Release 1Ghz boards. Fancy one?


erico said:
But he kind of did state a few times "We need to make more money and we think some of you are able to pay more and want to have a closer experience with the newer stuff."
Either way is fine, there must be profit, and the higher the profits the higher value gets back to the product.


Just my opinion.
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The operative word here being "need", adding that this is the only way the product can survive and go beyond breaking even.
 
b_o_b said:
As long is the Pandora is unique, the price can stay high as it is now. And of course you need to pay most for the new premium model. That is business and that is how a company survives. I would advise people who don't understand the high price level to read The Undercover Economist from Tim Harford. Let the people who can afford it buy it, they like the opportunity and basically support the project.
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I can summarize that.


Market segmentation is all about ensuring that those who are able or willing to pay more for your products or services do. Forget the whole, "treating our best customers better," or, "rewards program," language. It is about offering a way for those who have the money and inclination to spend more of it.


By releasing these hot rod units, Pandora has created a differentiated product line which will result in their customers self segmenting. There is nothing wrong with that - it isn't them being mean to their existing customers - it is simply business.


I think they're presenting a good value. I've had my Pandora for over a year and I use it extensively. So I consider this option to buy updated hardware to be well worth it. Your own opinion will vary.


This is a fantastic idea.


Grench
 
Yeah well for comparison why not look at Gumstix Overo - they upgraded to DM3730 but they didn't even change the price. Why? Because they probably figured no one would view their act of replacing a chip with a drop-in replacement (that costs the same or less), years later, as offering a premium product.


And on that note I hope $600 isn't the cross over point where it's cheaper to start building clones using stuff like Overos.
 
Stereoscopic_Panda said:
This document seems helpful on the TI wiki.
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From what I'm reading from that is there maybe some need to tweak the supporting circuitry.. these changes makes it sound like it's not just an easy drop in and run. I'm sure solder pad wise it's a direct fit.. but looks like some changes to the oscillator, tv out and such. VDD voltage differences and such..
 
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TrashyMG said:
From what I'm reading from that is there maybe some need to tweak the supporting circuitry.. these changes makes it sound like it's not just an easy drop in and run. I'm sure solder pad wise it's a direct fit.. but looks like some changes to the oscillator, tv out and such. VDD voltage differences and such..
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OPT made sure that the most recent revision of the Pandora board was DM3730 compliant a long time ago.
 
Exophase said:
Yeah well for comparison why not look at Gumstix Overo - they upgraded to DM3730 but they didn't even change the price. Why? Because they probably figured no one would view their act of replacing a chip with a drop-in replacement (that costs the same or less), years later, as offering a premium product.


And on that note I hope $600 isn't the cross over point where it's cheaper to start building clones using stuff like Overos.
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that thing is cool ; )


but I doubt that they have 300.000 debts because of some idiot company messing up a large number of boards. And don't forget the coasts of broken LCD cables, nubs etc.! Not to mention all the money needed for the casting box and tweeks, assembling the units and so on.


How about both versions coexisting for a while? As soon as all debts are gone they could fully switch to the new version at the current price with its 25% profit? I think that would be fair?
 
Exophase said:
Yeah well for comparison why not look at Gumstix Overo - they upgraded to DM3730 but they didn't even change the price. Why? Because they probably figured no one would view their act of replacing a chip with a drop-in replacement (that costs the same or less), years later, as offering a premium product.


And on that note I hope $600 isn't the cross over point where it's cheaper to start building clones using stuff like Overos.
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premium unit sold now at a high price is correct I think (through the pandora+500$ is not nice compared to the 699$ I guess...), but I'm with you exophase for the long term... either OP lose money with 500$ now and they should correct the pricing now or they should sell the DM3730 when they'll finally replace the 3530 for more or less the same price, taxing a 100$+ increase for a dropin replacement that cost more or less the same to produce seems abnormal


edit: and the argument that all OP can overclock to ~900MHz is irelevant as NEON (or is it the GPU?) is not stable when overclocked like it was shown by PCSX...
 
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Grench said:
Mark 1 as sold. Working out the details now.


Folks - this is a wonderful opportunity to get a faster unit. If you're, "Just playing games," then it probably isn't as big of a deal to you. If you're trying to use a Pandora as a desktop, multitasking, remote administration, ssh & sshfs with browser running electronic pocket multi-tool, then this becomes something to leap on.


The offer and pricing are pretty simple and straight forward. If it isn't for you - that's OK. Nobody is forcing you to buy one.
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I doubt that there will be a big performance gain in your usage scenario. On the contrary I think the game sector will profit the most.


I'm not nagging about the height of the price, simply about the fact that it doesn't make any freakin sense to trade an old Pandora in for a new one (viewing it from angle trashymg already explained)

Znirk said:
Probably, yes. My "problem" is simply that you don't put a price on not-having-an-old-pandora-any-more in the version where you sell it, but you do put that price on it when you hand it back to OP.


...
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point taken, sorry for being "slow" on this one
 
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Craigix said:
You agree to pay, say $100 deposit and then $20 a month for 2 years and we send you the 1Ghz unit right away.


So you pay for the unit over that time, then it's yours to keep.


Would people actually do that?
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Hell yes.


As long as I could choose to "pay off" the remaining sum a little quicker than $20/month.


--


I only received my Pandora a month ago. It's too expensive for me to ship it back and pay $500 and ship the replacement to me. Remember that some Canadians have been hit with ~$140 in shipping charges.


I've already planned to save up for another Pandora. If I have to wait a year to get it, then I will.. but a payment plan would be really cool. To be honest, there's so much I ought to be doing with my current Pandora that I feel bad about wanting a newer one. =)
 
I have a pretty good feeling that Craig didn't really mean $100 + $20/month for 2 years - why would he propose something that was in total less than the overall price he was going for ($600+)? The only reason OPT would do an installment plan is if they ended up making more money from it in the long run. What other possible benefit would there be?


Don't really know why this would appeal to anyone either, unless they're living month to month and can't save money at all, in which case something like Pandora seems like a bad idea (but that doesn't stop people from using credit cards or purchasing other goods on layaway - still, I doubt OPT would want to give them a better installment deal). Monthly fees make sense for phone or cable subscriptions because they're continuing services, and the concept of discontinuing it makes sense, even if there's a contract breaking penalty.
 
elwing said:
edit: and the argument that all OP can overclock to ~900MHz is irelevant as NEON (or is it the GPU?) is not stable when overclocked like it was shown by PCSX...
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Hehehehe - I overclock to 1GHz as standard on my unit, and PCSX doesn't crash :p


D.
 
ZXDunny said:
elwing said:
edit: and the argument that all OP can overclock to ~900MHz is irelevant as NEON (or is it the GPU?) is not stable when overclocked like it was shown by PCSX...
Click to expand...

Hehehehe - I overclock to 1GHz as standard on my unit, and PCSX doesn't crash :p


D.
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Well equally a 1Ghz unit may clock to 1.4Ghz and not crash. But as with the 600mhz version going to 1Ghz it won't be on all units.
 
Just Curious: What kinds of things will you ask early adopters to test out on the new unit?
 
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