Wouldn't a Pandora kickstarter be a good idea?

[bdbdn]

topic

 

[hdonk]

I suspect once iCP2 is out of the way, this might happen.

 

[Null]

It'd be a way for Craig to make himself useful, but would we trust him to run it is the question + <pessimism>knowing what people currently think of the Pandora would we get enough backers?</pessimism>

 

[PokeParadox]

I think the main problem is that Pandora is an existing product - Kickstarter is for new ideas...

Also kickstarter didn't exist when Pandora was born.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Well there's the Pandora 2 that could go on Kickstarter, profits of which could go into P1 pre-orders.

 

[FaeMinx]

^ This is all good and wonderful, but to date we haven't seen a single finished ICP2 and it's nearing mid-feb.

It's seems that technological advancements in the rest of the world are picking up pace... every day that passes makes it more difficult for the P2 to be viable at it's projected price point.

 

[_wb_]

I don't think you can do a kickstarter for something that already exists.

Also, you have to take into account that kickstarter takes 5% for itself, 3% to 5% for payment fees, and you have to pay VAT on those fees as well, so all in all about 12% of the collected money disappears.

Since ED seems to have enough liquidity to keep Pandoras in stock, I don't see what the benefit of a kickstarter would be except maybe for publicity - although you still have to do most of that yourself, and it may actually be harder because many tech sites are a bit tired of kickstarter projects.

The main thing that holds people back from buying a Pandora is the price. It is currently 539 EUR, so if you would want to get the same amount of money when selling them on kickstarter, you would have to ask 612 EUR so that after deduction of fees, the original amount remains.

I think it's a better idea to try to lower the price. If the first digit could become a "4" for the 1GHz model and a "3" for the Rebirth model at some point, that would help.

For the hypothetical future Pandora 2, a kickstarter could be an option, but I don't think it would necessarily be the best idea - why pay those fees and have a potential new preorder mess? I think it would be better if Pandora 1 sales can eventually produce some profits to get the Pandora 2 production started (possibly aided by some community donations and/or loans), and start selling them from stock instead of taking an uncertain number of preorders. Once ED's pre-order queue is gone, he can start to pay back the investors (or convince them to turn their P1 investment into a P2 investment), and then hopefully make enough of a profit to start a P2 project.

There is no rush; if anything, the crazy pace of smartphone innovation will only make it easier in the future to get great components at cheap prices, so maybe it's better to wait a bit until the cutting edge of today becomes cheap enough to make a really great P2 in 2015 that can be sold for ~400 EUR, instead of trying to rush to make the same thing in 2013, have all sorts of delays, get lots of angry pre-orderers again, and end up delivering it in 2016 for ~800 EUR.

 

[ShleeDragon]

HEY GUYS, ED HAS JUST CLEARED OUT HIS OVER FOUR YEAR OLD PREORDERS QUEUE...

LET'S START ANOTHER PREORDER QUEUE... 

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! 

<seriously> Welcome to the forums. While this is not a horrible idea in itself... ED could set a maximum limit to make sure he can order them once the money clears from the factory, because he has most of the parts in stock.
 

Well there's the Pandora 2 that could go on Kickstarter, profits of which could go into P1 pre-orders.

Give this man a medal!

^ This is all good and wonderful, but to date we haven't seen a single finished ICP2 and it's nearing mid-feb.

It's seems that technological advancements in the rest of the world are picking up pace... every day that passes makes it more difficult for the P2 to be viable at it's projected price point.

If you expected 1) Craig to produce it in three months without a working protoype.. 2) everything is going to go smoothly during the Chinese new year.

 

[urjaman]

No.

 

[Mr_Loon]

Hi eddielugia & welcome to the boards. Thanks also for a very interesting topic.

I think that once ED has cleared his pre order queue then a kickstarter campaign could be of possible use to OP GmbH.

Let's get one thing clear, kickstarter is not just about bringing new inventions to market, it is about funding creative projects.

A creative project could be to make & sell 500 (or however many) Pandora 1Ghz units.

Could the asking price for a 1Ghz unit be lowered if there was a guarantee of 500, or 1000 sales? Guess only ED knows that.

