Opt Should Sell Op To Someone With Enough Financial Leverage

[grobi]

OK, you proved to the world that Pandora is no scam. You proved that a bunch of very clever people with the right skilled combined to a small upstart company can do better than most other big companies trying to match the needs of retro-geeks. You also proved that matching retro needs also makes a very good mini-netbook with remarkable cpu+gpu power.

BUT: you also proved that inventing and designing is not the same as manufactoring many devices. And I don't think mass-building started with the first 1000, this was more of a proof-of-concept for the manufactoring process thats still about to start.

I'm convinced that all the clever people that worked hard for this success (and I do not talk about 4000 preorderes here, there effort was limited to work hard for the 250 bucks they paid in advance) should take their pandoras and show them to whoever is interested and sell the business before the market niche into which the pandora can be marketed is smaller than the 4000 preorderers. The best timing for a business sale would be back in may 2010, when 600 pandoras were shipped and the next manufactoring problems were not yet visible.

Its kind of a romantic wish to have the pandora hand-made in a garage of some kind, its perhaps the most retro thing in the whole project. But to stick to that idea might mean a big financial loss for the whole OPT team which it does not deserve.

Sorry for the part of the community that seems to love the grass root aspect of this project more than the potential success of it, but we all should be happy to receive the pandoras in time and even happier if the pandora is available to the masses before interest finally fades. Because what all pandora owners must be interested in is more pandora owners to cross the critical mass for software developers who must put time and efforts into this thing.

As a part time programmer myself, I was really looking forward into pandora development in 2008, but nowadays a programmer that learns pandora details (DSP, GPU, timing) must ask himself if his time wouldn't be better spent in learning iPhone OS or Android.

Regards,
grobi

 

[atomicthumbs]

I disagree

 

[CPUnltd]

go ahead and learn android... maybe you can fix the rootkit issue they just got hit with across ALL their devices which is self downloadable. Be my guest to make iphone software. Be the next developer to be shut down and alienated by the "Real" iphone app store or possibly one of the developers that loses their shirts when Apple finds a way to financially shut down the new homebrew iphone app store (as we all know, Apple is big on domination of devices they sell to the masses). I will patiently wait for my pandora, enjoy all this grass roots experience, enjoy my old-school games, and once 10K or so units are produced, I'll look forward to the second coming of the Pandora in the form of the next generation device made by the OP team. Because eventually, PS3 and XBox 360 will be considered retro gaming... but for now, PS2 and XBox are already retro enough for the second generation Pandora. With the massive acceptance of dual-core ARM processors and the recent introduction of quad-core ARM, I'm sure it won't be that difficult of a journey come the next "real" round. And when it's time for that experience, I will happily partake in that as well... because what matters to me more than anything else about this project is it's open source and community driven aspects... which NO company to date has been able to (or care to) achieve to the degree that OP has. This project is based on open source hardware and software. The second device of such calibur, with the OpenMoko project being the original pioneer of such an adventure. But hey, that's just my opinion... and I'm entitled to it just as much as you are entitled to yours. So be who you choose to be and do what you choose to do. Be happy with it, and make others happy with it as well. Good luck to you one way or the other... and if you do get your wish, and OP does sell out, I'll be happy to start another movement to start my own version of a similar product/process. It's about more than just the money, the device, the community or the potential.... because a whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Anyone who wishes to can consider this post to mean whatever they want. I spoke my peace and I'm sticking to my words... because that's what I do.

 

[CPUnltd]

each has their flaws... so pick one that you like and work with it... simple as that.

 

[Iorgy77]

Its not opensource hardware.

 

[Pleng]

I agree. They should, if they can even find somebody who is interested, but they will not. Firstly Craig is waaay too stubborn, and slightly deluded in thinking he's able to take on the world.

Secondly, from the sale they would need to recoup all development costs incurred to date (and we know that at least one house has been remortgaged to fund the device) and then still leave enough left over to give Craig, MWeston, Fatih and ED a well deserved financial reward for all their hard work.

Finding a company willing to stump up that sort of cash is a big ask. And for what? A company with a device that has no unique hardware, aside from a couple of nubs that don't work brilliantly, in a shoddily built case, with no real infostructure for production and delivery of the units to end term users. A company wishing to enter this niche market would be far better off designing a new system with an upgraded spec and a decent case, designing a decent front end, and a proper production and delivery structure.

Possibly the biggest asset would have been the OS itself but, hey that's Open Source. So by picking a similar chipset any company wanting to enter the market can have the OS without needing to pay for it (save a few drivers and tweaks).

So to summarize, yes they should. But no they won't and even if they did they wanted to they would be highly unlikely to find a buyer. Really they have little choice now but to keep plodding along and try and get their act together. I don't in all honesty see a happy ending for OPLtd save for a miracle of some kind.

 

[Squidge]

I think of like this: There is no perfect device. Android I think is excellent as a phone OS and can beat iPhone quite easily for everything apart from the number of Apps (suprising considering Apples insane developer environment). However, I would never use a phone to emulate Amiga, SNES, etc. I really only run simple puzzle games on my phone (such as Jewels) as it's convenient and I've always got it with me. I need the phone to be quick and responsive, and an app thats attempting to use up all processor and memory to emulate some system is only going to slow it down.

To be honest though, if I'm at home or work, I've a PC to play on and if I'm out I'm usually either busy (eg. shopping) or socialising, so don't need anything more than a phone. I typically just hack on consoles during some of my spare time at home.

