Updates in all areas, spiced with case renders

[codifies]

Light is a very real consern with a transparent case, take the over power hungry pi2 you either need liquid paper or smurf poo in the right place to photograph it, the light from a flash will cause a reboot!


You can't hide/protect electronics enough sometimes....

First off the "Transparent Case" is just a rendering, it may not be the choice of the case material... secondly, the Flash issue that you most likely heard about from the RPI2 "issues" is kind of a freak thing.. Even if there were Chip Scale Package modules on the Pyra it may not have the same lock up effect as it did with the Raspberry Pi 2 depending where its located in the circuitry. Also most of the time CSP modules are encapsulated in a dark resin blob to prevent such occurrences.

It might have been a render but now people are asking for it.... and I didn't just read about the pi2 issue I got caught you by it and not just by a camera flash, but by lighting getting turned on, it took me longer than I care to admit to connect the lights and the "flash" post....

The reason for pointing it out was to illustrate unintended consequences... Bending to the whims of a forum could end up being costly because.... well who know..... Design can be a tricky thing, even the colour (or lack) can have unintended consequences, as already suggested black on a hot sunny day.

My concern with that though is I fully expect news sources to make a big deal about the Pandora's history and warn people away from it, even if it's EvilDragon with a proven track record and a working prototype. A kickstarter might mitigate that negativity.

Alas there are a bunch of lazy journalists out there, the fact that in effect the Pandora project was reborn and is managed by someone who's proved he's both competent and trustworthy could be sadly missed.

That said, don't you think the initial batch would sell out quite quickly just alone by subscribers to this board ?

 

[WizardStan]

That said, don't you think the initial batch would sell out quite quickly just alone by subscribers to this board ?

Depends on how big a batch is. And honestly, I really don't think there's enough of "us" to sell out an initial batch. There's a few dozen active users on this board, maybe a few hundred that frequently stop by to catch up, maybe a couple thousand that check back infrequently to see if there's any big news. If every single one of us bought one we're looking at maybe 4000 sales, and that's a big if. The Pandora sold that much in its initial run but it was heavily reported on, news sites probably brought in most of those sales. I expect a few hundred, maybe 1000, to be bought by members of this board, the rest will be made up by second hand accounts, people that hear about it from news sites, word of mouth, and the like.

 

[PowerGod]

Then simply ramp production up and fulfill them as rapidly as possible - still in order of course.  Time is money.  Harvest time

Damn, that's brilliant!

Deja vu ?!

 

[Grench]

Then simply ramp production up and fulfill them as rapidly as possible - still in order of course.  Time is money.  Harvest time

Damn, that's brilliant!

It's all about market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the business process to ensure that those who are willing to pay more do.

An added aspect - if the higher priced release dates don't sell well, it simply speeds up delivery of the lower priced tiers.

Remember when the first batch of CC Pandoras were produced.  Several of the initial few units ended up going on auction sites for around 4 times their purchase price.  Clearly there are people willing to pay more to be 'first'.

Behind the scenes, though, it might be a good idea to figure out who the most prolific developers were on the Pandora (using download stats) and offer each of them an early unit at the discounted 6 month order price (with written agreement that they cannot sell it until after the 6 month tier has released.)  They need the content developers in as early as possible - but cannot afford to send out freebies.  I would not be eligible (in case anyone thought this was self serving).

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Now that you've unhidden the scheme, it may not work anymore

 

[unregistered lurker]

That said, don't you think the initial batch would sell out quite quickly just alone by subscribers to this board ?

Depends on how big a batch is. And honestly, I really don't think there's enough of "us" to sell out an initial batch. There's a few dozen active users on this board, maybe a few hundred that frequently stop by to catch up, maybe a couple thousand that check back infrequently to see if there's any big news.

Lurkers! Don't forget the lurkers!

 

[Link]

Why are the dummy screw slots on the other side as in the last post?^^

 

[codifies]

It's all about market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the business process to ensure that those who are willing to pay more do.

Strikes me as well.... a bit dishonest - gouging out as much as you can from some - while depriving those with smaller pockets, making them wait for no reason

 

[PowerGod]

The Apple way...

