Has Matterport seen their best days?10559
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fotoguy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I was recently watching a video and the guy had many 360 cameras he was showing. He called the MP an antique.(that hurt) For any of you old enough, you might remember the heavy bag phones when cell phones came out. We would take it in the car with us and everybody on the road would look at you strangely because you had a phone at your ear. It was unheard of and very expensive to use it. There seems to be a plethora of new 360 cameras and more on the horizon. The same goes for the services for rendering a 3D tour with a dollhouse. More and more options seem to be hitting us each week. MP seems to be playing catch-up now with adding more cameras that will work with their tours but their pricing now seems high considering alternative sources. Granted, MP still seems to be the Cadillac of 3D tours but I'm not sure how many clients need or want the Caddie when the Toyota may work just as well for their needs. MP has never been very customer friendly trying to spread their love to too many competing markets. MP not caring that it hurt other groups that had bought their cameras and would be hurt by their marketing. It appears they may be headed in the direction of more a software company than a camera/software company. They still seem to be marketing to anybody and everybody that is a potential buyer. It may work for them in the short run but it breeds no loyalty for people like me who spent much money on a MP camera. I'm sure this has been discussed before but I have been thinking about it for a few days and decided to put my thoughts into a post. Your thoughts? |
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Hartland, Wisconsin |
htimsabbub23 private msg quote post Address this user | |
I've said it many times before and will again. Matterport is the BlackBerry of 360 cameras. They locked it down so much that they shot themselves in the foot. The one that will succeed will have open APK. That one may even adapt the slogan "there's and app for that"  . What makes this even more humerus is that they only allowed the use on iPads forever, without seeing the writing on the wall. |
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immersivespaces private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Spot on. In the tech industry, we call it the slow roll to obsolescence. When a tech company, driven by investors, swings from a core product/service and tries to "broaden" their market to make more money by degrading the value of their core product to their core users, they inevitably get replaced by something bigger and better, that focused on the core product they decided to neglect. Remember MySpace? AIM? There are far too many options that aren't the Cadillac of Virtual Tours, yet, but will likely overtake Matterport in the near future. The demise of GeoCV was unfortunate because they were poised to take that role had they been able to weather the startup storms. Their system was by most accounts superior. (I still hold out hope that they will one day decide to opensource their system. That would be a game-changer for the entire industry.) In my personal opinion, the first mistake Matterport made was deciding to disregard the value of their MSP program, hundred of advocates out there pushing their service, and paying to do it. In the end, the rampant lack of support, the insanely outdated MSP Resources, and the loss of Dee Johnson, all add up to Matterport not looking very promising for the long-term. Now it appears that they are on the first stage of doing away with the MSP program altogether... screw all of us that invested in the expensive doorstop that hasn't been updated in ages. In our market, which by all measures is among the highest of the high-end luxury markets, Matterport use has been on a steady decline ever since the Terms of Service debacle. In a market that should be prime for the service, agents with listings in the $10 Million+ market are all using Zillow and videos. Matterport usage on these listings is now in the 0.0013% range, while Zillow Home Tour is in the 6% range and climbing, and video is now at 18%. Realtors aren't as interested in using Virtual Tours anymore, and if they are, they are using the Zillow system because it's free and gets the job done "good enough" for their listing purposes. We'll see what the future holds. There are some promising new companies popping up with some impressive systems that may put Matterport in the same club as MySpace... or Matterport could do a significant turnaround and become once again the company we thought they were trying to be when we all jumped on board. |
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martel private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm not on board with MP seeing its last days. Realtors and real estate is a cyclical business. We as MP users need to find other avenues of income using MP. I think way to many have loaded themselves with high overhead costs. MP is a good business model and you need to strategize properly. |
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Cincinnati, OH |
leonherbert private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Matterport has to integrate laser into there arsenal, the camera itself that is. From job offerings I saw on their website this may be what they are doing. What a lot of the other cameras and software don't have is the accuracy component. Who knows if that will change soon. | ||
