Big Companies Should Invest In Pandora-like Projects?

[dagger]

When a big company starts making a product, the developement is faster and prices can be cheaper. This is how netbooks apeared, when ASUS decided to make one. Then the others followed.
If a big company (for example TI) would invest in Pandora, then:
- It can be developed faster
- better prices
- Pandora developers can make even more money.

so everyone wins.

How about trying to make a petition to TI, asking to support Pandora? It means more profit for both TI and Pandora developers. I guess we can gather thousands, even tens of thousands (if not more) signatures.
TI can make easy a market research and see how much people would be interested in something like Pandora, and what market share it can grab. To be honest, I think Pandora can sell millions easy. Most of the netbook users do not need more features than Pandora has. And netbooks sold this year about 20 millions. That's why I'm so sure Pandora would sell in such big numbers

 

[mali]

No.
Independence FTW.

 

[CandidStan]

When a big company starts making a product, the developement is faster and prices can be cheaper. This is how netbooks apeared, when ASUS decided to make one. Then the others followed.
If a big company (for example TI) would invest in Pandora, then:
- It can be developed faster
- better prices
- Pandora developers can make even more money.

so everyone wins.

How about trying to make a petition to TI, asking to support Pandora? It means more profit for both TI and Pandora developers. I guess we can gather thousands, even tens of thousands (if not more) signatures.
TI can make easy a market research and see how much people would be interested in something like Pandora, and what market share it can grab. To be honest, I think Pandora can sell millions easy. Most of the netbook users do not need more features than Pandora has. And netbooks sold this year about 20 millions. That's why I'm so sure Pandora would sell in such big numbers

That would be great if everyone knew their way around linux, could handle installing and updating software, and not be a noob and ask how to turn the thing on. I can clearly see what would happen if they put the Pandora into full on production and sold them at Wal-Mart. we would get quite a few "cdawgg1212" type usernames asking "YO DAWG HOW I DO DIS SHIZNIT????!?!?!?"

I doubt we want to handle those kinds of people in such a tightly knit community.

 

[PoisonedV]

That would be soooo many problems. First, TI is already 'supporting' Pandora heavily, maybe not monetarily, but iirc they hooked them up with mweston and gave them access to the OMAP3.
anyway- the thing about linux using is valid, too, and made me laugh at cdawgg1212. Not to mention, after any business seeing how it's turned out so far, they wouldn't touch anything related to pandora with a 10 foot pole, even if it was a success story in the end

 

[CandidStan]

That would be soooo many problems. First, TI is already 'supporting' Pandora heavily, maybe not monetarily, but iirc they hooked them up with mweston and gave them access to the OMAP3.
anyway- the thing about linux using is valid, too, and made me laugh at cdawgg1212. Not to mention, after any business seeing how it's turned out so far, they wouldn't touch anything related to pandora with a 10 foot pole, even if it was a success story in the end

I can just see the Pandora being bastardized in a HipHop filled advertisement, such as the Zune commercials.

That would be the end for me, as a company would want to change everything about the device to make it less "nerd" featured and more "street featured" such as a dedicated Myspace and Facebook icon on the desktop running CE.

 

[kin]

oh please... not that kind of commercial marketing..I hate it
I hate to see people commercially messing up the pandora and force consumers to follow a specific way.

The pandora is totally opposite and it should be undependant and bring some awareness to the big companies themselves...


Big companies should learn from the Pandora itself!!!
The hell with DRM



http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

 

[j.pickens]

we would get quite a few "cdawgg1212" type usernames asking "YO DAWG HOW I DO DIS SHIZNIT????!?!?!?"

I doubt we want to handle those kinds of people in such a tightly knit community.

You don't think that's going to happen?
Hell, its happening already...

Hey, why am I getting back less than I paid? How much will I have to pay to reorder?

 

[dagger]

So, are the Pandora developers dedicated to make a product for an elite of initiates, Linux guru kernel hackers or what?
If CandidStan and others can't stand to talk with miserable worms like usual PC users, they can just ignore the noobs, or can even make a special Pandora forum, dedicated to certified Linux masters.
The software will evolve anyway to make it easy to install and update software.
To be honest I find the attitude like one CandidStan is showing very disgusting.

