Support The Team And The Production!

[EvilDragon]

After the negative mood we had in some threads at the boards here, multiple people came and asked how they could help the Pandora to succeed and support the team.

Well, we really haven't had the time to think about it a lot - but there are quite a variety of things you can do to support the Pandora or the team, regardless if you have money or not or if you already have the Pandora or not.

I have a few ideas - and you guys can help me get more!

Let's get the community together again. Let's help out making the Pandora the handheld we dream of again (naaah, not talking about nightmares ))

I've got different ideas of how to support us.
Let me know if you have any more ideas or want to help.

So, here's what I think:

1. Financial support

Well, sure, producing such a device does cost a lot of money. While the production costs itself are basically paid by the preorder money, there are a lot more costs (Server, RMAs, shipping, etc.) we have.
I've got multiple ideas of how to get help here.
Basically, I'd love to setup a "Support us!"-Page on the main website. I don't want advertisings there, but a support us-page can't hurt.

a) Flattr:
I've got a flattr account. This could be an easy way getting some bucks.

B) PayPal-Donation:
Of course, the classic donation button could help
We don't have one yet, but I guess it can't hurt to set one up.

c) Sponsors:
While we don't want investors who might try to change the device into something it isn't, some sponsors couldn't hurt.
I have no problem with mentioning or adding links on the support-us site to bigger companies or persons who sponsor bigger amounts of money to the project.
Who knows - there might be a rich person who wants to support us somewhere... AFAIR, that's how Ubuntu started, too.

d) Merchandising:
I always wanted to have a T-Shirt which has a Pandora logo on the front and "I just had to wait two months (TM)" on the backside.
Also, coffee mugs and other stuff could be done.
This could also help getting some money

e) amazon, etc.
You can create links to amazon where people can then order their stuff and you get some revenue.
This would be an easy way to support us without even having to pay anything: I'm pretty sure a lot of you guys buy stuff from Amazon.
If you'd buy them via the link on our support us-site, you won't have to pay more but we would get some free money.

Are there any similar services you could think of?

How can you help here?
Well, of course, when it is set up, donate or buy T-Shirts or coffee mugs

Some of you might also know some rich persons or companies personally who could be interested in sponsoring such a project.
If you know one: Talk to him! Tell him to get in contact with us. Explain what the Pandora is and why it could need help.


2. Spread the word!

a) Let others know:

Of course, the more people know about the Pandora, the more people will preorder or help us.
It's a snowball system.
If you are in any communities (OpenSource, Linux, Retrogaming, etc.) let people know about it. If you got a Pandora and like it, tell them why
Show it to friends, colleagues, etc. The more people are interested, the better


B) Help us get press contacts:

We can't ship out review units yet - but if you know anyone from TV, magazines, websites, etc. who could be interested in covering the Pandora, the story of the Pandora or having interviews with the folks behind it, talk to them.
Refer them to us - interviews and behind-the-curtain-stories are always interesting


c) Place banners:

Well - we don't have Banners yet, but maybe one of you could design a few good ones in different resolutions?
People could use it for Signatures on other boards, etc.


d) Find other sites that could support us with a free banner:

When we have some nice banners, there might be other (even big) websites that would put our banner on their site for free.
Maybe you know some who own such sites and could ask them?



3. Help us improve tha main website!

There are a lot of sections that could need improvement.
There's no area, for example, which tells developers of how easy they can code for it, what languages and tools are there (BennuGD, C++, GLBasic, etc.) including a short explanation and links (i.e. how to setup a toolchain), etc.

Also, the press links-section is way outdated - that needs to be changed.

Any other ideas of improvements of the main website, telling people (users and developers) what it is about and how to help?
Let us know here!



So, there are a lot of things where you folks could help us out. With or without money - but the most important thing is:
Let us work together to make the Pandora a success!

There are thousands of you out there in the community - if each one would just get one person to preorder, it would help us get our expenses back and would help to improve the Pandora.
The more users there are, the more software will exist in the future.

And this is what we ALL want

 

[Bosbeetle]

I am 2a'ing everywhere and will continue to. Ill look into some of the others

I already have the last.fm group however there could be a better text on the group page. I hope someone can help me with that since my english is subpar.

