SCiO Pocket Molecular Scanner Teardown
Joel_E_B 
SCiO Backstory
The company behind the SCiO, Consumer Physics, launched a Kickstarter campaign back in April 2014 and raised about $2.7 million. An amazing feat considering that many attempts to make similar devices using crowdfunding had been labeled as scams. Their campaign was even commended as a success compared with previous attempts. However, that praise was short lived.
What started as high hopes for the product quickly turned into anger. Many doubted that the device could do what it claimed, and after waiting more than two years and still not receiving their promised SCiO, many backers of the product took their frustration to the internet.
Original ship dates for the Kickstarter campaign rewards ranged from October 2014 to February 2015. By late 2016, there were still many backers who had not received their SCiO. To make matters worse, the Kickstarter campaign page was taken down and remains down to this day, removing the main line of communication between the company and its backers. This was originally thought to be over intellectual property disputes, but it was later revealed that the reason was a trademark dispute over the name SCiO rather than a dispute over the technology SCiO uses. SCiO's CEO, Dror Sharon, claimed, "This is solely in regards to using the term ‘SCiO’ in the product name. The sensor technology is not affected in any way.”
The company responded to the late delivery of their product, claiming that existing technology wouldn't allow for the size and price point they were looking for, which resulted in an unanticipated redesign. Sharon stated, “We started to ship units in April 2015, but as we ramped up production we discovered issues — sometimes with our parts, sometimes with our designs.”
Despite all the setbacks and angry backers, the company fulfilled all their Kickstarter pledges, and the SCiO was made available for sale to the general public in late 2016/early 2017. What remains to be seen is if a large enough community will form around the product to catapult it and its app to the forefront of daily use in grocery stores and around the home or if the information it provides is not useful enough to justify carrying around yet another handheld device.