 

[WizardStan]

The Apple Way would be cranking up the profit margin for everyone and then hyping it up to make everyone want it. This seems like an entirely legitimate way to control production and earn a little more money. ED deserves to earn as much as he can for his hard work.

 

[Natsu]

Liking the L/2 and R/2 buttons. Also, I think it should be a black and red theme. They whole Pyra should light up with a transparent case.

 

[Guesterson]

Otherwise a -dark- color.  I.e. Black, charcoal, dark grey or red so dark it's almost black.  It needs to look serious enough to set on a conference room table hooked up to a projector for presentations.

Beige looks serious. Black looks like a gimmicky toy.

Can I also provide some suggestions regarding the keyboard layout?

Beige makes me think of Pentium III's and computers running pre-NT Windows.

 

[oxym]

So maybe instead of KickStarter, ED should make his own auction system. It would allow buyers to bid any amount of money (providing information about what is a minimum allowed bid) within some time frame to buy a Pyra. Users would be allowed to increase their bids within the time frame.

The highers bids will be served first (equal bids will be served according to the time when the first bid was made).

[i'd certainly be among the ones bidding low]

 

[codifies]

Well, I've waited this long for son of Pandora, whats and extra two years or so....

 

[Natsu]

Too late to switch one of the usbs to usb c?

 

[TrashyMG]

Yes

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Otherwise a -dark- color.  I.e. Black, charcoal, dark grey or red so dark it's almost black.  It needs to look serious enough to set on a conference room table hooked up to a projector for presentations.

Beige looks serious. Black looks like a gimmicky toy.

Can I also provide some suggestions regarding the keyboard layout?

Beige makes me think of Pentium III's and computers running pre-NT Windows.

What's wrong with that? I loved my 386 with Windows 3.1.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

So maybe instead of KickStarter, ED should make his own auction system. It would allow buyers to bid any amount of money (providing information about what is a minimum allowed bid) within some time frame to buy a Pyra. Users would be allowed to increase their bids within the time frame.

The highers bids will be served first (equal bids will be served according to the time when the first bid was made).

[i'd certainly be among the ones bidding low]

Isn't this what we called Ebay?

 

[Rockthesmurf]

My advise for getting the Pyra to market: make a kick starter campaign, get the money, make a film falling of a roof into the snow, buy a 3D printer, possibly develop the Pyra along the way, but this really should be seen a secondary mission (completely non compulsory), as things start going sour just kick off another kick starter or two, add some premium tiered versions of the device, try and get people to upgrade (cash up front of course!) and then fold everything and stop posting. I don't really foresee there being any friction, and at the end of the day, if anyone has a problem with it, just get their order number and cancel their order, we don't need them naysayers anyway. 

 

[Grench]

It's all about market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the business process to ensure that those who are willing to pay more do.

Strikes me as well.... a bit dishonest - gouging out as much as you can from some - while depriving those with smaller pockets, making them wait for no reason

Not dishonest at all.  If anything, this is simply being 'up front' with a very common business process.

To my understanding, at it's peak, Pandora production was under 1000 units per month.  The real 'First batch' of CC units was a few hundred of the thousands that had been preordered over 2 years prior.  Several of those went up on auction sites for four times what the purchaser paid.

I doubt ED will be able to produce 5,000 Pyras on day 1 of the launch.  This is a far more complex engineering feat than 99% of the items on Kickstarter.  In fact, it might be a bad idea to even if he could.  So, by the nature of the beast, production will likely roll out over a broad time span.

Those first few units coming out will be, to some people, worth more than the time of waiting 2+ months for the production to catch up with initial demand.  ED has every right to tap into this value.

The Apple Way would be cranking up the profit margin for everyone and then hyping it up to make everyone want it. This seems like an entirely legitimate way to control production and earn a little more money. ED deserves to earn as much as he can for his hard work.

Apple also starts producing units many months ahead of their actual launch on assembly lines with thousands of workers.  They can have -millions- of devices sitting in warehouses before the 'launch day' arrives.  They can capture the 'new item value effect' from a much broader group of people.  Apple does the above model - they charge MUCH more at launch for an item than they charge for the exact same item 3-6 months later through discounting (which appears to the end consumer as if their wireless carrier is cutting them a break on a 2 year contract).