Canon crowdfunding the IVY REC

In an interesting development, from when it was discovered that Canon was indeed launching three new cameras into various new markets, it seems that Canon has decided to use  Indiegogo to launch the IVY REC.

It's curious if Canon is using the platform more of a marketing tool or actually looking at it to do the development.  Since it is Canon USA that is crowdfunding, and they do not do any actual manufacturing for Canon global that I'm aware of, my assumption is that they are using Indiegogo to determine interest in the product, not to actually crowdfund the entire project.  Canon obviously doesn't need the money to manufacturer such a device.

Early bird signups will get 30% off the actual Canon IVY REC.

You can visit Canon's IVY REC Indiegogo page here.

I think this is an interesting way of doing a product announcement different than the usual dry, press release and flurry of website activity from those such as ours.  It also allows Canon to build mailing lists of people that are interested in products that aren't normally in their scope of influence.