I’m lucky enough to be in Treg and have got a Textblade. It does what I wanted when I ordered it. It’s a very small, very useable keyboard. I know it does a lot more but I don’t use those capabilities. I’m sure that some of those would be useful to me but, on balance, I won’t spend the time and learning to acquire them.

I’m not a keyboard enthusiast, just a user. I really have no idea what Dvorak or Colething are or why I should consider them. I don’t see the point in memorising five finger chords to automatically italicise in green the previous paragraph.

I have a car; it’s powerful enough and comfortable enough for long journeys around the UK and Europe, which is what I need. I’m not interested in what’s under the bonnet or how to tune it. I don’t spend hours polishing it or adding LEDs or special suspension. I’m sure that it could be made better, even for my purposes, with some effort. There are lots of enthusiasts who do spend a lot of time on their vehicles and there is an industry of suppliers and media who support their enthusiasm. If I talk to an enthusiast they alway seem surprised that I’m not interested; perhaps because they spend much of their time talking to other enthusiasts and feel that’s the norm. Manufacturers also seem to be overly influenced by these enthusiasts, perhaps because those whod go into the industry tend to be enthusiasts as well.

This forum has, unsurprisingly, a much higher proportion of keyboard enthusiasts than can be found in the general market. I think that leads to a mutual feedback with Waytools that is more than feature creep. It has created a belief that this is more than just a keyboard and that keyboards in general are more than just an entry tool.

My company makes mobile systems. We write software and supply it on off the shelf hardware. We supply most of the local authorities in the UK, and many others, with our systems. Staff are working in sometimes unsafe, or at least perceived as unsafe, locations and their employers don’t want them to be carrying obvious expensive tech around. We look to small tablets for example and would add on a really small useable keyboard - if there was one available off the shelf. The Textblade, as I have it, would be fine for that.

That’s a market. My wife, who has no interest in technology but is a touch typist lawyer, saw my unit and instantly wants one ,to the extent of muscling in on my phone call to ask for one.

That’s another market.

I suspect that those markets are bigger than that of keyboard enthusiasts. But Waytools seems to be working to satisfy the enthusiasts with something marvellous, that most people will not use the full capabilities of, rather than shipping something more than good enough for most peoples needs.

I think that’s a mistake.