Well hello folks, sorry I'm late to the discussion!
First and foremost, our API is open, to everyone. Stern is welcome to use it the same way JJP and other manufacturers are now, as is anyone actually. As it is, almost all the manufacturers have given us their commitment to it, so we're good to go there. As soon as a manufacturer has a connected capability, we will help them get on board as we have with Jersey Jack and Spooky. The history of the Internet is littered with walled gardens, and I can tell you no one wants to use an AOL account anymore. Our numbers are growing fast, we have a lot of experience building Internet infrastructure, and we will respond with services that are valuable to both players, collectors, and later on, operators.
To be clear folks, if we could just give you hardware for free, we would. It's likely one day we will. We don't make one cent on the hardware (actually, we lose money) and it's a necessary evil to make all this work with all games. I hope one day it is totally unnecessary!
As for dropping the cost on certain games, what I can say is we are actively working on different hardware for situations where less features are required, less processing, etc. Those solutions will be less expensive, but will take time and manufacturing volume to get to everyone. In the meantime, let's find a solution that works for everyone and get's people on the platform.
Which brings us to the group buy! As a one-time Pinball Info group buy friends-of-McRae deal, we are willing to offer $185 each for 10 or more or $165 each for 20 or more. Is that interesting? If so, we would take the final list, and assign custom coupons to everyone on that list, along with a free subscription for a year for the units. The list has to be finalized and can't be re-opened, though. Thoughts?