Pandora At Consumer Electronics Show Ces 2009?


Macguyver

Macguyver

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
114
Is there any chance of a completed Pandora unit being available, even unofficially, to show off at CES in Las Vegas Jan. 8-11th? I'm not expecting a booth or anything since the machine will likely have just been assembled, but even to meet with the mainstream gadget bloggers, etc.

I would think that the potential publicity of such an "unveiling" would be huge... (not unlike the infamous CES demos from years back of many of the machines that this little beauty will be emulating!)

(sorry for the repeat title of this post, couldn't find a way to edit that out)

Mac
 
What do you mean, afford it? Like airfare, or is there a fee just to be there? It would certainly be very cool to get Pandoras into the hands of mainstream bloggers for a quick demo.

See, what I've noticed around the various corners of the internet is that many people have heard of the Pandora, but still seem to think it is complete vapor. I think the community response as a whole would be better if people clearly not associated with the project were showing off the real, physical thing.
 
jbr said:
What do you mean, afford it? Like airfare, or is there a fee just to be there? It would certainly be very cool to get Pandoras into the hands of mainstream bloggers for a quick demo.
It is extremely expensive to have a booth at CES. I haven't seen the price list for this year, but it was around $40 per square foot last year, and that's just for the floor space. I've done trade convention booths, and they screw you for every nickle they can get. Everything costs extra, including the hotel rooms, which go for about 400% more than normal during CES. Even for a tiny booth, you're talking a bare minimum of $20K for the week.

If the Pandora had been finished six months ago, it might have been worth considering. But since we're still way to busy getting it finished up and out the door, there is no way we could do it this year.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chip said:
jbr said:
What do you mean, afford it? Like airfare, or is there a fee just to be there? It would certainly be very cool to get Pandoras into the hands of mainstream bloggers for a quick demo.
It is extremely expensive to have a booth at CES. I haven't seen the price list for this year, but it was around $40 per square foot last year, and that's just for the floor space. I've done trade convention booths, and they screw you for every nickle they can get. Everything costs extra, including the hotel rooms, which go for about 400% more than normal during CES. Even for a tiny booth, you're talking a bare minimum of $20K for the week.

If the Pandora had been finished six months ago, it might have been worth considering. But since we're still way to busy getting it finished up and out the door, there is no way we could do it this year.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I figured that a Pandora booth (although nice) would have been unrealistic.

I agree, I doubt you guys feel that you have the time to be in the U.S. at the beginning of January for 4-5 days when every second matters for getting this release right. And the cost of even a plane ticket & hotel room is likely completely unrealistic with all the overages that have happened in the last few weeks and the banking situation, spec changes, etc.

Having said that, my thoughts were more in line of having a U.S. rep that you trust, attend the show with a Pandora in tow, as an attendee, not a vendor. No table. This is not about setting up for the public, it's for the back door meetings that this rep will be doing with a few influential organizations. Set up a few "behind the curtain" meetings ahead of time with the key bloggers, magazines, etc. Getting the Pandora on a "best of show" list or "gadgets to watch out for" piece from a major magazine, TV channel or blog would be a superb return on the investment. Maybe I'm crazy but based on today's video, if Joe Q public gets to see one of these puppies on a CES blog, assembled and running linux, with all the bells and whistles, in someone's hand, I think the splash would be huge.

Next year's CES will be 8 months too late, I would think. Wouldn't it be ideal to have the first major public interest to hit just before they are widely available, to build up the desire factor? The time is now!

I think it's a big opportunity, even if you guys don't have a table. I"m sure what you really need me to say is, "here's 10K, book the travel and do us proud, gentlemen"... which I can't do.

Mac
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
assuming it's shipped by then, i'll be looking for other Pandora users at 2009 comic-con :)

might write a small app that looks for other pandoras over bluetooth, but i dunno how well it'll work there. probably drop your battery very quick, amping up power to reduce interference in such a busy place.
 
jbr said:
See, what I've noticed around the various corners of the internet is that many people have heard of the Pandora, but still seem to think it is complete vapor. I think the community response as a whole would be better if people clearly not associated with the project were showing off the real, physical thing.
Click to expand...
That's the thing. They need to get the Pandora completed and out there before they can show it off. It probably wouldn't do a lot of good to build up even more publicity before they can even get the first batch out.

EDIT: I wouldn't be surprised to see it there next year, though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That's the thing. They need to get the Pandora completed and out there before they can show it off. It probably wouldn't do a lot of good to build up even more publicity before they can even get the first batch out.

EDIT: I wouldn't be surprised to see it there next year, though.



Hmmm, can't agree with you there. You can never have enough publicity when you're releasing a new product and you need to recover development costs. 99% of computer users think that Pandora is a radio station. Even some of the retro gamers I know I have never heard of it. The first batches will be shipped in January, what are we talking about here, the timing is perfect!