 

[torpor]

Some other ideas:

** Write great, unique, amazing software for the Pandora. Pimp this software far and wide.

** Sell your Pandora to your friends, then buy two more from the OPT!



Hey ED, in fact I could sell about 10 Pandoras, personally, this week .. if I had them. How about some sort of scheme where I could buy a Pandora set in bulk, or something? I know that manufacturing isn't up to this task yet, but if I had 10 boxed Pandoras sitting on my desk today, it'd be replaced by a pile of cash tomorrow .. make it easy for us to do that!

 

[Bosbeetle]

Hey ED, in fact I could sell about 10 Pandoras, personally, this week .. if I had them. How about some sort of scheme where I could buy a Pandora set in bulk, or something? I know that manufacturing isn't up to this task yet, but if I had 10 boxed Pandoras sitting on my desk today, it'd be replaced by a pile of cash tomorrow .. make it easy for us to do that!

I think that is what OPT is trying to do one thing they apparently don't lack is customers.

 

[Yannick]

You can add a "2 months" t-shirt to my order ed :lol:

 

[PokeParadox]

I would grab a Pandora T-shirt - like the 2 months idea

 

[Xenu]

You can add a "2 months" t-shirt to my order ed :lol:

I'd pay for a t-shirt with the pandora logo and "What's your order number?" written on it.

 

[Xtreme2k]

I would help with replacing the nubs on some units if you like, I have the equipment to do this kind of soldering without problems and at least for units from german customers it would for sure be cheaper than sending them back to texas for replacement.

 

[EvilDragon]

Hey ED, in fact I could sell about 10 Pandoras, personally, this week .. if I had them. How about some sort of scheme where I could buy a Pandora set in bulk, or something? I know that manufacturing isn't up to this task yet, but if I had 10 boxed Pandoras sitting on my desk today, it'd be replaced by a pile of cash tomorrow .. make it easy for us to do that!

I think that is what OPT is trying to do one thing they apparently don't lack is customers.

Well, yes and no
Everywhere I go, a lot of people would buy it within a blink of an eye if I could give it to them right away.
However, preordering, paying the money upfront and waiting for an unknown time (well, not two years like you did, but still not 100% assured) is what is driving away a lot of them.

After all, with the first preordering, you guys mostly all knew us for a while. Newcomers don't know us - and that makes things way harder

 

[Yannick]

You can add a "2 months" t-shirt to my order ed :lol:

I'd pay for a t-shirt with the pandora logo and "What's your order number?" written on it.

how about actually having your order number on it?
just in case you ever meet craig

 

[Jumpman]

Many great ideas Ed!

This community is all about support, and without it, the GP32, GP2X, Wiz, Dingoo, Caanoo, or the Pandora can never have any success. I can understand anyone here that is still waiting for their unit being upset, as that is natural and understandable. Yes, there have been some defective units, and the team has made sure to address these problems, and sort them out ASAP!

When was the last time anyone here got a personal reply from Sony, Nintendo, GPH Or Microsoft that was hand written, and addressed your own specific problems? The very first week production started, units begin shipping, and the team was online addressing issues and problems right away. The team only ordered a small amount from the get go incase of problems, and of course there have been a few. They are all being addressed as fast as possible. Now that problems have been found and fixed, production can speed up.

Many years ago when Microsoft released the 360, after the initial batch sold out, it took them over 3 months to get supply back to store shelves, and the RROD is still a problem to this day. Now Microsoft is one of the richest coperations in the world, and they have had many problems that are years later just now being addressed and corrected. I have had several friends have more than one 360 break down and need to be returned. Now if a billion dollar corperation can have problems, anyone can. Everyone of my friends who have had problems, still have a 360 and love using it on a regular basis, as it is a great console, and Microsoft does there best to address issues(not enough IMO).

For me personally, I think Open Pandora has MS beat by leaps and bounds in the customer service department, and they are doing everything they can today to fix problems, so that we all don't have them tommorow. That's good business,plain and simple. The team can't affored to sweep any problems under the rug, as their pockets are not deep enough. Please, Let them fix problems, speed up production, and make this a better device for everyone.

Trust me when I say this device is wonderful, and the fact that a handful of guys with a dream have produced this product is truly amazing. Sadly, many will never understand what has really beed acomplished here. This is the first device developed by the community, for the community. Imagine the nightmare that would be happening if these units had been produce in the states, and shipped out. Imagine the failure rate. The team would possibly already be out of business. Hell, many of the worlds best brand names started out in someones gargage, kitchen, and homes and have gone on to have globle success!