 

[tsh]

stuff

You really have no idea, do you. If any of the bigger boys wanted to be making the Pandora, there is not a lot OPL could do to stop them. Look at all the stuff that was announced at CES, and the number of them you can buy now. Noone is shipping anything except he iPad, and some phones. The Pandora is a niche product - but the fastest way of building the next 3000 is for the team to stick at it. Going forward, progress should be easier - but the reason the revenue per unit is so low is that there is no tie-in to any distribution channel taking a cut. The big companies often slip their manufacturing schedules too, even when they are building in the 100k range.

 

[Trip]

I'd say that the OpenPandora crew would be fools to sell it off now. Nintendo have just made it illegal to run homebrew on the DS etc. so people are in dire need of an open hand held computer with gaming controls more than ever.

I will say the same as I have before though and that's that OpenPandora could make it easier for themselves by open sourcing the case plans and letting other companies produce the cases. This would let OpenPandora concentrate on the more important hardware and the software environment.
Plus having multiple companies creating Pandora cases would offer more choice to the customers about styles and colours etc.

But to sell it off completely would just be dumb.

 

[LeChuck87]

never change a running system.

 

[Pleng]

the system is running?

 

[jutleys]

stay as we are all good things come to those that wait

 

[WizardStan]

As a part time programmer myself, I was really looking forward into pandora development in 2008, but nowadays a programmer that learns pandora details (DSP, GPU, timing) must ask himself if his time wouldn't be better spent in learning iPhone OS or Android.

No you don't. The Pandora runs a full Linux distro. If you can write a program for your desktop computer, you can write a program for the Pandora. You don't need to know anything about the DSP or the GPU or any other piece of hardware because it is all abstracted for you through cross platform tools. Well, the DSP isn't abstracted, but most programmers won't need to touch it ever. The only thing to remember is the screen resolution maxes out at 800x480, so you'd have to tailor whatever you wrote for that.
If you wanted to write things for the iPhone or Android then you have things to learn. Completely new libraries and some additional programming concepts.
Long story short, there is no reason you can't learn to program for the iPhone or the Android if that's your bag and then come back to the Pandora, unless learning about another system makes you forget how to write a program for desktops.

 

[LeChuck87]

the system is running?

hm.. slow and stuttering, it'll be better in two months.

 

[renegadechic]

i cant imagine any big companies actually wanting to buy the pandora. they might like design elements of it but ultimately they want something that is commercially successful. for the mobile market is is too big, has too many buttons and well, its not got a sim card connection so they wouldn't get it anyway. for the gaming market, most of them probably wouldnt think the design is flashy enough and they wouldn't care about the keyboard. it will always be a quirky device. if someone bought the pandora i would fully expect them to buy it just to shelve it and remove all the potential market competition.

i think pandora will carve its niche for a long time, and i hope it sells batch after batch for years to come, but it just wont appeal to those average joe type gamers who want something simple and immediate and with the backing of all of the big game design companies.

 

[dflemstr]

stay as we are all good things come to those that wait

How long does it take before that rule no longer can be said to apply? I mean, some of us have been waiting for 3 years...

 

[craigix]

I agree. They should, if they can even find somebody who is interested, but they will not. Firstly Craig is waaay too stubborn, and slightly deluded in thinking he's able to take on the world.

I'm not 'deluded', I just think we can set up a successful console/computer manufacturing business as many other people have done many times before. They were not 'magic' people, they were just a group of guys like us that wanted to succeed. I've no doubt at all that we will succeed, this is an amazing community and almost everyone here can see the advantages for the future when we get going at speed.

You have seen how our customer service is excellent, how we work damned hard to fix problems and complaints as soon as they are brought up and how we are always here pushing things forward. Just as the first Pandoras shipped so will the next 7000. As I've said before I'd have to be dead for the Pandora to fail.

 

[milkshake]

You have seen how our customer service is excellent

Yes we have also seen how you sometimes write unprofessional posts telling people you don't want their custom just because they are (understandably) finding the delays really hard to cope with.

I have my Pandora but even I'm still annoyed and worried about the repercussions of all these delays on the future developments of the Pandora and what that will mean for the device I have purchased.

 

[DaMummy]

i also dont agree with selling the pandora, but i do believe that some money backing would greatly help OPT, the only flaw i see in the pandora is that i dont have one, and i think that with the right contract where investors dont have the power to change OPT ideas would greatly push the pandora into our hands, even nintendo is half-assing their consoles with homebrew blocking because of investors constantly on their ass

 

[craigix]

You have seen how our customer service is excellent

Yes we have also seen how you sometimes write unprofessional posts telling people you don't want their custom just because they are (understandably) finding the delays really hard to cope with.

I have my Pandora but even I'm still annoyed and worried about the repercussions of all these delays on the future developments of the Pandora and what that will mean for the device I have purchased.

Then if you're not happy sell it or return it, this isn't some communist project where your locked in forever.

When I tell some people to just go away, I'm just being entirely honest with them, this isn't a charity.

But have a real hardware/transaction/delivery/support problem? You will get fantastic service.

Edit: thinking about this, what do you consider 'professional' service? Sony style where they can just whip your console features away from you and tell you you don't really own your machine? Apple service where they can remotely disable or delete your applications and void your warranty for running software they don't like? The general computer industry service where you can't contact or speak to anyone higher than a telemarketer?

I think we should be told.