iPhone 6 is out with NFC, so what now with FloBLE?

[RonaldParticipant]

It’s now more than 2 years which all of us who ordered the product from you guys waited, and now Apple officially announces NFC in their iPhone 6 phones. So what’s happening with FloBLE now? You’re gonna announce FloBLE project officially dead and all of our customer money vanished without you guys having to take any responsibility? Happy ending for you Flomio scammers without any effort spent on even trying to bring the product to market?

I DEMAND FULL REFUND NOW!! AND STOP SELLING PRODUCTS ON YOUR WEBSITE THAT DOESN’T EXIST!!

[FlorinParticipant]

I agree with Ronald,

Who expected me, as one of the early backers/flomio-enthusiast to say this, but here it is 🙂

As one of the early kickstarter backers, I really believed in Flomio. Ok, there were some hickups, with Apple changing stuff and Flomio having run out of money. But when they announced a new finance impulse from a big company and videos of the FloBLE prototype, hope started to shine again at the horizon.

I doubt that the NFC in the iPhone 6 will be open to developers, except for their passbook/payment use cases. But that’s just a matter of time, if there are enough developers asking Apple to open it up, I’m sure they will do it.

Regarding Flomio I have no hope anymore, I have 2 useless FloJacks laying around here, and a faint memory of a promise that it will all be resolved.

If Flomio doesn’t have the time/money/resources to finish the FloBLE project, at least do have the guts to admit it and close the shop. It ain’t right to sell useless FloJacks and fictional FloBLEs.

Stop the Scam, close the shop!

[GlennParticipant]

I agree with you both and have spent too much trying to get them to do what is right. It is obvious that we will never receive a working product OR a refund.

Turn out the lights, the party is over.

[RonaldParticipant]

This really reflects the kind of company this one is. No representatives of Flomio even bother to reply back in this thread to rectify issues anymore. Did the scammers vanished into the forest with great smiles on their faces?

Anyways, I am in the process already to report this to the Federal Trade Commissions and also into consultation with my lawyers. If we all (as victims) play our parts and report this incident to as many relevant supervising and legal authorities as possible, I believe we can bring these scammers to justice and answer for their wrongdoings and stop them from even trying to scam in the future.

[RonaldParticipant]

For victims of this scam. Below is link to useful information to file a report to the US Government Agency that handles commercial fraud and misconduct.

http://www.wikihow.com/Report-Fraud

If you need more information, please post in this discussion thread and we can share information so you can be on track to bring back some justice for yourself!

[ChrisParticipant]

Just found this on the web:

One of the most exciting new features of the iPhone 6 is the new “near field communication” (NFC) chip that allows customers to make payments simply by holding their phone near a sensor.

But in an email to Cult of Mac, Apple revealed that the new NFC chip in the iPhone 6 will only be used for one thing: Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payments feature in iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch.

Instead of opening up the NFC technology to developers, as Samsung does with its range of NFC-enabled smartphones, Apple has closed off its NFC technology and reserved it for the company’s new payment system.

Developers are free to make use of the NFC chips found on hundreds of Android phones, but Apple has taken a drastically different approach to NFC.

It’s likely that Apple may be limiting the use of its new NFC chip as a security measure. During the iPhone 6 presentation, Apple was keen to detail how secure Apple Pay will be, noting that card data is stored on a separate “secure element” on the phone.

Apple seems to be saying its NFC system will be super-secure in large part because it is closed to third party apps and developers. (With the implication, fair or not, that Android’s system is less secure because it’s open.)

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey guys, sorry for the lapse on this thread. Ever since the Apple Pay announcement we’ve been getting a lot more inbound interest/questions/orders than usual. Most of it has to do with payments which is something relatively new for us. So we’ve been busy trying get up to date with the specs, infrastructure, and certifications.

In parallel we’ve been working towards a solution for the FloJack since the FloBLE is still not done. We’ve found vendors that have built audio-jack NFC readers based off Project HiJack like our FloJack design. These vendors typically only sell to large enterprises but we were able to procure some units for our community. Their SDK supports iOS7+ and they provide extensive documentation on using it to develop apps. What’s awesome if that these devices come with DUKPT key management so we’re able to offer our suite of apps for free to our customers. This will make integrating NFC functionality into solutions easier than ever.