Hopefully in a few years the Pandora can be moved to a legit assembly line, and supply will meet demand, but for now "This is it"! Anyone on these forums is a fan of open source I would hope, and this is the best device going right now, and for the forseeable future, so lets give these guys and gals our support, because if this device fails, I'm sure something like it won't come around again for a very long time. I personally don't care to buy a Caanoo, and after using a Pandora, I don't think I can ever go back to that limited open source environnment again.

Chris

 

[Mithrildor]

Hey ED, in fact I could sell about 10 Pandoras, personally, this week .. if I had them. How about some sort of scheme where I could buy a Pandora set in bulk, or something? I know that manufacturing isn't up to this task yet, but if I had 10 boxed Pandoras sitting on my desk today, it'd be replaced by a pile of cash tomorrow .. make it easy for us to do that!

I think that is what OPT is trying to do one thing they apparently don't lack is customers.

Well, yes and no
Everywhere I go, a lot of people would buy it within a blink of an eye if I could give it to them right away.
However, preordering, paying the money upfront and waiting for an unknown time (well, not two years like you did, but still not 100% assured) is what is driving away a lot of them.

After all, with the first preordering, you guys mostly all knew us for a while. Newcomers don't know us - and that makes things way harder

I didnt know the whole gp32x, but when I first saw the specs and what It could do I was sold in 1 min and I decided to preorder it when the preorders would start

 

[torpor]

I think the answer to your question is: MAKE MORE PANDORAS! FASTER!!

If you could send me 10, I'd have 10 of them sold in a day. Seriously! But: you can't do that!

Yet.

 

[sebt3]

I think the answer to your question is: MAKE MORE PANDORAS! FASTER!!

If you could send me 10, I'd have 10 of them sold in a day. Seriously! But: you can't do that!

Yet.

I could sold 10 pandora the same way as you in a day too.
One of my boss said me once "fast, cheap and good ; choose 2". OPT have choosed to balance the 3 with a strong enphasis on "good". Most of you will be pleased of that choice

Trying to sell unavailable device won't help much. What could help much (IMHO) :
- Bring back a good mood to OPT : they deserve it realy
- help in the "I need help" section
- Help improve the wiki (the dev section is outdated...)
- Every linux geek with a pandora in hands should be packaging PND (this realy don't requiere "guru" skills)
- Once your package is done, let upstream know it ! they will probably proudly put link to your work and OPT website (which is good and free publicity)
- Help others create pnds
- Write games....
Most of these things are already done by some. But I'm sure many more could help too (Mali don't have a pandora and is the most active and helpfull in the "I need help" section, come on...)

Cheers,

 

[Bosbeetle]

Hey ED, in fact I could sell about 10 Pandoras, personally, this week .. if I had them. How about some sort of scheme where I could buy a Pandora set in bulk, or something? I know that manufacturing isn't up to this task yet, but if I had 10 boxed Pandoras sitting on my desk today, it'd be replaced by a pile of cash tomorrow .. make it easy for us to do that!

I think that is what OPT is trying to do one thing they apparently don't lack is customers.

Well, yes and no
Everywhere I go, a lot of people would buy it within a blink of an eye if I could give it to them right away.
However, preordering, paying the money upfront and waiting for an unknown time (well, not two years like you did, but still not 100% assured) is what is driving away a lot of them.

After all, with the first preordering, you guys mostly all knew us for a while. Newcomers don't know us - and that makes things way harder

True so having some sort of but you are planning on stocking devices eventually arent you?

 

[Hitnrun]

I think the answer to your question is: MAKE MORE PANDORAS! FASTER!!

If you could send me 10, I'd have 10 of them sold in a day. Seriously! But: you can't do that!

Yet.

I showed my Pandora to my friends on our weekly poker meeting (that is composed only of men of course). If I had 10 Pandoras I would have sold all of them. I was even asked why I do not become an official distributor for Brazil, this thing is like a hot potato when seen live.

 

[TrashyMG]

Can I teach you guys Toyota's Lean Manufacturing Methodology? I had it shoved down our throats where I work.. They claim it's saving us tons of money.

 

[EvilDragon]

True so having some sort of but you are planning on stocking devices eventually arent you?

Yes, but that won't happen before batch 3, I guess.
As soon as we make batch 3 happen, everything will be solved and we're all happy. Both the team and the community
We just need to make sure we don't fall before that.

 

[Bosbeetle]

hehe pandora tupperware parties is apparently the way to go

 

[relliker]

Well, I may have just pre-empted a massive slashdotting of this forum if my article gets accepted

Admins, get ready for a stampede