They said they don't want to commit "that much money" until they know for sure what they want to do.
I suppose it's a matter of priorities. Their product seemed to be of pretty high quality such that I wouldn't think of the producers of such a good product to be worried about $500, knowing full well there's a demand for it. I take it as a sign that they might not produce them for whatever reasons of their own.
You could even sell cards that have the same public key as a bar or coin. I could stick the bar somewhere safe (like in a literal safe) and carry around the card. If I want to make long term deposits or just show off bitcoin, I just scan a QR code on my card and I'm done. No need to have the private key even on the card.
If I need to send BTC, I would use a normal client or your coins. The bank card would allow easy secure storage (assuming I trust you )