Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10-26)

[thatgui]

Dann will ich mich mal wieder befleissigen:

While I don't really have much time lately, I still feel I need to let you know what happened lately.

1. Meeting with EBV (part distributor)

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a meeting with EBV, one of the biggest part distributors worldwide. We buy (and bought) all TI parts from them.
And their headquarters is only 80km away from me, which is great

I had the meeting for two reasons:
First, they wanted to know what the Pandora is all about (they only knew it's an embedded Linux device). And second, they help me to move the parts from Texas to Germany.

Some background information:
Batch 2 was planned to happen right after Batch 1 in Texas at CircuitCo... the plan was to start in February / March (yes, 2011...)
We all know this didn't work out - however: the needed TI parts for Batch 2 had already been delivered by EBV to Texas.
So we have these parts lying in Texas but now we need them in Germany...
All we need to do is pack them into boxes and send them to Germany... sounds easy, eh?
Well, nope.
It's crazy complicate... and here's why:
1) The parts are partly owned by OpenPandora Ltd. and partly still owned by EBV.
2) Those parts need to go from a third party company (CC) to another third party company (GC).
3) Well... now try to fill out the documents needed to get these parts through customs. Sounds like fun, right?

Dealing with custom documents if you're not experienced isn't easy. However, dealing with such a complicated case is hard ever IF you have experience with customs.
Luckily, EBV has agreed to prepare the documents for me - so we won't have any custom issues when moving them to Germany.
I am really thankful about that It saves me a lot of energy and time.

Some funny side-story:
You might know I've got an arcade machine in my office. When the two guys from EBV visited me, one of them immediately saw the machine and asked if it has real boards or some MAME emulation inside it.
"Heck - he seems to know something about the retro-gaming scene", I thought.
And yep, it's true: He collects pinball machines and likes retro gamings... well, as said, they didn't know what you can do with the Pandora. It was a GREAT background to start explaining the Pandora to them...


2. Contracts...

Whew, I sent out a bit over 30 loan agreements, adding up to a total of about 380K EUR now!
That's some great amount to get the Pandora produced in Germany!
So within the next days, more and more money should appear on my account.
We're still perfectly within our planned timeframe, no delays so far


3. TV Out Cables

As promised, as soon as I got the investment capital, I'll order the TV Out cables.
I requested an updated quotation and as soon as I get it, the order will be placed.
Finally


4. Future Plans

As soon as I'm finished organizing everything, I'll finish the RMAs I got and try to fix boards from CC.
Well, and to reply to all my eMails... a big sorry to everyone who is waiting for his RMA unit or for a reply.
I'm getting help with office work from November on, so things will improve here.

Of course, for November / December, some more promotion is planned as well so that we can really sell all the Pandoras we're producing.

When delivery finally starts, I want to concentrate on software development (OS, apps and games) and support different projects as good as possible.

I'll also try to achieve that ARM Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Arch, etc. will officially support the Pandora as well (with bootable images from SD Cards).
A lot can be done to improve the Pandora, and don't want to miss any opportunities here.
There's a reason that it is open: So that EVERY user can do what HE wants - so the more options there are, the better.

So much for today, more informations as soon as I get them

Quelle

Und die unvermeidliche Blogwerbung

 

[V-Ger]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<r>Hmm, ED schreib, dass sie nach wie vor im Zeitplan sind. Das gefaellt mir nicht, laeuft alles viel zu Problemlos <E></E></r>

 

[headcrash]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<r>hi,<br/>
<br/>
freut mich dass es aufwärts bzw. weitergeht.<br/>
<br/>
ohne die dinge komplizieren zu wollen, würde es mich doch interessieren, wie die offenen bestellungen bei craig nach good old germany transferriert werden. bin nämlich einer davon <E>;-)</E><br/>
<br/>
bekommt dann jeder eine verständigung, dass seine bestellung nun von ED abgewickelt wird, oder passiert das stillschweigend - einfach dass man sein packet aus BRD und nicht UK bekommt ?<br/>
<br/>
greetings</r>

 

[F_Slim]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<t>Craig bekommt ab Produktionsstart in Deutschland Pandoras von ED, die er dann ganz normal an seine Kunden verschickt.</t>

 

[Znirk]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<t>Geschieht meines Wissens gar nicht (ich bin in derselben Lage). Alles läuft weiter wie vorher, nur umgekehrt: Ed schickt einen Anteil der produzierten Ware an Craig, und der verteilt an seine Kunden.</t>

 

[headcrash]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<r><QUOTE author="ED"><s>

</s>The business plan I created includes taking care Craigs customers, not just mine.<br/>
It includes paying refunds as well as delivering units to the remaining customers.
<e>

</e></QUOTE>Quelle: <URL url="http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/5549-investments-production-start-preoderings-and-a-wish-2011-10-02/"><s></s>Pandora Official Boards<e></e></URL><br/>
<br/>
<E>:O</E> hab ich da was missverstanden ?<br/>
<br/>
greetings</r>

 

[F_Slim]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<t>Das eine schließt das andere ja nicht aus? Bzw. im Gegenteil, natürlich muß der Anteil an Pandoras, den Craig für seine Kunden bekommen soll auch im Business-Plan mit einkalkuliert sein!</t>

 

[espiritu_protector]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<t>Ich glaube nicht, daß ED jetzt auch die Arbeit und das Porto für alle Kunden von Craig übernehmen will.<br/>
<br/>
Generell sieht der Businessplan von ED auch die Geräte von Craig vor.<br/>
Aber das Zusenden dürfte Craig übernehmen - auch wenns bei einzelnen Geräten vielleicht nicht so praktisch ist.</t>

 

[carli]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<r><QUOTE author="V-Ger"><s>

</s>Hmm, ED schreib, dass sie nach wie vor im Zeitplan sind. Das gefaellt mir nicht, laeuft alles viel zu Problemlos <E></E><e>

</e></QUOTE>

Du meinst, in zwei Monaten (TM) ist Weihnachten vorbei?</r>

 

[xyta]

Re: Contracts sent out, parts (hopefully) moving in (2011-10

<t>Hier wird ja hoffentlich nichts doppelt (Ltd+GmbH) verbucht werden...</t>