[woodcote]

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Of course, people have been playing with radio control and model trains since the 50s. Enthusiast-developed digital wireless control for model railways pre-dates Scorpius and oXigen. Likewise, those enthusiasts believed wireless was the future and DCC was already out of date. 

HM7000 seems to be inspired by a niche group of enthusiasts who have been experimenting for 20 years with using Bluetooth for control. However, the big American and European manufacturers remain 100% committed to DCC - and when the vast majority of enthusiasts have sunk maybe £10k into a top DCC system, they won't be changing anytime soon. HM7000 offers a very economical entry-point for younger newcomers to the hobby (or to digital control), who will instinctively prefer something app-based than some old-fashioned lump of hardware.

And that's the conundrum - advances in technology open up new possibilities, but manufacturers are beholden to the inertia of their loyal, ageing customer base. Same with slot cars.