In a meter when your average smartphone can capture immersive 360 - degree photos using a clever app , how can consumers justify spending $ 600 on a spherical camera that does the same thing ? It sour out they ca n’t , which is why the creators of the Panono have file away for failure , and are in the outgrowth of sell off the society ’s assets .
https://gizmodo.com/point-throw-and-shoot-the-panoramic-ball-cam-5849579
We first brought news of the Panono , then call theThrowable Panoramic Ball Camera , back in October of 2011when investigator at the Technische Universität in Berlin , conduce byJonas Pfeil , first show off their foundation . The ballock featured 32 two - megapixel cellphone camera faculty arranged in a globular layout that would at the same time snap and stitch together a 360 - academic degree panoramic exposure when sensors in the throw ball detected it had reach its culmination .
It was a clever purpose of exist technologies to automatize the creation of bird’s-eye photograph , and after demo their ball photographic camera at Siggraph Asia 2011 a few months later , there was enough bombilation around the product for its Godhead to further develop it into a consumer - quick product .
https://gizmodo.com/the-throwable-panoramic-ball-cam-is-finally-here-and-i-1462751744
Two age later , in November of 2013 , Gizmodo get achance to render a redesign version of the ball Cam River , now anticipate the Panono , which was being made available to consumers through anIndiegogo crowdfunding campaignlooking to stir $ 900,000 to alleviate production . The redesign Panono made it easy to snap monstrous 72 - megapixel , 360 - degree bird’s-eye guess that were automatically offloaded to a smartphone app for viewing , but $ 600 for a pre - society seemed steep for a photographic camera with very specific functionality .
https://gizmodo.com/the-throwable-360-degree-camera-ball-is-here-five-y-1764769477
Despite the steep cost tag , the Panono ’s Indiegogo campaign successfully raised $ 1,250,028 , and in 2016 , five age after the tv camera originally hit our microwave radar , the first units started transport to backer and reviewers . But by 2016 , 360 - arcdegree panoramic photos were far easier to capture using smartphone apps , or uncomplicated and garish dedicated devices likeRicoh ’s Theta cameras . While still easy to use , getting good outcome from the Panono lump camerarequired the proper condition and practiced techniques , and having to send figure of speech to the company ’s servers to be in good order stitch proved to be a data hog if you were n’t connected to a wi - fi connection .
The consumer - ready version of the Panono just was n’t as polished as it needed to be to excuse its $ 600 price — or its existence in 2016 — and despite a successful crowdfunding cause , only around 400 of the cameras were shipped to backers , according to DPReview . In May the company officially filed for bankruptcy , and in a recent letter to Indiegogo backers , reported by DPReview , the society ’s co - founder , Jonas Pfeil , confirmed that the sale of the society ’s asset was in the cognitive process of being finalise .
Details about who exactly is buy Panono ’s asset , including computer hardware and IP rights , were n’t revealed , but Pfeil explained that the money from the sale was only being used to pay off off the company ’s existing debts , and that the vendee would have no obligations to external company . In other give-and-take , if you backed the Panono hardware on Indiegogo and have n’t yet received your camera , you likely never will . But if you did get one , the company ’s image sew together servers will still be left operational .
regrettably , thePanono websitehas no reference of the company ’s failure , and appears to still be selling the glob cameras for a astonishing $ 2,400 + . If only 400 Panonos were ship to the 2,608 backers who pre - ordered via Indiegogo what ’s the muckle with the “ in store ” cameras the company is still offering on its internet site .
The Panono was an undeniably fun musical theme , and we ’re sorry to see it go after all of these year . That said , this is as good a reminder as any that a great idea does not a consumer merchandise make . The risks involve with backing a crowdfunded product do n’t magically disappear when funding goals are hand . Unexpected delays and price are a common occurrence with product growth , even for established companies who ’ve been through the procedure numberless time . The talented creators of the Panono had a to the full - useable product before launch their Indiegogo campaign , but were still unable to overcome product vault to deliver it to consumers . Crowdfunding a merchandise put nigh all of the jeopardy on the consumer , and givensuccess stories from Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been fewand far between , the risk just does n’t seem deserving it anymore .
We reach out to Jonas Pfeil via the email we have on file , and we ’ll update if we take heed back .
[ DPReview ]
Update , 8:25am ET : A press release provide to Gizmodo this sunrise reveals that Bryanston Group AG , a Swiss - based secret equity firm , is the orphic investor who acquired all of Panano ’s trademark , patents , and other asset . The byplay will be restarted under a Modern withstand company foretell Professional360 GmbH which will be based in Berlin .
Professional360 GmbH will not only proceed to operate the cloud servers want for the existing Panono television camera to exploit , it also plan to loose young products and features in the coming twelvemonth .
We will continue creating and innovating the right 360 - degree cameras together with a state - of - the - art platform for our users . In fact , we are project to release unexampled mathematical product and package service within the next months already . The transition from Panono GmbH to Professional360 GmbH will not be affecting the current user , as the stain and the website will not exchange , and we will stay to operate the existing political platform . Finally , while all legal liabilities remain with the old Panono GmbH and its management , we as Professional360 GmbH finger virtuously obliged to find a solution that all early supporters of the Panono engineering science will be able to enjoy the camera as before long as potential after so many years of waiting .
You ’ll note the new troupe is also look into ways to finally deliver mathematical product to those who backed Panono ’s Indiegogo campaign , as well as customers who pre - ordered the tv camera via the internet site but never incur their photographic camera . Specific details about this are still forthcoming . We will persist in to update this write up as we experience more .
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