretty much the icon for cool tech for those of us who can remember the original Dick Tracy wristwatch communicator (wrist watch two way TV communicator).

Robert

[mark @ Jul 27th 2007 1:54PM]

Hey Robert...

Right now they're getting ready to load up a box of 50 real production pieces and sell them to a lucky few folks (at reduced pricing!) who have a) been signed up for details for "a while" and b) fill out a questionnaire about "what I'll do with my pre-release chumby". Info here:

http://www.chumby.com/corporate

Click on the "Be a first 50", and create an account if you don't have one.

Also keep an eye on Prez Chumby's blog:

http://chumby.wordpress.com/

It's real... they're coming. Looks like the list will be US $180.

[Robert Oschler @ Jul 27th 2007 3:33PM]

Mark,

Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to see Chumby when it comes out.