Hey, anyway I think ,that's useful appliance.The developers are not trying to prove that it is going to save the world, just make it a little better.
I agree and do not understand the aggression directed at developers. It's great that there are ways to make people's lives better! I think that over time developers will make this device more perfect.
I'm not aggressive at all. I'm asking uncomfortable questions - yes, but I'm nowhere near aggressive. All I did asked was error margin of the device, how accurate it's results can be interpreted by the user. I'm trying to see value in this device for end user, but for now I fail.
I see lots of comparison with glucometer here but it's different. Healthy people rarely buys glucometer since it's needed to monitor preexisted condition, rather then diagnose. This one is opposite - it's going to be marketed to crowds in public places, where most of users expected to be healthy, therefore results of those tests should become initial basis for decision making. What reasoning will drive customer's intention to spend 5$ for a test? Perfectly healthy individual won't go near this device because they feel fine.
Those who concerned will actually try it, but will be greeted with sign saying "This is not medically certified device, we don't take any responsibility for what conclusions you draw from that." So this device won't give you much more than illusion of being informed, and you will practically give it 5$ just to receive paper that says what you already know - "go visit professional, you got some shit in your lungs - it could be anything or nothing".
So what is the market value of this device and service? What is customer value?
Btw, I'm not even saying this is bad idea - but imagine how different it would sound if there was at least some certainty after use. For example if it was like that:
"Acetone in breath is an anomaly that only appears in organism of people who have one of the following diseases A,B,C,D. We promote a device that can within 0,002% error margin detect acetone in your breath. If you have some we will strongly advice you to seek medical attention, because even though we can't diagnose your condition we can say beyond reasonable doubt - something is not right".
However Acetone in breath can occur in healthy people as well as in breath of sick people. It's concentration heavily dependent on person's mass, ration et.c. meaning that same concentration in breath of different people can (and should) draw different conclusions for them. Yes it is marker but it's just one marker and having this marker is nowhere near enough to take vast responsibility to visit a doctor. I would see this on shelves like glucometer, or installed in pharmacies or clinics, where targeted people need to check special marker without paying too much, but aiming at crowded places is really bad idea.
This is of course my opinion.