As these new FloJack units begin to sell and ship we will start satisfying the remaining Kickstarter and Pre-order shipments. We know it’s unfair to make early backers wait while new buyers get their shipments immediately but the finances don’t allow for anything else. Since each of you on this thread have been vocal and passionate about our campaign, I offer to complete your orders today with these new FloJacks.

For Ronald, please verify your shipping information on your account is current.
@Ronald – Order #4232 – Need shipping info verified, just reply to this thread.

For Glenn and Florin who’s FloJacks were already shipped, you’ll need to ship them back first.
@Glenn – Order #3204 – Ship date: September 16, 2013
@Florin – Order #3475 – Ship date:September 16, 2013

Ship old FloJacks to:
Flomio, Inc.
7171 Bay Dr. Ste 9
Miami Beach, FL 33141

For Chris, couldn’t find any order under your account. Lemme know if you used another.

I’ll finish by saying that we’re not scammers, we’re just trying to learn from our mistakes and get better. Giving up is easy, but we don’t give up. Proximity technologies like NFC are meant to exist and we want to enable the DIY developer or cash-strapped SMB to benefit from it.

[RonaldParticipant]

Richard, there is no change to my shipping address. I have ordered 2 x FloJacks, NFC dry Inlay Tags 64B (Perfect for Cloud Actions 10 pack #FLO12503), and I have fully paid up the above mentioned plus the international shipping cost already. Don’t come back to me and say I need to pay more, and you owe me 3 items. You please give me a shipping date for these new FloJacks that you claim to work with iOS7+ as I am already disgusted with the words but no action plan experience here. Initially if you guys could deliver what you promised at the start, we could have built an ongoing business relationship as my product software to use this would require mass order of these FloJacks by my customers. You cannot deliver me a workable testing unit, and you’ve really killed our confidence in giving you guys mass orders.

[RonaldParticipant]

This is really your last chance to prove yourself worthy in the Tech industry, so it’s crucial you deliver a fully workable and fault-proof FloJack that works on any iPhone 6 without delay. Anything less of this will simply mean full hall of shame!

[FlorinParticipant]

Thanks Richard for showing some kind of life at your side, I was really worried.

When I’m back from vacation I will mail you the old ones.

[RichardKeymaster]

@Ronald, we’ve shipped out your order #4232 today. Your tracking number is:

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction!input.action?tRef=qt&tLc=1&tLabels=LN799601784US

Please give the system a few days to register tracking information. We use USPS and their service takes a bit longer than the others to turn on.

[UrsParticipant]

Dear Richard, since you seem to fulfill flojack pre orders only to those commenting in this forum..
Please complete my order no #1600. Where is the fairness to those waiting longer and waiting patient..?

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Urs, we are shipping out the remaining Kickstarter and Pre-Order orders as we can afford it. As you may have read on other threads, we spent all the crowdfunding cash on the first FloJack manufacturing run. We shipped several of those units out until the iOS7 issue became a problem for us to support. We have boxes of FloJack v1s that we never shipped because customers didn’t want them if they didn’t work with iOS7+. FloJack v2s have solved that problem but they still cost money to make and ship. So we are doing what we can with the situation as it is. It’s not about fairness, but about the conditions we need to operate under.

I hope that makes more/some sense. We prepared order #1600 for you today and shipped it out. Tracking info here:

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction!input.action?tRef=qt&tLc=1&tLabels=LZ139552170US

[RonaldParticipant]

Richard, you shipped me a piece of equipment that bears no resemblance to your flomio jack and it seems your SDK on the website is not designed for this piece of electronics you sent to me, and there is no information in the package to guide me on how to use the device for SDK purpose. If you claim your company and business practice is responsible, now is the chance to act up. Would you please walk me through in where to get the proper SDK for the device and how did you use this equipment (giving me all the information you know in how you were able to integrate the appropriate SDK to use in Xcode, and don’t just give me a few links alone and make me do all the digging and investigation). I am expecting a prompt response from you so everyone, who also received this so-called workable with iOS7+ device as a remedy to your flawed flomio Jack, can also be able to use the device and get back money’s worth.

