New Delhi: Indeed, when Deepinder Goyal launched health-tech wearable pre-orders, the website was unable to handle it.
In a message on X, Zomato co-founder and current Temple CEO Goyal noted that pre-orders were active and directed the users to temple.com or the app at temple.com/app. A little more than 12 hours later, in a less upbeat tone, he added that there was a lot of traffic on the site, and they were working to catch up with it and that orders were still continuing on the app. He said about two hours later the website came back up. I hope it holds,” he wrote, and added a plea for people to not hurry.
The posts got considerable attention. At the time of the screenshot, the traffic warning had reached 250,000 views and the pre-order announcement had also seen a similar reach. Goyal said he didn’t know if it was thousands of orders, but it was.
The price of the device is ₹85,000. It monitors heart rate, energy expenditure, and sleep, a summary on X says. It also states two metrics that it has developed: Entropy, which it says measures “physiological load,” and BrainFlow, which is said to measure blood flow in the brain. The company says it out-performs the Apple Watch and other wearables in high-intensity tests, against a chest strap.
Worth noting that those accuracy claims are from the company, and I haven’t seen the test data. It’s a good rule of thumb to use a chest strap, as that is the one sports scientists usually rely on. However, there is no apparent gold standard for the metric (BrainFlow) to be compared to, and it would therefore remain an open question how it would be validated.
Reaction on the internet has been divided. Some are thrilled by the adhesive design which is what makes it adhere and the potential for brain-related data that a consumer product offers. Others are asking the obvious question: who would want this for ₹85,000? That’s significantly more expensive than most fitness bands or even even top smartwatches out there. The price may be a result of the company’s targeting wellness enthusiasts and researchers, rather than casual users, as this is where the company appears to be going.
It also mentions that the engineers were able to fix the site in a short time, despite the continued influx of orders via the app. This product is expected to become available for delivery in three months, which means that consumers are purchasing it now, but will have to wait for a while to await its availability.
That timeline matters. First of all, there’s the risk of a pre-order, since it’s a gamble on whether the company can get it to ship, and in its first generation, the device has some big promises. Goyal’s profile could be a help in building trust because of his years of running a large consumer firm. This does not resolve the technical issues.
There’s plenty of curiosity at least on Temple’s opening day. Servers downing is a relatively good indicator. What’s going to happen in three months when the first units are scheduled to arrive and people are going to be using them will prove more telling.
