The article says "a year later, there are still no PopSockets." But the PopSockets Kick Starter page says it was launched Jan 8, 2012 and funded on Feb. 12, 2012. Am I crazy or was something not researched properly?
That being said, I am personally surprised that most people are willing to fund many of the things that get funded and assume that people are treating it as a purchase rather than funding.
It will be interesting to see how all the parties handle the first time something goes horribly wrong.
It was funded -- which means that the project owner received the money -- but the actual product wasn't created and delivered to the users who funded it. So, it failed. The NPR article is telling you that things are going horribly wrong sometimes, and PopSockets is an example of that.
That being said, I am personally surprised that most people are willing to fund many of the things that get funded and assume that people are treating it as a purchase rather than funding.
It will be interesting to see how all the parties handle the first time something goes horribly wrong.