Well, this week's update was huge and has several parts. (which I'm presenting a bit out-of-order, and one part is already covered in Eddy's post on the $6.5 million in Series A funding that the company just received from investors.)

The main part of this announcement from a technical perspective is the factory tour and the first parts off of the production tooling. As a first part, the goal here was more to assess the manufacturer and get a realistic view of their capabilities moving forward. Consider that while injection molding a part takes seconds, manufacturing the molds for each part takes from three to six weeks. Thankfully, not every part of the MOD-t is injection molded, but there are almost certainly a few more molds for this factory to make before mass production goes forward at full speed.
Quote Originally Posted by New Matter
These are non-cosmetic sample parts, meaning they’re not in the final color of plastic, but are instead being used to validate that the molds produce parts to our geometric specifications. My experience is that these first shots rarely turn out right the first time, and molds always require some touch-up. But these parts were gorgeous – far better than my expectations. This really confirms that we’ve got a competent partner fabricating these components, and gives me a lot of confidence moving forward with the many more tools the MOD-t requires.


It also thoroughly and definitively answers one question that's been on lots of minds: "When is the MOD-t getting delivered?" Well, I'll just skip all the details and go right to the meat of this.
Quote Originally Posted by New Matter


The dates above also reflect eight weeks for shipping (roughly five weeks on a ship and another three to get through customs, to the warehouse, and distributed to your address).
There are reasons for the delay almost entirely on the manufacturer's side of the process. In the manufacturing world, a miscalculation (aka, a factory overrating their ability while trying to get a client) of about three to six months is pretty common. I'm not happy about it, (And I'm sure the New Matter team isn't either) but I'm not at all surprised.

Lastly, while it wasn't a specific bullet point, it was mentioned that the MOD-t will very likely hit retail later this year for close to $400 (I would assume that means $399) If it seems like a price jump from the crowdfunding price, consider that these guys will have to pay their investors, distributors and retailers in addition to the cost of simply making the product. Bits like that add up pretty quickly.