If after considered thought the increased costs associated with using kickstarter were not thought to outweigh the benefits then it might also be worth it as a practice run for a P2 kickstarter to come

 

[ZXDunny]

Good heavens, I can just see the message board on the kickstarter page now...

"I ordered a Pandora from Craig and didn't get anything after 4 years. I also ordered an iCP2 and am still waiting for that 6 months after the kickstarter finished..."

etc, etc.

In short, no - not now we have the reputation we have.

 

[Timstertoo]

Good heavens, I can just see the message board on the kickstarter page now..."I ordered a Pandora from Craig and didn't get anything after 4 years. I also ordered an iCP2 and am still waiting for that 6 months after the kickstarter finished..."etc, etc.In short, no - not now we have the reputation we have.

Great point. The Dragon's Box it is then

Verstuurd van mijn GT-I9100 met Tapatalk

 

[Grench]

The only way that pre-funding a Pandora II works, Kickstarter or not, is if ED runs the show and manages the money.

He'll still need MWeston and DaveC for board & case designs.

I'm struggling to find a justification for involving CraigIX in it at all at that point.

So, calling it, "The Dragon Box," (not Dragon's - if I buy one it's mine) - that works fine.

The three of them - ED, MWeston and DaveC could do it.

Although I see another possibility that ED and MWeston could do.  Make a motherboard & screen upgrade for the existing Pandora.

Could CraigIX release the iCP2, have it be a big hit, pay ED the production costs from all of the Pandora's CraigIX sold and totally redeem himself?  Sure.  It simply needs to happen soon.

 

[ShleeDragon]

Good heavens, I can just see the message board on the kickstarter page now..."I ordered a Pandora from Craig and didn't get anything after 4 years. I also ordered an iCP2 and am still waiting for that 6 months after the kickstarter finished..."etc, etc.In short, no - not now we have the reputation we have.

Great point. The Dragon's Box it is then

You made a Craigtake.. It's a person who keeps letting Craig make mistakes.

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

Good heavens, I can just see the message board on the kickstarter page now...


"I ordered a Pandora from Craig and didn't get anything after 4 years. I also ordered an iCP2 and am still waiting for that 6 months after the kickstarter finished..."


etc, etc.


In short, no - not now we have the reputation we have.

+1


*Every* time I brought this up on reddit it got downvoted to shit with people complaining about their experience and/or who followed the project with interest but consider it far too expensive. In a kickstarter it'd get ripped to shreds.

 

[canseco]

I see too much talking about the price of 1Ghz model.

Rebirth unit cost is 439 euros, is not good enough with 850 overclocking?

I know people will want 1Ghz (i payed 666 to get mine with upgrade, after 3 years of waiting) but depending on your needs, Rebirth is good enough.

A kickstarter/indiegogo with the success of Ouya, that's what we need, but first clean pre-orders.

 

[FaeMinx]

Here's hoping the ICP2 turns out to be that big break Craig needs to solve all his issues.

If, however, it doesn't work out that way... then I agree, the Pandora successor should be called something else (and probably have it's own forum too).

 

[cuetzpalin]

I think everything has been said, it is possible if, and only if:

• All preorders are cleared by then.
• Preferably handled by ED and the rest of the team with no reputation issues, but they still would need to acknowledge from the beggining the issues and delays they had, explaining why they won't happen again.
• Is done for a new edition of the Pandora. (with a better screen, and overall improved hardware specs)
• They play safe in the production department. (Don't change case design or not so it requires a lot of production to be done, and hopefully remaining compatibility with existing cases.
• Some rewards could be upgrades from existing versions of the console, or even older versions of the console. (at reduced prices, taking the boards from the upgraded consoles).

Then again, I think it's very doable. If Craig got iCP2 funded, I can't see why the Pandora can't follow the same way considering what everyone has said.

 

[Binky]

You can't have a new edition or generally upgraded specs without a new case.

The current case has numerous issues, and is incompatible with the iCP2 keyboard (which is much better than the current one)

 

[TrashyMG]

the iCP2 keyboard (which is much better than the current one)

Personally I would like to actually see the new ICP2 keyboard first hand before making that decision