The All New Pandora Status Update


Chip

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Joined
Jun 25, 2003
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Website
chipandre.com
It's been two weeks since the last big update. I've been working on this new one for a while now, so don't think all the activity on the board lately has made this happen any faster than it would have. Squeaky wheels do not always get the grease. ;)



Banking issues
As you may have noticed, the refund and reorder plan has not gone as smoothly as originally anticipated. The short version, which I have been given permission to relate to you now, is thus: Our bank, for reasons of its own, decided not to honor the bulk of credit card orders placed for Pandoras. They insisted that we refund them. As we have been filing refunds, they have (again, for reasons of their own) been incredibly reluctant to process them.

We are doing everything in our power to get this resolved as quickly as possible. All UK and European orders have now been processed and refunds for North America and the rest of the world are continuing. Everybody who placed an order is still secure in their place in line, and your money is still secure in our bank until such time as it is returned to your bank. You are at no risk of anything except waiting. The project as a whole is at no financial risk.

The good news is that none of this affects production. These banking problems are causing no end of headaches for Craig and his office staff, but they have not put Openpandora in any financial trouble. All parts have been ordered and the factory is getting everything together.


Manufacturing
MWeston has just posted a very informative update pertaining to the manufacturing process. As you can see, we are gearing up for production despite the ordering kerfuffle.

At this time, we have 20 very nearly finished Pandoras on hand. By "very nearly", I mean we still only have FDM cases, and they are still waiting for the final keypad / control membrane. Once the membranes are sorted out, we will have plenty of pictures (and probably video) of these units for you. These are obviously still test units. Some have the old 128MB RAM part, some have the new 256MB part. All will be tested extensively and then passed on to software devs. Everything in these units is 100% finalized (except the cases, and the units with 128MB RAM, obviously). There will not be any more board revisions, aside from maybe a new battery connection.

We still only have approximately 400 LCD panels on hand right now (more on the way), but as MWeston said, we're doing small batches to start out. The batch sizes will probably be something like 400, 800, 1000, 1000+. We would like to hold on to this first finished batch of 400 for a bit for extensive testing. Once the manufacturing process has been perfected and we have all the LCD panels, the factory can spit out the rest of the order in less than a month.


Other News
As many of you already know, I have officially been brought into the Pandora project as sort of public relations liaison. I am not "employed" by Openpandora, I am only helping out on a voluntary basis. This means that I have better access to more accurate (direct from the horse's mouth, so to speak) information. I will be relaying these updates the same way I always have - via stickies in this forum. I may occasionally post news or blog updates to openpandora.org as well, but that is more an outlet for the actual developers. They post milestones there. Here is where I post the minor day-to-day and week-to-week stuff for which everybody has been clamoring.

In addition to better access to information, my position with Openpandora might lead to some other perks, like videos, interviews, photos and more. There is also a chance I might get one of the very early Pandoras for demonstration purposes. Not one of the 20 we have now (those will be more useful in the hands of software devs), but one of the first final units to come off the assembly line. Possibly before testing and before anything else ships. This means I might be able to post extensive photo and video documentation of the device, weeks before they start shipping. Nothing is carved in stone, just something we're batting around.


That is pretty much the state of everything right now. As things change, I'll keep you updated.
 
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Thanks for the update, so basically by the sounds of it, there is NO WAY anyone is getting a finished cnosumer Pandora this side of Xmas...thats all i needed to know, pity they couldnt have told us that a few weeks back...
 
So if I haven't received any emails about problems with the bank and my credit card, my cc should have been processed fine, right?
 
jaycee900 said:
by the sounds of it, there is NO WAY anyone is getting a finished cnosumer Pandora this side of Xmas
I'm not supposed to make promises one way or the other, but there is still a chance that some Pandoras will ship before the end of the year. They might not, but it is not completely out of the question.
smanky said:
So if I haven't received any emails about problems with the bank and my credit card, my cc should have been processed fine, right?
Not necessarily. Credit card refunds are still being processed.
 
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Thank you for the update, Chip. Updates are always appreciated.

I could, but I'd rather not read between the lines and make assumptions, so I'll ask directly: Have the Wifi antenna issues been resolved?

"No, not yet" is a perfectly acceptable answer here (As is "I don't know"), and should likely be the default assumption. Your email suggests "Yes", so I'm just checking.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm assuming these Wifi modules have yet to be field-tested based on previous posts. I'm asking about the physical Wifi antenna.
 