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Ronald, the FloJack v2 that we sell and support is an evolution of the original FloJack design. It adds a recharging capacity as well as MagStripe support. The SDK is available on our GitHub repo as indicated on the FloJack’s product page: Flomio SDK

The SDK will allow you to interact with the reader and scan for NFC and MagStripe cards. You can develop your application in the latest iOS and Android releases. We will be releasing applications of our own to help our customers perform basic NFC functions but these are still in development.

[GlennParticipant]

I sent mine in last week. It was delivered on Wednesday. Just checking to make sure you got it.

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Glenn, haven’t seen it yet. Where did you ship it to? Any tracking info?

[GlennParticipant]

Tracking # is 9114999944313202512026

Sent via USPS

I sent it to the address you gave in your previous post.

[RichardKeymaster]

Found it. Was still in the mailbox. We’ll send out your FloJack v2 today to the address in your account.

[GlennParticipant]

Great – I look forward to getting it!

[LarryParticipant]

Richard – I was an early Dev kit backer on Kickstarter and have never been able to use the FloJack due to iOS 7. I’ve been waiting patiently, but our startup was planning to use this to develop an add on for our app that we sell as a service to businesses around the US. We need something that we can obtain affordable and in bulk so these new “FLoJack v2” readers won’t work for us at all.

What is a realistic ETA for the FloBLE to be produced and start shipping to your replacement list which I am on? I would appreciate a reply without having to rant and rave on this forum – please contact me if you have any other options for our situation, otherwise perhaps we need to simply call it quits and get a refund.

Thank you in advance for the courtesy of your reply.

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Larry, the FloBLE has still not entered production. Several prototypes have been sent to large customers for evaluation. The hardware is performing well and baseline software stack is functional, but we are still waiting on volume orders to take the design through to production. In the meantime we keep evolving our SDK to show more functionality and open up to more use cases. All in an effort of drive interest and volume orders. But it all hinges on these orders. Until then we can’t give a realistic ETA, as much as I’d like to.

The FloJack v2 has been selling well and we are working through a backlog of Kickstarter orders as we can afford to. What that means is that for every dollar from our bottom line we allocate a portion to fulfill Kickstarter orders. In other words, we spent all the Kickstarter funds in manufacturing FloJack v1 and were forced to abandon it. We’re now in a deep whole and working to get out of it. This will take time but we’re committed to work with our early backers to make things right. Refunds, unfortunately, are not an option though.

[LarryParticipant]

Richard,

Thanks for the reply. We really don’t want a refund, but we are in a bind – there’s no realistic or timely ETA for the FloBLE, there is no easy availability for this FloJack v2 from the actual company you get them from, so my company is stuck – we only backed this so we could develop an add on solution to our App for our customers, which we cannot do – I would welcome any suggestions or alternatives you may have or know of…your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Hmmm.. we have about 80 units in stock now. Not sufficient for what you need short term? You’re limited in price or functionality? The more info you can provide, the more help I can be.

[LarryParticipant]

Richard,

We need to develop a fairly narrow add on as far as functionality scope, and since we would be rolling this out as a Add on to our existing customers, we would not want to pre-purchase any of the FloJacks in advance – but rather as our customers sign up for the paid add on, we want to be able to order a unit and send it off to them. We first need a unit that works with iOS 7 & 8 now in order to develop the add on and be sure we will be able to integrate it seamlessly into our existing App and functionality – that’s why we backed the Flomio project back in 2012 – when we received our FLoJack iOS 7 was already out and we were never able to get it working to even test or develop anything…

That’s as much as I can say or feel comfortable sharing (especially on an open forum), but should be enough to give you an idea – that’s why the ongoing availability and affordability of these units are so important to us – like you – we are a small startup, but we have customers in the US and Canada.

Thanks,

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Understood. The FloJack v2 is iOS8 compatible and will be readily available for your customers to purchase from us going forward. So I may still be missing something. If you’d like to speak over the phone to sort your issues out, you can call us at 954-553-6227.