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 WGAN StandardMember Birmingham, Alabama |
rko1 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| There is always going to be something new. What is new today is old tomorrow, technological innovations seem to occur at hyperspeed. There are oppotunities using all available systems. We have done very well packaging images, drone, video, and 3D scans, utilizing most available platforms. We just add new equipment to our inventory as change occur, and handle all requests. By the way, we have 6 Matterports, and are thrilled to have them. We are an MSP, but do not rely on Matterport. We market hard, and then produce products that are unique. We offer GREAT service after the sale. We work hard to maintain and grow our customer base. We have picked up several national accounts (commercial) and travel when needed. We believe in ourselves and are sure of what we can and will do to get business. We look forward to tomorrow and change. |
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Ghagendorf private msg quote post Address this user | |
| There is much more to Matterport than home tours. I don't think a luxury hotel, car dealership, event space, etc. wants a cheap looking project compared to MP. Most of my business is with design firms needing CADD drawings - the other cameras will not do that. I also do a lot of work with a national homebuilder and I have asked them about using a different camera - NO was their response. I think there is time for MP to adapt and remain to be the leader in the industry. |
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Sunnyvale, CA |
aiMBackwards private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by fotoguy @fotoguy We answered a similar question on MOUG, but will restate that there are distinctly different use cases for each capture device, and if you participate in the handheld beta program, it will become very clear. The biggest is that the Pro line of cameras generate an underlying 3D mesh whereas neither the handheld nor the 360 cameras do. This is why accuracy, alignment, output options (MatterPak) are so much better with the Pro line of cameras and not there with a smartphone or the 360s. If you choose to beta test on a smartphone, you’ll see that the amount of time it would take to capture a whole house is significant and does not replace the speed or accuracy of a Pro2. We’ll see what use cases come about during the beta program, but we could imagine an interior designer capturing a living room that is being redecorated to help better select new elements. |
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Sunnyvale, CA |
aiMBackwards private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by immersivespaces @immersivespaces There are many large companies - across verticals - that want to buy thousands of Matterport scans, but don't want to buy Matterport cameras or deal directly with thousands of Matterport Service Providers. Rest assured that we are working with MSPs and customers alike to explore more efficient ways to support the growth we foresee for scanning services, as well as scalable solutions that help solves these puzzles. |
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immersivespaces private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @aiMBackwards I think you will find that, with some exceptions of course, the impression of many MSPs is quite different. I can only speak from our area of expertise, which is real estate marketing services. I have been in the industry for the better part of two decades. In addition to real estate imaging, my company develops data management, display, and analytics systems for MLS, so we work with raw data and hard numbers, and as of right now, those numbers don't look that great for Matterport. Analytics is a key component of our business, and that analytics is saying that the "high demand" for Matterport, in our area at least, is a myth. We survey our customer base of thousands of realtors, brokers and FSBOs often and I can tell you that here in South Florida, the opinion of Matterport within the real estate sector went from highly favorable in 2017 to largely unfavorable by 2019. That doesn't speak to the quality of the product, but to the culture of the company itself. That said, don't get me wrong, I would love for Matterport to be successful and embrace the MSP program, as well as be open to constructive criticisms so they could have avoided some of the many missteps they have encountered over the years. They literally had a wealth of industry knowledge at their disposal and chose to disregard it. Very little in Matterport's recent history indicates that they have much regard for the success of the MSP program let alone the MSPs themselves. Look no further than the Partner Resources provided to help the MSP "Win More Business." They have not been updated in over 2 years. Many speak to features that are outdated or worse, not even available anymore. Not to mention the numerous communities, like this one, which are littered with conversations about the bombs being dropped by Matterport on their MSPs more and more frequently. It has literally been a constant state of, "what's next from Matterport?"... and that "what's next" is usually not good for the MSP, despite the spin Matterport tries to put on it. And then of course, onto all of that, we can add the terrible MSP support. I myself have a support request that has gone unanswered for well over a year and a half. Quite frankly, the only support I have every considered reliable was the technical support I received from Dee Johnson who most here considered the only shining light at Matterport support. Now that she's gone, it's gone downhill rapidly. I guess ultimately, the proof will be in the pudding as they say. For years Matterport has touted the usage numbers that, based on the data we have, have proven to be a complete fabrication. Real-world data, again, in our area anyway, is nowhere near what Matterport has claimed over the years. There are ample opportunities for Matterport to change that and rebuild the engagement with the Matterport Service Provider community, but I just don't see anything to indicate that they are really pursuing anything of the sort. I hope they prove me wrong. |
