Doppel - Are we ready for Digital Miniatures?

My social feeds have been bombarded recently by ads for this hi-tech alternative to a piece of plastic.

Doppel Digital Miniature

No idea on the price for this as it looks like a kickstarter type of deal.

I know this is not aimed at me as I'm not the type of gamer who needs this kind of distraction in their life, but I see a few issues with this.

1. It's yet another gadget that will require updating and making sure that you have a compatible device so you can have the app to control it.  How long before the manufacturer goes belly up and your digital mini quite literally becomes a brick?  How long before the app ceases to be compatible with your new mobile OS.

2. Price, I can't see this selling for less than £100 which is about 100 times what I would pay for a miniature these days.

3. Resin 3D printers are fast approaching this price point and among my gaming circle of 30 their are at least 5 of us who have one or more printers which means we print out minis for our mates.  Even if you don't have a 3D printer custom 3D printed miniatures from the likes of HeroForge et all are all the rage among the non-crafty members of my gaming club Dragonskeep.co.uk.

4. Online Play - With online becoming more of a thing every day, these doppel minis are superfluous.  We will need to see what happens with D&D 2024 (The one, or whatever they are calling it these days).  I suspect there will be an outcry when players can't upload their D&D Beyond character into their Doppel box or they have to pay extra for a compatible download.

5. Sounds, really are we taking all the human interraction out of the game at this stage.

6. Tactile play, there is a lot to be said about movingthe little fellows around on the board and how much it ads to the sense of immersion when you are playing the game.  When I DM a game and I have to break sessions across a combat, I often take photos of where the PCs and bad guys are on the map.  If all my players had doppel minis I wouldn't have a clue who is who.

7. Shelf appeal.  No little white box is going to look great on my minis shelf at home no matter how you tart it up.

Still it wouldn't be the RPG Hobby if someone wasn't trying to sell the latest greatest accessory you never realised you couldn't live without...