[GlennParticipant]

Richard – I got the ACR 35 today and I have a question.

Is it possible to write tags with it?

I tried your NFC Actions app and the app from ACS and neither would work.

Thanks for any help!

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Glenn, what you received is actually a FloJack in that it has Flomio keys loaded on it (more on that here). These keys will enable our suite of apps to work with the hardware as opposed to ordinary ACR35s. Tag writing is indeed supported and we are working on getting our latest version of NFC Actions pushed to the app store for that. in the meantime, you can download the ACR35 drivers for iOS and Android and build your own applications. More on that on this thread.

[GlennParticipant]

Thanks Richard – I will probably wait for your app update.

[DaveParticipant]

Has anyone (including Flomio inc) actually got an app through Apple’s review process that successfully uses FloJack on an iOS7/iOS8 device? Thanks.

[RichardKeymaster]

Sure, you can use the ACS MobileMate application to do some very basic operations with the FloJack v2.

[LarryParticipant]

Richard,

We have been waiting patiently for the replacement to our FloJack v1 – it’s now more than 2 1/2 years since our FloJack v1 shipped to us and we still have not received any replacement FloBLE or FloJack v2…Please update me as to the status of our replacement ASAP, and also the plan for the FloBLE production i.e. pricing to backers like us, etc, etc.

At this point, we have abandoned the idea of incorporating your reader and NFC into our B2B application, but we are still interested in the possibilities of developing something separate with your products for the iOS platform. I would appreciate resolving this satisfactorily once and for all – 2 1/2 years is more than enough time and money to have been able to replace our original FloJack order – especially since it has NEVER been able to be used due to the iOS changes that occurred while the product was in transit to us.

Thank you in advance for your speedy reply,

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Larry, we are currently shipping FloJacks (v2) to customers but didn’t have you on that list since we had completed your order as of September 25, 2013. If you’d like to send us back the original FloJack we shipped (assuming you haven’t done so already), we will honor providing you with a new one (v2).

The FloBLE design is complete and we have been having great success with a Cordova plugin we are preparing for release. In order to manufacture the FloBLE we need an order commitment of at least 5000 units and are still working with our beta customers to convince them to pull the trigger. Until that happens, however, our hands are tied.

As with all Kickstarter projects, there’s inherent risk associated with building something that doesn’t exist on the market. We pledged to deliver a working NFC solution for iOS6 and that’s what we did – albeit well passed our target date. While we understand this is frustrating to our backers – who we appreciate tremendously – we need to make ends meet.

[LarryParticipant]

Richard,

Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying but when you guys shipped and iOS had changed, you offered to swap for the BLE version when done to all of us KS backer…I also spoke with someone by email and via the forums to make sure we were on the list numerous times and I was assured that I was, only to hear from you now that I was not.

I will take the v2 replacement – I will ship the v1 back tomorrow – please ship the v2 immediately so that I can receive it quickly to end this long wait to be able to actually use the device – we still have intent to incorporate Flomio nFC capabilities into our product offerings.

I just want to get this resolved once and for all.

Your attention to this is greatly appreciated.

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Great, thanks for understanding. You can snail mail it to our office address:

Flomio, Inc.
7171 Bay Dr. Ste 9
Miami Beach, FL 33141

We’ll send out the v2 reader once we receive it.

thanks,
Richard

[LarryParticipant]

Richard,

We Received the v2 replacement you sent – Thank you. Question: Is it supposed to work with the Flojack NFC Actions iOS app? If so, I can’t get it to do so on my iPhone 6Plus running iOS 8.4. I would like to be able to write and read a tag to test the device out before we endeavor to develop any code to incorporate this into our existing app. Thank you in advance.

Larry

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Larry, the FloJack v2 isn’t currently supported with the NFC Actions app on iTunes. I can send you a beta version of our Flomio SDK sample app for you to test if you’d like. The sample app will only let you read tags at the moment. Writing them is supported by the SDK but we don’t have it enabled in the app yet because of some edge case bugs we need to sort out.

I’ll send the Flomio SDK sample app to your email on file… if you rather use another, send an email to info@flomio.com as to which.

thanks,
Richard

[Author]

Posts