Whatever state the machine is in at the beginning of January will certainly be far enough along to show as a demo machine, and are a far cry from the chewing gum held-together mock-ups of the Vic20, C64 and Amiga that were rushed together for revolutionary back room meetings at CES in years past, to give an example.

Mac
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I definitely think publicity is important. I just found out about Pandora today and already I want one. The only reason I came across it was because of some chance comment on and iPod Touch related site and the only reason I am still looking at devices is A)because I am itching to see if the 2nd gen will ever have a jailbreak and B)my main computer is currently non operational so the iPod would just be a brick until hooked up to iTunes for the first time.

You do need to find some way of getting articles about this thing in places people considering an iPod Touch or PSP will find it. I see articles comparing iPod Touch to all kinds of weird video players that I have never heard of. I don't know anything about what is a smart, cost effective amount of publicity for you. I just thought this was somewhat reliant because it highlights the fact that some one who would jump at your product has never heard about it.
 
It's obvious, that the main rule of Open Pandora is quality over quantity. So this should be the rule in PR related things, too. Some small announcements in the right place should be enough to keep the ball rolling. I hope the Canonical thingy will turn into something useful.

+1 to what Frogboy said.
 
I think being at CES is a great idea.
Problem is, none of the developers lives in the US and I think we can all agree that the pandora is a device which should be explained by one of the devs.
The only one who hasn't a transatlantic, very expensive, time-consuming flight to Vegas is mweston. If the device is shipping by then it's maybe a good idea. Noone here who lives in Vegas and give mweston a room to sleep in?
 
Chip said:
jbr said:
What do you mean, afford it? Like airfare, or is there a fee just to be there? It would certainly be very cool to get Pandoras into the hands of mainstream bloggers for a quick demo.
It is extremely expensive to have a booth at CES. I haven't seen the price list for this year, but it was around $40 per square foot last year, and that's just for the floor space. I've done trade convention booths, and they screw you for every nickle they can get. Everything costs extra, including the hotel rooms, which go for about 400% more than normal during CES. Even for a tiny booth, you're talking a bare minimum of $20K for the week.

If the Pandora had been finished six months ago, it might have been worth considering. But since we're still way to busy getting it finished up and out the door, there is no way we could do it this year.
Click to expand...
Pff. Just pay $40 and have a Pandora on a pedestal.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
lol it's not that sample either. Most of the exhibitors pay a coverage fee of some sort by a deadline that probably has past by now. Maybe it could make GDC, since it's in March (23-27) over at San Francisco, CA. The Expo is open the last three days.
 
Balzac2m said:
I think being at CES is a great idea.
Problem is, none of the developers lives in the US and I think we can all agree that the pandora is a device which should be explained by one of the devs.
The only one who hasn't a transatlantic, very expensive, time-consuming flight to Vegas is mweston. If the device is shipping by then it's maybe a good idea. Noone here who lives in Vegas and give mweston a room to sleep in?
Click to expand...
I know at least one of the main software devs is in the US, as is the PR guy ;)

First things first. We need to finish setting up the manufacturing process and get Pandoras out to people who have already paid for them. After that, then maybe we can think about spreading the word. All the promotional stuff will come, but it can't come until we have something to promote.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chip said:
Balzac2m said:
I think being at CES is a great idea.
Problem is, none of the developers lives in the US and I think we can all agree that the pandora is a device which should be explained by one of the devs.
The only one who hasn't a transatlantic, very expensive, time-consuming flight to Vegas is mweston. If the device is shipping by then it's maybe a good idea. Noone here who lives in Vegas and give mweston a room to sleep in?
Click to expand...
I know at least one of the main software devs is in the US, as is the PR guy ;)

First things first. We need to finish setting up the manufacturing process and get Pandoras out to people who have already paid for them. After that, then maybe we can think about spreading the word. All the promotional stuff will come, but it can't come until we have something to promote.

Absolutely.
I feel that after the pre-order folks (or a large percentage of them) have Pandoras in their hands, you won't be able to shut them up. That will be the best promotion possible.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Maybe I can lend mine to my fellow colleague when he's going to the next Open Source convention. Surely I could convince him to show the latest gadget... heck, maybe I'll put an extra slide in an Impress presentation lol... or run the presentation on a pandora with video out lol!!

I'd better wait till the Pandora is finished.
 
too bad there is no petition we could sign to tell them that real people want this to be shown to the public for a dramatically reduced price?
 
It would be great for the project to be able to show up, but MWeston seems to be one of the only devs in the states and (all costs aside) he might be too busy to even show up. But if it could happen, this would gain a lot of publicity.
 
I had already asked the CES question in a previous thread and they said no. It does cost a lot of money to do this and I dont blame them for not showing. I would much rather have them work on the device anyway.

I hope to see everyone that is attending there. Three more weeks til VEGAS!
 
It would be cool to even have a prototype mock up sitting in a glass case in the Texas Instruments booth. A running unit with a looped program in the display would be even better. Will TI have the OMAP on display at CES?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top