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Changesin3d private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @immersivespaces Very well written and in my opinion factual comment. For the early adopters of the system we have seen the PR guys come and go and seen Matterport do as they please. One thing I have never seen any of the PR people admit is that they utilized the partners scans to build Cortex, and then with "CORTEX" they used the data making it possible to use 360 camera and the next step will be phones. This was all done with the idea of making Matterport available to the masses. More Realtors could do it themselves and for less money not needing the expensive hardware they sold to us. They made our job harder for us. ( This is my opinion based on my understanding of the company history, Please correct me if I am wrong @aimbackwards) Had this plan been known do you figure anyone would have purchased this camera say 6 months ago. Recently the MSP Program and the "yikes" comment about the the 25% that did not convert, the leads were always supposed to be filtered. They never were and still Matterport wants to blame the MSPs. I can go to numerous comments here and other places where the MSPs said they were only responding to other MSP that were checking prices. How were these qualified or filtered? Were qualified and filtered not the words used to sell the cameras up until just a few days ago. Again blaming the MSP is a mistake as some of us are smart enough to ask for the numbers. How many leads were generated in says the last six months relative to the number of MSPS. Want to lay some blame or look for solutions that is the place to start. The most amazing thing I have seen recently that shows company direction is Dan's interview with the head of partnerships, I strongly suggest everyone watch that, and see if you see a business model in the other industry segments that works for you. I did not, it sounds like they want to sell more cameras to those industries and have them do their own scans. I can feel more upset on the way. |
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Gerhard private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Changesin3d I agree with you. I am busy completing a hotel for a group that owns 12 more. And to my surprise, the marketing lady informed me that Matterport contacted them. And now their holdings company bought a camera. The partner swore on their mothers' eyes they did not make contact with Matterport. And said the sales team contacted them. So explain to me how this business model works? Do I invoice Matterport now as they F@#$%ˆ&ed my pricing model also? As we quote different for hotels as real estate because the hotels get more value and these tours have to live for 5 years + ??? But I don't think their salespeople or executive team understands this at all. Luckily I told the client we are reshooting all the work with a new superior product. When they saw it they were like "yikes Matterport looks so crap vs what we showed them". Then I have to learn that Matterport is also opening up a sales office in my region next year. So if you want to be like Nikon or Cannon and open up offices, let us then self-host white label and own the content. But that will never happen. They are so far behind the curve, even in my market I can't give away the tours to realtors they don't care about it. There was a client contacting asking for MSP's to quote them on 500+ scans per month. They said they waited 2 months and mãtterport did not send them anything. I know two of the MSP's in my region and asked them about this and they also said they did not get any inquiries from Matterport for this project. Looks like Matterport rather wanted to sell them 10 cameras to do the work in the house. Then lets not even get started on these ridiculous hosting pricing. So yes they are massively progressing but to whoms favor? |
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Hartland, Wisconsin |
htimsabbub23 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Gerhard What was the other system you showed them. I need to move away from Matterport and look into something better and hopefully with a smaller camera. | ||
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fotoguy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Just to be a bit more clear. My original post was geared towards the real estate market. I know MP has some great options for construction and more special needs. I simply was speaking of just the basic realtor needs. | ||
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mori private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In regards of construction, it´s very simple: MP is not accurate enough. And with handheld LIDAR coming up, they have nothing to compete. Here I look forward to the office opening of GeoSlam in The Hague. | ||
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