Re: [Gta04-owner] [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On 30/12/11 07.39, Alishams Hassam wrote: Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. Me2 ;-) 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: When GTA02 was sold and someone needed an ARM testboard, I recommended GTA02 and http://www.embeddedartists.com/ boards to people on news://comp.arch.embedded news://linux.debian.ports.arm and news://comp.sys.arm , that wanted a fast ARM board to play with. The reason is that with GTA02 you might end up with a useable access point or phone - instead of a standard board. Bonus: GTA02 has wi-fi and GSM modem! A complete GTA04 has a lot more! It even has built-in UPS! - In the same sense a complete GTA04 could be marketed as a open ARM-based test phone (almost no NDA needed) to technical department of universities, colleges and other teaching schools. - But the schematic and chip specifications/documentation should be very easily accessible (direct updated links), so hard core freaks can evaluate the ARM board in an instant. A lot of easy low-level software (not only Linux, but e.g. also FreeRTOS or a short C or C++ program demonstrating GTA04 funtionality here is how the LED/wi-fi/IR/USB/SD-card/LCD/camera turns on/is used, like embedded(-)artists...), must be available so technically oriented people can wrestle with it by themself or in education. - Then you/we will have a lot more technically oriented people working with the phone hardware and software and with more suggestions. Glenn ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Hi, Am 30.12.2011 um 23:14 schrieb Gerald A: For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan This takes approx. 15 minutes. Rarely more. And we have an installation service if you don't want to DIY (I would appreciate if there will come up local resellers or hacking groups in your area). Does this 15 minutes require soldering skills? (I think it does). No it doesn't. It is just some mechanical adaptations. I think Sean some years ago encouraged to open the Freerunner and take a look inside... I personally am not averse to trying to solder -- it's something I want to learn more about. But your average linux geek probably doesn't want to. But they still might be enamored by the prospect of an open phone. The most tricky part is to peel off the LCD module from the PCB without breaking the glass or disrupting the fine cables. An alternative is to glue a new to the GTA04 board and just swap the complete GTA02-module with a GTA04 module. A complete description of the steps is in chapter 4 of the GTA04 manual: http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-main/page/Manual Nikolaus___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On Saturday 31 December 2011 13:08:47 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote: Am 30.12.2011 um 23:14 schrieb Gerald A: For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan This takes approx. 15 minutes. Rarely more. And we have an installation service if you don't want to DIY (I would appreciate if there will come up local resellers or hacking groups in your area). Does this 15 minutes require soldering skills? (I think it does). No it doesn't. It is just some mechanical adaptations. I think Sean some years ago encouraged to open the Freerunner and take a look inside... I personally am not averse to trying to solder -- it's something I want to learn more about. But your average linux geek probably doesn't want to. But they still might be enamored by the prospect of an open phone. The most tricky part is to peel off the LCD module from the PCB without breaking the glass or disrupting the fine cables. An alternative is to glue a new to the GTA04 board and just swap the complete GTA02-module with a GTA04 module. A complete description of the steps is in chapter 4 of the GTA04 manual: I can second the ease with which the boards are changed. To get an idea of the level: I have opened a few telephones before: to swap displays or put photos behind the LCD when the LCDs didn't offer background images yet. I can not say that it is in any respect a dayly routine for me to work on telephone hardware. The manual is quite to the point: the procedure seems quite elaborate, but that is because every step got a photo showing where to put your fingers and other tools. The display is indeed the trickiest part: there are those conductive pads between the display and the motherboard, that do not stick but get in the way anyway while cutting through the double sided tabe that holds the display in place. The wires are fine, but not more so than you'd expect from such a device. I might have taken half an hour, but not much longer. If I did it a second time, it would be much closer to 15 minutes. There is really not so much to it, all parts are made to fit easily and are also taken apart quite easily. Boudewijn smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Great Thanks! Although i have some professional background in product management/marketing I simply have no time left to care for marketing... And marketing communication without a product is pointless. So I did devote my time mostly on getting the product into our hands. So if we find enough volunteers to take care of spreading the word outside of this community, this would be great for all of us. Nikolaus Am 30.12.2011 um 07:39 schrieb Alishams Hassam: Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested), please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR. 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts, in small runs - hence the price tag. This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as possible. Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. Areas to Attack: 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot early this month http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rises-from-the-ashes No mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ Phornix also did an article on Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 : People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech news sites out there. Ars Technica comes to mind, Lifehacker and Make would get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix I'm sure will do one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 for the geeks who like print (someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention http://lwn.net/ Someone here, who has a good wire to www.linuxfordevices.com? Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has written one before? 2. Mailing lists of FOSS projects: This area cannot be done with a press release blast. Well it can, but I don't think the subscribers will appreciate spam. Ideally each of us can write a post about the GTA04 on any other FOSS lists we are on. I'll get the ball rolling with a post to the Debian user list soon.The other big relevant list to hit is the LXDE related mailing lists: lxde-list lxde-l...@lists.sourceforge.net, lubuntu-desktop lubuntu-desk...@lists.launchpad.net Plasma active could be another one, assuming it runs on the hardware, as with gnome-shell gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org Let's get a list of mailings lists going on a wiki page. 3. Free Geeks Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list and start a discussion. Starting points include how replacing a board is much more ecological than full new cell phone. The challenges with such an approach, and perhaps how FOSS helps to ensure old devices see much more support than their counterparts. I'll be updating the wiki with some adresses as I collect them. For now, Free Geek Vancouver: fg-gene...@lists.freegeekvancouver.org 4. Hack Spaces Hackers love linux and tinkering! We can organize with Hack Spaces to help less hardware oriented users like myself with supervision/teaching of the board swap. I'll also be adding them to the wiki, please help collect addresses if you're too shy to post. Vancouver Hack Space: vhs-gene...@lists.hackspace.ca 5. LUGS Linux User Groups are *not* dead. They're less active than they used to be, however at Linux Con North America, the president of the CLUG (Calgary LUG), gave a speech and is trying to reinvigorate things. This is usually full of people who have disposable income and love to have cool geeky things. The VanLUG address van...@robomod.net 6. Kickstarter / similar services Perhaps funding for a case
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On Thursday 29 December 2011 22:39:01 Alishams Hassam wrote: Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? This isn't strictly true. The FR/Neo1974 is certainly the easiest way to get screen, case, antennae, speakers, vibro-motor etc. but suitable parts can be sourced separately and a case made. It may be worth supplying a list of suitable alternative parts and sources, or even a parts kit, to make it easier for people without a donor phone. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Hi, I have a GTA02 which I am using only for NeronGPS. I need a mobile for a few calls and SMS a month. Some months ago it did not receive an SMS and I have no idea why. I bought a 20€ Samsung phone, put the chip in, and got the SMS. So, why should I be excited to buy a GTA04 for the price tag of a full android? I don't even know if I will be able to reliably receive the occasional SMS? Just a question, no ranting. BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. Regards, Fernando On Dec 30, 2011 06:39 Alishams Hassam alishams.has...@gmail.com wrote: Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested), please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR. 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts, in small runs - hence the price tag. This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as possible. Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. Areas to Attack: 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot early this month http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunne r-rises-from-the-ashes No mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/%20 Phornix http://www.phoronix.com/ also did an article http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_itempx=MTAzNDE on Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 : People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech news sites out there. Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/comes to mind, Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/ and Make http://makezine.com/ would get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix http://www.phoronix.com/ I'm sure will do one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 http://www.2600.com/for the geeks who like print (someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention http://lwn.net/ Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has written one before? 2. Mailing lists of FOSS projects: This area cannot be done with a press release blast. Well it can, but I don't think the subscribers will appreciate spam. Ideally each of us can write a post about the GTA04 on any other FOSS lists we are on. I'll get the ball rolling with a post to the Debian user list soon.The other big relevant list to hit is the LXDE related mailing lists: lxde-list lxde-l...@lists.sourceforge.net, lubuntu-desktop lubuntu-desk...@lists.launchpad.net Plasma active could be another one, assuming it runs on the hardware, as with gnome-shell gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org Let's get a list of mailings lists going on a wiki page. 3. Free Geeks Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list and start a discussion. Starting points include how replacing a board is much more ecological than full new cell phone. The challenges with such an approach, and perhaps how FOSS helps to ensure old devices see much more support than their counterparts. I'll be updating the wiki with some adresses as I collect them. For now, Free Geek Vancouver: fg-gene...@lists.freegeekvancouver.org 4. Hack Spaces Hackers love linux and tinkering! We can organize with Hack Spaces to help less hardware oriented users like myself with supervision/teaching of the board swap. I'll also be adding them to the wiki, please help collect addresses if you're too shy to post. Vancouver Hack Space: vhs-gene...@lists.hackspace.ca 5.
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
El día Friday, December 30, 2011 a las 01:43:12PM +, Fernando escribió: BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. I strongly disagree. Most of the times Marketing is done by companies without having a full featured product, sometimes even without having a product at all, but just an idea and just to test the market; I'm used to say to those markeing guys: Hey, I have the money here with me, can I take your gadget withme right now? :-) matthias -- Matthias Apitz e g...@unixarea.de - w http://www.unixarea.de/ UNIX since V7 on PDP-11, UNIX on mainframe since ESER 1055 (IBM /370) UNIX on x86 since SVR4.2 UnixWare 2.1.2, FreeBSD since 2.2.5 ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Gta04-owner] [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Am 30.12.2011 um 10:27 schrieb ri...@happyleptic.org: Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. If you are refering to how it was made impossible to replace the non-free firmware by a free one, then I wouldn't advertise this too loudly :) ??? It appears that there is a common misunderstanding about the GTA04 capabilities and WiFi firmware. Let me clarify at least for these two lists. You can always replace the libertas firmware. It is stored in /lib/firmware and loaded by the MMC/SDIO driver kernel module as soon as it identifies that the WiFi chip needs the libertas driver. What you are probably referring to was a proposal by RMS/FSF to isolate that in hardware for a special variant that FSF could endorse (maybe with a different name). There did no appear a volunteer to build a prototype and demonstrate that it is working, useful and improves freedom at all. Without a prototype, we can't even think about adding such a thing to hardware and give it to FSF for promotion. And, it was never intended to become part of the standard GTA04 which can live IMHO very well without a FSF endorsement, although an FSF endorsement would automatically give much more public attention. The better technological way was and is to write an open source replacement for the firmware and store it as usual in the file system. Unfortunately, that firmware discussion had gained its own life on some forums we don't read regularily and was based on assumptions and prejudices instead of ever asking the project team about the status... So the story was out and impossible to retract. So please help that others (outside the community) are correctly understanding this aspect. Nikolaus ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On Dec 30, 2011 13:53 Matthias Apitz g...@unixarea.de wrote: El día Friday, December 30, 2011 a las 01:43:12PM +, Fernando escribió: BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. I strongly disagree. Most of the times Marketing is done by companies without having a full featured product, sometimes even without having a product at all, but just an idea and just to test the market; I'm used to say to those markeing guys: Hey, I have the money here with me, can I take your gadget withme right now? :-) matthias What would be the sales pitch then? An Arduino-like product for people to make their own custom mobiles? Fernando ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
+1 We need to offer complete working smartphone before doing massive marketing to public. #1 mistake of Openmoko Inc. was unstable software stack, switching toolkits (GTK+, Qt, EFL) and hardware bugs. I think, we should provide stable and tested development platform (stable distribution, SDK and nice documentation), then write on various MLs and attract mobile developers, come up with some fancy product name (GTA04 is just codename) and then start broader marketing on various news websites. Best Regards, Martix Dne 30.12.2011 14:43, Fernando napsal(a): Hi, I have a GTA02 which I am using only for NeronGPS. I need a mobile for a few calls and SMS a month. Some months ago it did not receive an SMS and I have no idea why. I bought a 20EUR Samsung phone, put the chip in, and got the SMS. So, why should I be excited to buy a GTA04 for the price tag of a full android? I don't even know if I will be able to reliably receive the occasional SMS? Just a question, no ranting. BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. Regards, Fernando On Dec 30, 2011 06:39 Alishams Hassam alishams.has...@gmail.com mailto:alishams.has...@gmail.com wrote: Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested), please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR. 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts, in small runs - hence the price tag. This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as possible. Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. Areas to Attack: 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot early this month http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rises-from-the-ashes No mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/%20Phornix http://www.phoronix.com/ also did an article http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_itempx=MTAzNDE on Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 : People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech news sites out there. Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/comes to mind, Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/ and Make http://makezine.com/ would get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix http://www.phoronix.com/ I'm sure will do one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 http://www.2600.com/for the geeks who like print (someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention http://lwn.net/ Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has written one before? 2. Mailing lists of FOSS projects: This area cannot be done with a press release blast. Well it can, but I don't think the subscribers will appreciate spam. Ideally each of us can write a post about the GTA04 on any other FOSS lists we are on. I'll get the ball rolling with a post to the Debian user list soon.The other big relevant list to hit is the LXDE related mailing lists: lxde-list lxde-l...@lists.sourceforge.net mailto:lxde-l...@lists.sourceforge.net, lubuntu-desktop lubuntu-desk...@lists.launchpad.net mailto:lubuntu-desk...@lists.launchpad.net Plasma active could be another one, assuming it runs on the hardware, as with gnome-shell gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org mailto:gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org Let's get a list of mailings lists going on a wiki page. 3. Free Geeks Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list and start a discussion.
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Am 30.12.2011 um 14:53 schrieb Matthias Apitz: El día Friday, December 30, 2011 a las 01:43:12PM +, Fernando escribió: BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. I strongly disagree. Most of the times Marketing is done by companies without having a full featured product, sometimes even without having a product at all, but just an idea and just to test the market; I'm used to ^ This needs to have a different product selling very well, so that there is a big marketing budget available to burn. The other strategy is the one taken by Apple. They have a very low marketing budget compared to other companies. And the media are still happy to report every small move at no cost... ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Marketing strategies can also be planned for two different targets: 1st: developers, skilled users, hackers, geeks, etc, etc. In this phase marketing is mean to publish, inform and possible sale the product to those interested in the above activities 2nd: once the product will be stable enough and usable for an average iphone user, then a marketing strategy could be planned to reach the big market. In my opinion, without the first, it would be much more difficult for our community to compete (ok, I know this is such a big word..) with mainstream products. IF the intention is really to get a phone comparable with other well known products, there's the need of something stable and usable, and this can be reached only with the mass help of developers testers, etc. But if they don't know about it... Mybe talking properly about marketing for the first phase isn't strongly right, however the meaning is to spread the voice, inform, publish to that target which could be interested at the beginning. Therefore I agree with Hassam when he talks about marketing strategies. I just wanted to point out something. imho, urodelo On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:09:10 +0100, Martix martix...@gmail.com wrote: +1 We need to offer complete working smartphone before doing massive marketing to public. #1 mistake of Openmoko Inc. was unstable software stack, switching toolkits (GTK+, Qt, EFL) and hardware bugs. I think, we should provide stable and tested development platform (stable distribution, SDK and nice documentation), then write on various MLs and attract mobile developers, come up with some fancy product name (GTA04 is just codename) and then start broader marketing on various news websites. Best Regards, Martix Dne 30.12.2011 14:43, Fernando napsal(a): Hi, I have a GTA02 which I am using only for NeronGPS. I need a mobile for a few calls and SMS a month. Some months ago it did not receive an SMS and I have no idea why. I bought a 20EUR Samsung phone, put the chip in, and got the SMS. So, why should I be excited to buy a GTA04 for the price tag of a full android? I don't even know if I will be able to reliably receive the occasional SMS? Just a question, no ranting. BTW, I don't think it makes much sense to invest in marketing without a full product. It seems a too expensive proposition for a small market of GTA02 and without high confidence of still getting a reliable phone. Regards, Fernando On Dec 30, 2011 06:39 Alishams Hassam alishams.has...@gmail.com mailto:alishams.has...@gmail.com wrote: Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested), please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR. 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts, in small runs - hence the price tag. This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as possible. Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. Areas to Attack: 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot early this month http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rises-from-the-ashes No mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/%20Phornix http://www.phoronix.com/ also did an article http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_itempx=MTAzNDE on Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 : People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech news sites out there. Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/comes to mind, Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/ and Make http://makezine.com/ would get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix http://www.phoronix.com/ I'm sure will do one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 http://www.2600.com/for the geeks who like print (someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish it)! Jeez,
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? This isn't strictly true. The FR/Neo1974 is certainly the easiest way to get screen, case, antennae, speakers, vibro-motor etc. but suitable parts can be sourced separately and a case made. It may be worth supplying a list of suitable alternative parts and sources, or even a parts kit, to make it easier for people without a donor phone. Or to make it possible to use the gta04 while keeping the old gta02 ! :) What I really would like to is a hardware shopping list + some sort of tutorial on how to make use of the gta04 as a dev board (not a working phone), much like one would use a beagleboard or pandaboard. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Gta04-owner] [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
-[ Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 02:56:50PM +0100, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller ] Am 30.12.2011 um 10:27 schrieb ri...@happyleptic.org: Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. If you are refering to how it was made impossible to replace the non-free firmware by a free one, then I wouldn't advertise this too loudly :) (... badly needed explanations ...) So please help that others (outside the community) are correctly understanding this aspect. Thank you very much for taking some time to clarify this issue. I will redirect people to this post whenever I heard about this again in the future. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com wrote: The other strategy is the one taken by Apple. They have a very low marketing budget compared to other companies. And the media are still happy to report every small move at no cost... ... which is because Apple is super secretive, so even rumors become big news. While this is a great strategy, it becomes difficult to achieve if you are trying to have everything open. What I think is lost in all of this is the question: Who is the intended customer? I've seen some people talk about linux geeks, etc etc. However, at least for the first rev of the GTA04, it's _hardware_ geeks, and hardcore ones at that, which is the focus. There are lots of unix-heads that would love a phone that is free-er then Android or Apple let you be. But having to buy a phone, then cannibalize it with another kit you buy? It's definitely outside the mainstream. Now, it's not that I don't want this project to succeed. I think it's a great cause -- I was one of the early GTA01 (neo) buyers. For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan some assembly required, which gave you the right idea. I thought that it just needed a good software stack to make things great. (I still do). What might work is having people invest, rather then buy something. That's something I could wrap my head around. Make the open phone happen -- Invest now. Don't make it complicated or expensive. $10 in one 'block' kind of thing. Maybe 40 blocks would allow the investor to see a completed phone, if one was to ever be produced. Make the risks clear -- the open phone might never come to market, but if we get 5000 blocks sold, we then have the muscle to negotiate with the big boys. The issue here is what is in it for the little guy, and I'd be a bit fuzzy. 40 blocks gets a phone, but what if I buy 2? Do I get the use of a phone for a week? :P I also don't know the legal side of calling it an investment (rather then a donation or a purchase). But this would be simpler to market, and would have better funding potential then selling the kit. As an aside -- if I have extra cash, I might be willing to buy a kit or two -- but they would either end up as donations to others, or as a dust collector. So it's not that I'm not willing to put money into it. But I also realize that one or two more kits won't make this happen in isolation. Thanks ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On 12/30/2011 06:59 PM, Gerald A wrote: On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com mailto:h...@goldelico.com wrote: The other strategy is the one taken by Apple. They have a very low marketing budget compared to other companies. And the media are still happy to report every small move at no cost... ... which is because Apple is super secretive, so even rumors become big news. While this is a great strategy, it becomes difficult to achieve if you are trying to have everything open. What I think is lost in all of this is the question: Who is the intended customer? I've seen some people talk about linux geeks, etc etc. However, at least for the first rev of the GTA04, it's _hardware_ geeks, and hardcore ones at that, which is the focus. There are lots of unix-heads that would love a phone that is free-er then Android or Apple let you be. But having to buy a phone, then cannibalize it with another kit you buy? It's definitely outside the mainstream. Now, it's not that I don't want this project to succeed. I think it's a great cause -- I was one of the early GTA01 (neo) buyers. For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan some assembly required, which gave you the right idea. I thought that it just needed a good software stack to make things great. (I still do). What might work is having people invest, rather then buy something. That's something I could wrap my head around. Make the open phone happen -- Invest now. Don't make it complicated or expensive. $10 in one 'block' kind of thing. Maybe 40 blocks would allow the investor to see a completed phone, if one was to ever be produced. Make the risks clear -- the open phone might never come to market, but if we get 5000 blocks sold, we then have the muscle to negotiate with the big boys. The issue here is what is in it for the little guy, and I'd be a bit fuzzy. 40 blocks gets a phone, but what if I buy 2? Do I get the use of a phone for a week? :P I also don't know the legal side of calling it an investment (rather then a donation or a purchase). But this would be simpler to market, and would have better funding potential then selling the kit. As an aside -- if I have extra cash, I might be willing to buy a kit or two -- but they would either end up as donations to others, or as a dust collector. So it's not that I'm not willing to put money into it. But I also realize that one or two more kits won't make this happen in isolation. Thanks ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community My thoughts too, set up a kind of micro credit, where people can lent money, lets say 100 euro, and with that money build the phones. Once the phones are made, more developers can develop different aspects of the phone and people will see the GTA04 become more mature. I think success stories with video clips on youtube will convince more people to buy a GTA04 then good stories on paper. And the microcreditters can either get their money back once all phones are sold, or can get a 110 euro discount when they buy a GTA04. Just my thoughts.. Kind regards, Ed PS i guess you must be Dutch to come up with a micro credit plan in west-europe ;-) ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Hi Gerald, Ed (I try to merge thoughts a little...) Am 30.12.2011 um 19:22 schrieb Ed Kapitein: On 12/30/2011 06:59 PM, Gerald A wrote: On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com wrote: The other strategy is the one taken by Apple. They have a very low marketing budget compared to other companies. And the media are still happy to report every small move at no cost... ... which is because Apple is super secretive, so even rumors become big news. While this is a great strategy, it becomes difficult to achieve if you are trying to have everything open. What I think is lost in all of this is the question: Who is the intended customer? Currently: those who own a GTA01 and GTA02 or are willing to give it away. There are approx. 18000 units out there waiting for a potential upgrade to a GTA04 board. And we just have 56 group tour orders within 6 weeks. This is 0,3 %... I've seen some people talk about linux geeks, etc etc. However, at least for the first rev of the GTA04, it's _hardware_ geeks, and hardcore ones at that, which is the focus. Not necessarily. The hardware is done and has almost been proven to work. There may be bugs inside we will learn about only in the future, but there is a core team to iron this out. Not the community nor the owner has to do that. The main complaint with the GTA01 and GTA02 was that the processor is very slow and the Glamo is crap. And, there is no UMTS. And it has no USB 2.0. Now we finally have the GTA04: a motherboard replacement just doing that with 800 MHz Arm-Cortex A8, 3D graphics accelerator, integrated DSP coprocessor, and 14 MBit UMTS. Ready to be used by the linux geeks... So it is a solution to the main complaints with the GTA01/02. There are lots of unix-heads that would love a phone that is free-er then Android or Apple let you be. But having to buy a phone, then cannibalize it with another kit you buy? It's definitely outside the mainstream. Only those who don't own a GTA01 or GTA02 yet have to buy something (either a used GTA01/02 or hopefully soon a case kit). All others don't really have a reason to keep their GTA01/02 and have a GTA04 in parallel. Now, it's not that I don't want this project to succeed. I think it's a great cause -- I was one of the early GTA01 (neo) buyers. For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan This takes approx. 15 minutes. Rarely more. And we have an installation service if you don't want to DIY (I would appreciate if there will come up local resellers or hacking groups in your area). some assembly required, which gave you the right idea. I thought that it just needed a good software stack to make things great. (I still do). There is a lot of progress towards this. