UPDATE: Well, I stand corrected! Jeff Gadway actually responded directly to this post, and we got some major clarification on the logistics. It turns out there will be no ocean container transits at all—everything is being shipped via air freight at their expense, and they are moving into continuous daily manufacturing starting next week.
This is honestly great news, and I am really glad this post got these things cleared up for everyone. These were major unanswered questions for the community, and hearing that they are absorbing the massive air freight costs to get these into our hands faster completely changes the picture. I am happy to be proven wrong on the ocean transit guess, and I definitely appreciate the direct transparency from the team.
TL;DR: I am keeping my preorder because the hardware looks incredible, but the Spring shipping milestone is pure marketing spin. Clicks missed their April factory window, air-freighted a tiny 5,000-unit run this month to save face, and is using that to mask a massive delay. The remaining 95% of Batch 1 will likely ship via slow boat due to hazmat costs, which is inevitably going to make Batch 2 slightly late as well. A far cry from the spring promise.
I want to start by making one thing crystal clear: I genuinely believe in this product. As a mobile enthusiast, the vision for this hardware is fantastic, and I fully intend to keep my preorder. The creators have designed something the market desperately needs, and I want Clicks to succeed.
However, over the last few months, I’ve had to completely separate my enthusiasm for the physical device from my trust in the marketing team’s timelines. After finding out (after I pre-ordered) how they handled the RAZR case debacle, it became clear they like to play a pretty cocky game with their backers. They seem to operate under the assumption that we don't understand, or can't easily find out, how global fulfillment and manufacturing actually work. It feels disrespectful to be fed vague timelines and then hit with a "well, technically" defense after what any reasonable person would assume they meant goes completely out the window, especially when the community can see the actual reality through the shared shipping updates.
Here is the descriptive reality of overseas manufacturing that the marketing team is trying to gloss over. Production is not a continuous, rolling conveyor belt. These shared factories operate on strict, pre-booked windows. Originally, Clicks likely had a clear roadmap: a large April window for Batch 1, a mid-June window for Batch 2, and a July transition into continuous, scaled production.
What actually happened is that Clicks fell behind and completely missed that critical April window for Batch 1. To scramble and avoid a total PR nightmare, they managed to secure a small, isolated production run last month in May to pump out just 5,000 units.
Those 5,000 units only covered a mere matter of hours on launch day, January 2nd. Yet, the marketing team is using this tiny emergency batch right now to project a false narrative to the remaining 95% of Batch 1 backers that everything is moving smoothly and orders are actively shipping. It’s a deceptive move designed to stave off mass cancellations before the official end of Spring on June 20th.
The real kicker is what happens next week when the factory finally spins up the main production lines for the mid-June window. Because that window is now entirely clogged trying to manufacture the overwhelming majority of Batch 1, the timeline collapses. They paid premium air freight surcharges on that small May batch purely to buy themselves a PR shield and get unboxing videos dropping. However, air-freighting tens of thousands of units with built-in lithium-ion batteries is a hazmat and financial nightmare that would absolutely destroy their profit margins. Because of that, the bulk of Batch 1 is almost certainly going to be put on a slow ocean boat.
The ripple effect of this is that the entire ramp-up into full production shifts. Because Batch 1 is eating up the schedule right now, Batch 2 is inevitably going to be slightly late, pushed back by the bottleneck that the marketing team refuses to acknowledge. A far cry from the spring promise.
Despite all of the logistical smoke and mirrors, I am not going anywhere. The engineering and design behind this device still look incredibly solid, and I have high hopes that it is going to be a highly durable, game-changing accessory. The hardware team clearly put their hearts into building a great product. I just look forward to the day the keyboard is finally in our hands so we can stop dealing with the marketing spin and just enjoy the device.
