Yesterday, visual interpreter app for the Blind @AiraIo sent an update to some users that its optional smart glasses are discontinued and will be bricked on Mar 31. While this decision may be strategically sound, its announcement is a study in startup opacity & hubris.
The message claims to seek customer input on more viable hardware alternatives, but only users of the discontinued Horizon product were emailed: those users most likely to be using other hands-free strategies were not included. N
Aira routinely uses selective messaging to communicate changes that will be unwelcome for some users. This obscures for some customers the experience of others, creating a customer base where rumors about communications fly and strategic shifts are often opaque.
Buried at the end of the message is this sign-off: "Troy, CEO of Aira". Although Troy, an early investor & COO, recently acquired the company, these four words — seen only by some customers — are the sole announcement of the previous CEO's departure and Troy's new role.
While some customers paid for the discontinued Horizon hardware by lease, others bought it outright, for (as best as i can piece together) over $1000. Aira's messaging does not promise this latter group a refund, nor does it admit that folks who bought bricks have no recourse.
Instead, Aira doubles down on information asymmetry but inviting buyers of the soon-to-be-bricked smart glasses to call customer Care. This way, Aira avoids disclosing whether their policy refunds anyone and, if so, whether all customers will be offered the same deal.
Most customers communicate on a company-controlled "Aira Explorers" FB group, closed to non-subscribers, even Aira's own front-line workers. When things get heated, sometimes they freeze threads. We need a better way to organize for our collective interest.
Today I am risking my favored status as an early customer and promoter of the service. I may lose my legacy unlimited account, which i begged to keep in exchange for my usefulness, my advisement & public support. But, you know, the tools of the master's house.
Visual interpretation can afford liberation, skillbuilding, joy in discovery. Sometimes it feels like a superpower. Well-built platforms make you feel things, they overflow with gifts. I love Aira but it must only survive if it can be accountable to users & front-line workers.
The NYT bestowed Aira with the "Actually Good Tech" award. But serving the Blind doesn't inoculate a company against the pernicious elements of "move fast & break things" tech culture. People working in & reporting on tech must understand this. nytimes.com/2017/12/27/tec…
Here's a link to the Aira update I'm addressing today: aira.io/march-aira-upd…
And here's the message I sent to the closed Aira Explorers group, which includes the full text of the update in caseth conversation triggers a revision of what Aira published yesterday. facebook.com/7607504/posts/…
