Boatanchor
Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2011
- Messages
- 991
Not promising IMHO..
A lot has changed since Whistler purchased the GRE IP and decided it would be a good idea to enter the scanner market..
Radio Shack, which would/should have been a huge distribution network for rebranded Whistler scanners and which would surely have impacted on Whistler's descision to enter the market in the first place, has effectively gone 'belly up'. The closure of thousands of RS stores eliminates any possibility of 'channel stuffing' for Uniden and Whistler but it is likely to hit Whistler the hardest. There also appears to be no firm commitment for the remaining RS stores to continue selling scanners either, particularly after the recent dumping of a large proportion (if not all) of their scanner inventory, including top tier digital scanners.
The economy continues to contract with discretionary (excluding motor vehicles of course) spending still falling.
More agencies are encrypting thier traffic (and lets face it, most people that purchase digital scanners, did/do so to monitor the boys in blue).
And finally the old elephant in the room, online streaming and the ever increasing availability of mobile internet. Is it really worth spending $500 on a digital scanner if you can listen to a (near) live stream on your smartphone in your car, walking your dog or sitting at home?
IMHO, I see little hope that Whistler will still be manufacturing/selling scanners in 2 years time, unless the Radio Shack relationship is repaired and somehow, Whistler manages to develop and produce some amazing new scanner technology that blows Uniden out of the water. The question needs to be asked though, does Whistler have the in-house capability (people), the R&D facilities and the intestinal fortitude, to develop such a device from the ground up? And even if it did, would Whistler ever recoup it's investment in a typical 5 year product lifecycle?
A lot has changed since Whistler purchased the GRE IP and decided it would be a good idea to enter the scanner market..
Radio Shack, which would/should have been a huge distribution network for rebranded Whistler scanners and which would surely have impacted on Whistler's descision to enter the market in the first place, has effectively gone 'belly up'. The closure of thousands of RS stores eliminates any possibility of 'channel stuffing' for Uniden and Whistler but it is likely to hit Whistler the hardest. There also appears to be no firm commitment for the remaining RS stores to continue selling scanners either, particularly after the recent dumping of a large proportion (if not all) of their scanner inventory, including top tier digital scanners.
The economy continues to contract with discretionary (excluding motor vehicles of course) spending still falling.
More agencies are encrypting thier traffic (and lets face it, most people that purchase digital scanners, did/do so to monitor the boys in blue).
And finally the old elephant in the room, online streaming and the ever increasing availability of mobile internet. Is it really worth spending $500 on a digital scanner if you can listen to a (near) live stream on your smartphone in your car, walking your dog or sitting at home?
IMHO, I see little hope that Whistler will still be manufacturing/selling scanners in 2 years time, unless the Radio Shack relationship is repaired and somehow, Whistler manages to develop and produce some amazing new scanner technology that blows Uniden out of the water. The question needs to be asked though, does Whistler have the in-house capability (people), the R&D facilities and the intestinal fortitude, to develop such a device from the ground up? And even if it did, would Whistler ever recoup it's investment in a typical 5 year product lifecycle?
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