Chip said:
jaycee900 said:
by the sounds of it, there is NO WAY anyone is getting a finished cnosumer Pandora this side of Xmas
I'm not supposed to make promises one way or the other, but there is still a chance that some Pandoras will ship before the end of the year. They might not, but it is not completely out of the question.
Yeah but I'd rather they be honest with us, like they say its not a big company, its a small 'project' so no investors to piss off, so i cant see why since no orders are currently being taken just to say hey guys, we are keeping back the first batch of 400 for testing over the new year, then say mid Jan after testing we start shipping...i mean its a week until December and another 3 shipping weeks after that until xmas, what with the 25% board failures, cases, wi-fi? etc all still to sort out, its a heck of a job to get the test units out before then let alone perfected consumer units...don't leave it until a week before xmas then tell us then wont ship until Jan, just be honest guys thats all we ask for...
 
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I reckon they should wait until 1st of December to see how fast things are progressing at that point, and then make a decision on what they want to do with the first finished Pandoras.
 
jaycee900 said:
Chip said:
jaycee900 said:
by the sounds of it, there is NO WAY anyone is getting a finished cnosumer Pandora this side of Xmas
I'm not supposed to make promises one way or the other, but there is still a chance that some Pandoras will ship before the end of the year. They might not, but it is not completely out of the question.
Yeah but I'd rather they be honest with us, like they say its not a big company, its a small 'project' so no investors to piss off, so i cant see why since no orders are currently being taken just to say hey guys, we are keeping back the first batch of 400 for testing over the new year, then say mid Jan after testing we start shipping...i mean its a week until December and another 3 shipping weeks after that until xmas, what with the 25% board failures, cases, wi-fi? etc all still to sort out, its a heck of a job to get the test units out before then let alone perfected consumer units...don't leave it until a week before xmas then tell us then wont ship until Jan, just be honest guys thats all we ask for...


If you have ever dealt with projects like these then you would realize that what you are asking for is probably vapor in the first place. I would say that he and "they" are being as honest as they can with what they know. Who knows more about the bank or manufacturer's plans then they do, and how much they are willing to relate? The manufacturers alone are taking risks by making parts to build these systems with the understanding that they will be fully paid by the end only after the output a finish product. Would you necessarily tell your client about small little problems occurring about the process and potentially loose the money your company has already invested? And your asking the dev-team to answer those questions? At best they are getting second to third hand information, and your one or two degrees further down the chain. Just relax and hope like the rest of us that we get to play with these wonderful devices sooner than later.

What I have just wrote has been repeated, ad nausem on many of these board topics, its not like the world is going to change its businesses practices just because a few of you can't POTENTIALLY wait til after Christmas to get your devices.

Godspeed to Chip and the devs and I still have a few beers for you guys...
 
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Trevor Bradley said:
Have the Wifi antenna issues been resolved?
I was told the only thing missing from the 20 demo units is the keypad membrane. I'll double check, but I'm pretty sure that means the wifi antenna is all set.
 
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Shame about the delays, but I'll live if my Pandora doesn't arrive til 2009. The really mind boggling thing is the bank. Why would they insist on refunds then not process those refunds? Seems fishy.
 
"Our bank, for reasons of its own, decided not to honor the bulk of credit card orders placed for Pandoras. They insisted that we refund them. As we have been filing refunds, they have (again, for reasons of their own) been incredibly reluctant to process them."

Obviously not your fault and probably related to the current international financial crisis which would make UK banks extremely reluctant to take international credit card transactions from outside the UK and the EU.
 
Chip said:
I was told the only thing missing from the 20 demo units is the keypad membrane. I'll double check, but I'm pretty sure that means the wifi antenna is all set.
Understood, and Awesome.

Thanks Chip!
 
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Thanks for the update Chip.

Well sadly I received my refund mail today, I thought i was safe after all this time and well i wont re-order, it there's too much going on and i prefer to play it safe (will buy a wiz) I dont see any chance that the first batch will be send before end december at this stage :-(

Good luck all
 
All exciting and interesting stuff. Thanks.
I do sort of wish i had a constant stream of updates on the manufacturing process but that's just due to a personal curiosity in the way these things are organised and run rather than end user frustration/need to have the finished product asap.

Very glad getting it all right is being valued well above getting it done hyper fast.
 
zeGouky said:
i prefer to play it safe (will buy a wiz) I dont see any chance that the first batch will be send before end december at this stage :-(
Even with everything going on, the Pandora will still ship before the Wiz. They've pushed their ship date back to February.
 
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