Not to mention, after any business seeing how it's turned out so far, they wouldn't touch anything related to pandora with a 10 foot pole, even if it was a success story in the end

Sorry, what you mean? what turned out so far? their own businesses or Pandora bussines? The only thing that matters is a market research, to evaluate how many people would buy a Pandora. If the numbers show potential, then defenately it's something worth investing into.

 

[CandidStan]

we would get quite a few "cdawgg1212" type usernames asking "YO DAWG HOW I DO DIS SHIZNIT????!?!?!?"

I doubt we want to handle those kinds of people in such a tightly knit community.

You don't think that's going to happen?
Hell, its happening already...

Hey, why am I getting back less than I paid? How much will I have to pay to reorder?



That isn't as bad as "YO DAWG HOW I DO DIS SHIZNIT????!?!?!?"

At least most of our US based users can speak somewhat proper English, and not jive.

and none of them have cdawgg1212 or pinoyballa420.

When that happens we abandon the community.

 

[Zeno Arrow]

That isn't as bad as "YO DAWG HOW I DO DIS SHIZNIT????!?!?!?"

At least most of our US based users can speak somewhat proper English, and not jive.

and none of them have cdawgg1212 or pinoyballa420.

When that happens we abandon the community.

Speak for yourself, none of this 'we' bullshit. I don't choose to use slang like you're describing online, but there is a difference between using slang but asking a reasonable question and being a troll (or some other kind of dickhead). I'm with dagger on this one, the elitist attitude you (and others) are showing is somewhat obnoxious, hope you grow out of it.

Back to the main topic, if some company made a cheaper Pandora-clone that was compatible with the software base, who would benefit, who would lose out?

 

[dagger]

QUOTE
Back to the main topic, if some company made a cheaper Pandora-clone that was compatible with the software base, who would benefit, who would lose out?

Both the company and the consumers will benefit. The ones that will loose would be those that would stay out of the business. It's just like the netbook: ASUS entered into producing netbooks - then ASUS and consumers benefit. Those that stayed out of this (ACER, MSI etc) had a choice: Stay out and loose money or join the game and grab a market share.

It is clear to me, that smaller netbooks like Pandora will win easy in the notebook market. Everyone would love to be able to carry their netbook in the pocket. And you can do that with Pandora, for eee PC you need a bag

 

[PoisonedV]

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

 

[dinglebery]

QUOTE
Back to the main topic, if some company made a cheaper Pandora-clone that was compatible with the software base, who would benefit, who would lose out?

Both the company and the consumers will benefit. The ones that will loose would be those that would stay out of the business. It's just like the netbook: ASUS entered into producing netbooks - then ASUS and consumers benefit. Those that stayed out of this (ACER, MSI etc) had a choice: Stay out and loose money or join the game and grab a market share.

It is clear to me, that smaller netbooks like Pandora will win easy in the notebook market. Everyone would love to be able to carry their netbook in the pocket. And you can do that with Pandora, for eee PC you need a bag

yea but to get into that kind of market Pandoras got to be rock solid and usable to a way that "your average crackhead brat and his near sighted kneepad wearing sooccermom can use it"..

im not saying its not posible but ATM there just isnt the resorces to handle that kind of load .. let alone those kinds of people.. thou i do see a market for more outsourceing to african call centers :> (jokeing)

not to mention with bigger company backing comes bigger company contracts and thats allways a game of give and take .. just what aspects of the pandora are you willing to give up ? (my guess would be first and formost there would be some serious overhaul of the OPEN in OpenPandora .. but thats a guess ..

 

[keaft]

i say yes, but we make a separate forum for them that has an auto detect system that checks for questions and sends the answers. (even if its not the right answer) then we would have stupid people taken care of and we would also gain more ideas of crazy things to do on the pandora from the semi smarter people. like he says everyone wins. (still unsure of the fairness factor though)

idk there's a few pros and alot of cons so im going to be overall indifferent here. so basically erase everything in your brain that you just read.

ram cleared

 

[Zeno Arrow]

I'm not so sure that it's beneficial for all in the way you're making out, dagger. The devs behind the Pandora have put in a lot of work to get this project to where it is today. If, soon after the Pandora is released, a cheap knock off device appears, it may help expand the user base but it would be a bit disrespectful to the Pandora devs, whom, for the amount of work they have put in, should be rewarded financially. No profit on the 1st batch so profits (hopefully) from 2nd batch onwards.

Hope the clones don't materialise, but could happen, the parts used in the Pandora aren't exclusive to it (with a few notable exceptions such as the analog nubs and PCB), so it's possible someone could build a copy.

 

[Zoppe]

if we let openpandora inc. (or wathever the company is called) grow and build the device themselves we can be almost sure that the pandora will be open, but if we let other company interfere they would likely want design changes, delays, different os, drm encypted stuff, and etc. i think that was/is not the goal of the pandora.

i'm not very knowledgeable and i'm just throwing my 2 cents. feel free to correct me and give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

(Holy $#!T when i was typing this post 5+ posts showed up)

 

[dagger]

QUOTE
but it would be a bit disrespectful to the Pandora devs, whom, for the amount of work they have put in, should be rewarded financially. No profit on the 1st batch so profits (hopefully) from 2nd batch onwards.


Well, from a user point of view, does not matter too much who makes it. But yes, I hope Pandora devs will make profit, and that's why I suggest them to look for big investors like TI to help produce Pandora on larger scale. Of course I hope the current developers of Pandora to take care of the future big-scale project, not someone else. However, if they will not try to expand, someone else will do something similar to Pandora. Qualcomm is already working on Snapdragon, year 2009 seems to be the year of the notebook, so I think sooner or later, big companies will try to do something like Pandora. Wouldn't it be great, that Pandora will be the first in a big sub-netbook market?

In case something like this will have a chance, we should try to convince the Pandora developers first, to look for support from a big company, and then to support them by gathering signatures from people that would like to buy such a product - and encourage the selected big company to invest in the project, sending them mails as evidence that there is a good potential for the product. What is really needed is a market research to estimate the potential for such a product, but without that, our mails aksing for more Pandora device should help too.

QUOTE
if we let openpandora inc. (or wathever the company is called) we can be almost sure that the pandora will be open, but if we let other company interfere they would likely want design changes, delays, different os, drm encypted stuff, and etc. i think that was/is not the goal of the pandora.

Like the netbooks (or sub-notebooks how they were called first) canibalized the notebooks market share, I think a device like Pandora will canibalize the netbook market share. So, in the end there will be a lot of flavors of Pandora-like devices.
I got your point, and I respect the community that wants Pandora to be exactly as it is now, and not any less. However, I think the developers can convince the investor to design at least one model exactly in the way they want, and if the investor wants some other models to make those too. After that, the consumers will decide which version is best for them. So I think it's a matter of good negotiation. Producing Pandora-like devices at larger scale can be very profitable, so the investor will agree to some of the conditions of the developers. Also, I think it's possible to find investors even for producing Pandora exactly like it is today, without any modifications.

 

[Ryzure]

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

Well, lets hope your aunt doesn't grow a pair. She would make a horrible uncle

 

[Zoppe]

@dagger: as stated many times before, multiple pandoras = split community.
no doubt that clones will surface, but (hopefully) the original will get the best coders and programmers, meaning better software. and i think that the group prefers to work without limitations.

@PoisonedV: WTF was the point of the aunt-uncle-balls thing???

 

[joseluisjazz]

Ok, let me be a little silly

It's clear that Pandora is being made with all the love in world, and that means quality in first place, money in second place. That's not possible in a big company, with investors, hierarchies, communication problems, ego fights, etc. This is not only a job for the team, and it's maybe a hobby for us, but this is going to be the best toy we could have for it, at the very least. And that's possible because there's not a big company behind it. This is not how big companies like to work, where earning money is not the main objective. Tough decisions has been made that prioritize the long-term over the short-term, even when that means delays and the risk of loosing the clients they have now. Because there's the idea of making the best open handheld/umpc system to the date. It's possible for Openpandora because they're a very small team, they know each other well, and there is a specialized community behind it that helps. By believing that it's possible, by preordering, developing great software, or informing, or just talking and waiting.

You can look on the forums and remember when the decisions has been made, like when they decided not to buy the LCDs cheaper and sooner to another provider because those were of worse quality, or when once the 128MB was "set in stone" the opportunity arouse and they changed it to 256MB assuming the extra costs. The focus on openness, the absence of artificial limits in what you can or cannot do with it once you have it. Ask yourself if it would have been the same with a big company behind. (The answer is NO B) )

Even with all the problems, such as the banking one, or the delay, the surprises, the paypal thing, the untruthful providers... The way the things are now are the best they could realistically be. Yes, things happened that were far beyond anybody's reach. But we're on the final part now. We keep going.

Isn't it exciting?