Still waiting for the Microsoft Compact Ergonomic Keyboard? Incase’s silence leaves fans guessing if it’ll ever arrive.
But like a shy stage performer, the keyboard remains an unfulfilled promise, like a poster stating “coming soon to a theatre near you”. It has been over a year since its originally announced release date, but Incase has maintained complete silence. What happened?
Incase seems to be having trouble manufacturing enough keyboards in general, yet alone the Compact Ergonomic Keyboard. The older, popular Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard is perennially out of stock, and difficult to come by. Perhaps Incase simply underestimated demand, or perhaps have had difficulty scaling up manufacturing after taking over from Microsoft.
The Compact Ergonomic was designed by Microsoft, but Microsoft themselves never released it. To speculate, it may be that that Microsoft handed Incase a CAD file of the keyboard, and without physical moulds and an established manufacturing line, Incase has had difficulty bringing the keyboard to market.
Alternatively, perhaps they simply don’t have the incentive to release a new and unproven keyboard. The Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard, and the other accessories inherited from Microsoft continues to sell, despite the emergence of strong competition.
Either way, it’s disappointing that Incase is still taking its time to release the Compact Ergonomic Keyboard. Hopefully we don’t end up with another Segway: a product announced with tremendous hype, only to fall woefully short of expectations, becoming a case study in the history of product failures.
(Or a hardware version of Duke Nukem Forever, which the developers famously said that it would only be released “when it’s done”, only to prove to be a massive disappointment when it finally did over 14 years later)
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