Paul Buff, head of Paul C. Buff, Inc. has confirmed that the first batch of 100 of the much-hyped Einstein monolights will start shifting next week.
The first Einstein shipments are going out Monday. With some 3400 per orders it will take some time to ramp up production and shipping to reach ship-from-stock status. I have worked 14 hours per day, including every holiday for the past year to get Einstein and several other products right and available.
Also on the way, a potential announcement for a potential price change. Einsteins will go up and White Lightnings will be reduced.
Part of the decision to make Einstein black was to disassociate it from AlienBees as it is a higher priced and highly professional product in every regard. We expect Einstein to cause a marked decline in WL sales for obvious reasons. But, as has been said, the cost of producing Einstein has exceeded our original expectations, so we are projecting a a price increase to $499.95 in the fairly near future.
But we will not spring a price increase on our customers without a 30 day advance notice and, of course, will not impose a price increase on any Einstein orders in effect at the time of the price increase. Because we have so many pre/back orders for Einstein, we don’t want to announce a price increase now, as this would add to our already huge number of orders. So we will wait until all backorders are shipped before we announce a pending price increase.
Concurrent with, or before, an Einstein price increase we intend to reduce the WL price so that present WL users are able to add to their collection at a lower price.
If you’re in the USA, Canada or Puerto Rico you can pre-order the EinsteinĂ‚Â hereĂ‚Â for $439.95. Ă‚Â Australian and international customers can pre-order it here for AU$631.40.
Source: Fred Miranda Forum