First, not every person who owns a Pandora will be able to contribute developer hours to porting, but every single Pandora user, be they ne'er so base, can be a walking advertisement, a font of information, and a builder of interest. The easiest way to get more developers actively interested in your platform is to get more people, period, to be actively interested. That's statistics¡
That a device like this exists has yet to become common knowledge among many other communities who would be quite excited about it. I promise that the day that Slashdot runs a titled "Uber-Portable Linux Device Plays All Your Old Games, Software" that links to a semi-professional geeky video review (finally putting an end to vaporware trash talk), you will rapidly have just as large a community as you like. Then, I optimistically hold, you will see it grow much, much larger.
Once upon a time, I bought a pair of
these shoes. They look strange! I drew looks. I drew comments. Every person who asked, I would explain that they were expensive, but incredibly comfortable, and last for years. I told them where the local outlet was. From our conversations, I don't doubt that more than one of them ended up buying a pair. The moral I took from this: the single best advertisement any business can ask for is that the people who use their product do so publicly, and with great enjoyment. So as long as we can do that, I do think things will work themselves out.
So I guess I'm with Karl: I'm not against tempering expectations, but I think the important thing is to not sit on your laurels and assume that community will take care of itself. Communities need nurturing!
