NexDock "Lapdock" For Mobile Finally Starts Shipping

It's not really that unusual to hear of successfully crowdfunded projects that failed to deliver, though they are thankfully still the exception rather than the norm. For a time, it seemed that NexDock was going to be one of those tragically doomed Indiegogo promises, despite the publicity it garnered. Fortunately, for the company and its backers, the docks that turn your smartphone into a laptop have started shipping to already disappointed backers, with (almost) all rewards expected to be sent out by the end of the month.

Although it didn't exactly rake in millions like Superbook is now doing on Kickstarter, NexDock was one of the more high profile projects on Indiegogo, to the point that it was even featured by Indiegogo itself. The concept behind NexDock is almost genius in its simplicity. It takes the ideas of Microsoft's Continuum and Ubuntu's Convergence and shoves them inside a laptop form, minus most of the laptop hardware. The NexDock, like HP's equivalent "lapdock", is simply a display, keyboard, touchpad, and battery, and USB ports in one package, allowing users to connect any mobile device to use for Continuum, Convergence, or even simply screen mirroring.

NexDock almost didn't make its funding goal but, due to popularity, was given an extension where it did finally get funded. It would have shipped in mid to late June, but fate, it seemed, had other plans.

To be fair, the delay not exactly NexDock's fault, at least based on their official recounting of the series of unfortunate events. Just days before the first batch of NexDocks would have shipped, the team revealed the their manufacturing partner suffered a fire in one of the plants, which happened to be where the finished NexDocks were already stored. To protect their partner, the team naturally didn't divulge details other than a few photos. Naturally, that caused no small amount of suspicion, even name calling, over the veracity of the events. The NexDock team has also been relatively silent since then, adding to the backers' consternation.

Whether those doubts and ill-feelings will finally be appeased, only time will be able to tell now that the shipping process has started. Although some have already been notified that their product is already ready or en route, an actual finished NexDock has yet to land in a single backer's hand, let alone be tested. Only then will we be able to tell if the NexDock was really worth all that trouble, for both its makers and its backers.