Gee, Zeo's site has certainly changed. . .

[quietmorning]

I purchased the bedside zeo a little over a year ago (out of warranty, dernit), but the wireless stopped connecting to the bedside clock about three or four months ago. At the time I wasn't using it that much, any way, so I just put it away and figured I'd deal with it when I needed it again. I just looked at the zeo site. . .and now they don't sell anything any longer? And it looks like the stores that do sell it either have a very limited supply . . .and they don't have all the products. Is Zeo going out of business or something?

I want to buy a new wireless for the headband. Or maybe get the Zeo Pro+ . . .but I'd like to use it again since there are some changes going on. . .maybe I'll get lucky and actually get more than fifteen minutes of deep sleep a night with these changes? **wishful thinking, I know**

What say you? Any one know what's going on and if nothing is amiss, who the best retailer is?

Thanks!

[chunkyfrog]

Something funny is definitely going on.

[TheChuckster]

Zeo laid off a lot of their engineers recently. That's never a good sign for a startup company.

[Jay Aitchsee]

There has been speculation here for a while that something is wrong at Zeo. From what I've heard, it doesn't sound as if their customer service is what is used to be, which was superb a year or two ago. One of our members questioned the lack of bedside units available and was told they were waiting resupply of a certain "chip". I don't think they were at the CES but a similar company, Fitbit, was. Their website hasn't been updated, as far as I can tell, for quite a while. Some of the "new" pages put up more than a year ago are still in beta. All this make me a little nervous because I really like Zeo. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of deal pending, with Zeo being gobbled up by another player in the "sleep" business. Which probably wouldn't turn out well for us. Time will tell, I guess.

[Always tired]

What say you? Any one know what's going on and if nothing is amiss, who the best retailer is?

Something is going on at Zeo. I have sent several emails recently and have not received a reply to any of them
Best Buy has some items in stock, but spotty at some locations and they will not ship Zeo Bedside to other BB's.

Also caution using an Iphone to record data with other Zeo models FYI.
A T

[chunkyfrog]

We have our zeo bedsides, and a few extra headbands.
Probably will continue as long as they still work; but a bit anxious about the upload/website staying up.
If that goes, will be open for a class action, for what little it might be worth.

[cosmo]

Hopefully there is some desktop app that is as easy to use as the website if they ever belly up. I just need a pretty data graph. Don't need all the rest on the website.

[chunkyfrog]

Same here; not much use for the "coaching".
As adults, we should be able to manage our sleep quality without email reminders.
(I found that very annoying)

[Jay Aitchsee]

Hopefully there is some desktop app that is as easy to use as the website if they ever belly up. I just need a pretty data graph. Don't need all the rest on the website.

Cosmo, see my thread here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72950&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p670478 about unencrypting the Zeo Bedside SD Card and a little program to display the data similar to the website. I am surprised you haven't done it yet.

Jay

[cosmo]

I think I came across the stand alone program before but the website was always there so I didn't bother. I will download it and check it out.

If they ever go belly up, I'll be hoarding the replacement headbands for myself

[old64mb]

Zeo laid off a lot of their engineers recently. That's never a good sign for a startup company.

Can you provide a link to this news to support this claim? I couldn't find a single google or bing result that shows any evidence of this whatsoever besides your post. Their website actually shows job openings for a director of software and web developer, which may actually answer the questions as to why there's been so little work done on their site for a while.

I just looked at the zeo site. . .and now they don't sell anything any longer?

The Bedside has been on its way out for a while. Not surprising. Hardware tends to be both capital intensive and produces lousy returns, but most startup guys need to learn that lesson themselves.

I suspect the holiday sale on headbands was to clear inventory and get out of the direct distribution business. That's not terribly alarming for a startup at this stage; once you've established a reliable channel presence, it doesn't make a lot of sense to waste employees on filling an order for one or two units at a time.

[quietmorning]

Zeo laid off a lot of their engineers recently. That's never a good sign for a startup company.

Can you provide a link to this news to support this claim? I couldn't find a single google or bing result that shows any evidence of this whatsoever besides your post. Their website actually shows job openings for a director of software and web developer, which may actually answer the questions as to why there's been so little work done on their site for a while.

I just looked at the zeo site. . .and now they don't sell anything any longer?

The Bedside has been on its way out for a while. Not surprising. Hardware tends to be both capital intensive and produces lousy returns, but most startup guys need to learn that lesson themselves.

I suspect the holiday sale on headbands was to clear inventory and get out of the direct distribution business. That's not terribly alarming for a startup at this stage; once you've established a reliable channel presence, it doesn't make a lot of sense to waste employees on filling an order for one or two units at a time.

I so hope that's the case.

[jnk]

. . . been so little work done on their site for a while. . . .

Nick moved on at the end of 2011. Some might say, downhill from then on. Some might not. But maybe that's part of what TheChuckster was referring to?

Nick's previous work includes Director of Software at Zeo, Inc. where he designed and built Zeo's data-center and web infrastructure, and managed several mobile application teams in order to deliver the world's best "Sleep Monitoring" mobile app.-- http://www.oidview.com/management.html

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicksaparoff

[old64mb]

. . . been so little work done on their site for a while. . . .

Nick moved on at the end of 2011. Some might say, downhill from then on. Some might not. But maybe that's part of what TheChuckster was referring to?

Got me, but it'd explain why the job is open and the site has been somewhat stagnant.

EDGAR (the SEC filings website) shows they raised 12M in VC funding in late 2011 and another 5M or so last year in another round, and the investors (J&J for instance) do look pretty patient and might end up being a logical buyer if things go south. More importantly they shouldn't be burning through that much cash. They've said in the past their product is actually profitable and they've only got about 25 employees.

I do think I'll try their suggestion of using Woolite on my headbands to extend their life, though - I'm noticing they're less sensitive after only a month. And I should buy a Pro and sell one of my Mobiles since I like the idea of using a USB cable to charge the one I bring along on travel rather than hauling along the docking station.

[Bobby269]

I just received chat support from Zeo this morning.