IMHO and that's all it is MY OPINION being here 8 years(yahoo days) and using Festools when they were Festo, I disagree with so many comments here.
The sale isn't' botched. I have read over an over about how this was to get market share etc. No it wasn't. DO you think Festool is stupid? They could have made 250,000 of these if they wanted to, it's not their aim and would have done them little had they. How much profit do you think is involved on a 99$ sale like this, ZERO?.
This sale was for people that already use Festool, potentially for a few who are on the fence for the brand. If no one was looking at Festool already or didn't have a Festool supplier or wasn't on this forum they wouldn't even know about this sale. That's NOT a mistake, that's by design. Again, they are not stupid, they know how to advertise. Festool isn't a new company.
High end niche companies don't market a 99$ items to entice people. Everyone that keeps saying that doesn't understand marketing.
Festool isn't going to try to become the largest tool maker in the country as many here have suggested. IMHO if they tried to it would be a HUGE mistake. They would have to come down to mid level pricing to become the largest. Why would they compete in that area when they own their market? If they wanted to become the largest they would just drop their tools in Home Depot, reduce their prices by 20% to 30%(having to lower the quality as well) and mass produce the heck out the them. No way are they going to dilute their name by doing that. Sell more items at less a profit to deal with far more clients in an area they aren't really experts in? At best they break even, at worst they collapse.
I see this tool more a reward for people in Festool already. The people stating that this 99.99 could of launched them into Festool and "maybe" they would spend more to jump in the brand may not be honest with themselves. And Festool knows a 99 sander does not draw a person in to then buy 1500.00 miter saws or pieces of MDF on extrusions for 500.00.
No, Festool do as you are doing. Stay in your niche, make higher end tools at a larger profit margin while selling to the LEAST amount of people you can. Because we don't need nor will you make massive money getting into a war with DeWalt, Bosch, Milwaukee and Makita in that price range. I believe Festool knows this.
If Festool was to try to compete in the mid range market as the company is now with the tools they have or even to make a lesser line altogether they dilute the name. They are daft if they did that. Slow growth, stay near high end and have a nice sale every now and again. This has worked for them for years and years, no need to change now.
