I think to a great extent they were scared off by the Paradigm series.  The cracking problems certainly hurt their profits as well as their reputation.  Best cenario, they are going to make sure all problems are worked out and there are going to be lags in their new eox stuff.  Worst case cenario, they are going to abandon the eox all together, and take a long time coming up with something new.
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four fried chickens and a coke[/size=4]

Ultimately a bowling ball company has two things they can change with a ball - coverstock and core.  I'd agree that Storm's management may be a bit gunshy based on the whole EOX cracking problems they had - but I don't think that will drive their product strategy.  It will just be one of those 'let's not have the same mistake twice' conversations that happen during normal product definition meetings.

Personally I have no problem with what Storm is doing right now.  It is my impression that over the past year or so they have lost some marketshare ground to Ebonite and Brunswick (I don't have any data to back that up - just a gut feeling).  Assuming my feeling is correct the logical move is to seriously shake up the product line in order to have a whole new look heading into next year's league season.  The best way to do that is leverage what is working (Reactor) and come up with some new uses (the new Master-Agent line) in order to reinvigorate sales.

Let's look at some of the logic so far:

1.  A new-look Master line that doesn't directly compete with the Paradigm balls but is clearly the highest end non-Paradigm ball.  BTW, I don't buy the Agent is too close to the Fired Up comments.  I've thrown both and I can tell you the Agent is much stronger.  I'd say the Agent is the same amount stronger than the Fired Up as the Fired Up is stronger than the Screamin Banshee.  All the same cover but with progressively stronger cores.

2.  The Dark Thunder has been a great underground success - so why not capitalize on it by building a new line of balls using the same core?

3.  Update the reactive pearl ball in the Fire Line.  Primarily a marketing move to introduce a 'new' ball.

4.   New releases in the sucessful Hot Line.  To me the best of these balls since the original Hot Rod was the Hot Rod Hybrid - so why not refresh that ball with a solid and pearl version (Jolt)?

5.  Build out the sucessful lower end balls with some new colors.

These all seem like reasonable product decisions to me.  Are they 'innovative'?  Not really.  Can they help Storm sales?  The next 6 months will tell.  Would I like to see some new coverstocks?  Sure!  But there is only so much you can do with urethane.  I'd bet there will be 1 or two Paradigm-based EOX balls released between now and next fall.

Let me try and clear a few of these things up

Storm is currently streamling the entire product line. In some instances there are just too many balls in a line to keep in the catalog. Also its time to do away with a few lines and start over. When all of you complain about companies "flooding" the market, you have to take into consideration what the market demands. Just because you may like a ball, doesnt mean that it translates into sales nationwide. That means that your favorite ball may get discontinued from time to time. There are a lot of very intelligent people working for every ball company, and they spent a lot of time and resources to bring to market what the customers are asking for. With that being said, here is whats going on :

The Jolt line will be replacing the Hot Rod Line. Very simple, 1 solid reactive, i pearl reactive

The Thunderstruck Line will be replacing the Banshee Line. Again very simple

The Fired-Up is not leaving the line, but the Spit Fire is a compliment to it. The difference being the inverted core has been lengthened, changing the dynamics. The Spit Fire should be a little stronger than the Fired-Up

The Agent Line has replaced the X-Factor Line. The Double Agent will be coming factory dull and even though it is a pearl, this ball should be a good replacment for the Trifecta. There just isnt much demand for solid particle balls anymore

I hope this answers some of your questions and helps to avoid anymore confusion
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Bowl up a Storm,
Jeff Carter
www.stormbowling.com
www.jeffcarterbowling.com ( coming soon )

I'm assuming that most of the new stuff will be out around Bowl Expo / Trade Show time ( end of june - early july ). I dont think the Spit Fire will be out until fall though. Again, i'm just assuming. I dont know the release schedule
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Bowl up a Storm,
Jeff Carter
www.stormbowling.com
www.jeffcarterbowling.com ( coming soon )

I might have to try a Double Agent, I've been looking around for a low RG / Hi Diff Pearl Particle to help with a house that likes to flood the lanes.

As far as the Eox cracking problems, they may have been cleared up finally.  I haven't heard about any cracks recently, however it seems as though the coverstock may be difficult to predict.  The origional Paradigm came out and had moderate cracking problems, above average # but not extreme.  Teh Passion comes out with just a solid version of the Eox and all of a sudden its a huge problem that calls for a recall of the unsold Passions.  

I to think that they will just make sure that whatever variation of the Eox they use has been thoroughly tested.  However it may be the reason that they are taking a bit of time before releasing another.

I to an extent understand their marketing strategy, but Ebonite and Brunswick have the two of the most well known and best coverstocks on the market and proven core designs.  They are firmly at the fore front of the market.  More than just the direct effect of having such good stuff is the fact that they seem to not have such a fear of innovation.  Brunswick has developed numerous versions of the Activator recently, and more so than Big B, Ebonite seems to develop a new cover with each release they dish out.  

Storm has to stabilize their company, and in the short term they should focus on this, but for the long haul, nothing can replace innovation.

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