Lego Mindstorms: What went wrong?

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by KarenH

The RCX ... is "Not Available"

Maybe they ARE gearing up for something new, there's not been a whole lot going on recently with it... I dunno, most companies put stuff out around Christmas time, no? I would expect to see something from LEGO (if they were coming out with something new) around that kind of time period if they were releasing - I guess they're not doing anything this year, but next year maybe? Remember that Mindstorms accounts for 40% of the Educational Division sales... if you fail to innovate you fail to bring in revenue - take LabVIEW or Windows for instance, when a new version releases a company's revenue increases drastically and then starts to fall off, after which they must produce a new version to keep up revenue. LEGO must continue to innovate or else get left behind, and I'm sure they know that!

Most of the rumors about LEGO Mindstorms being dropped were kinda true and kinda not - the Robotics Invention Systems kits were dropped from retail so that the Educational kits were the only systems being made by LEGO. Somebody heard about it early and freaked out, and spread the word that it was dying when in fact the Mindstorms themselves weren't.

I'd be careful about spreading rumors about something like that - the real LEGO enthusiasts go ballistic in no time...

-Danny