You really have to watch the Steve Jobs-esque announcement video to understand what they were promising with this device, and understand how utterly it failed to deliver on those promises.
One thing brought up by the article is that for all their other sketchiness, they do provide a constant stream of software updates for existing devices. That makes it unlikely it was a pre-order scam.
It's like a cuckoo that has evolved to mimic Steve Jobs, just enough to feed on VC and beta product dollars. I'm sure it'll take off out of the nest, fat and happy, once its brood parasitism is complete.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22wlLy7hKP4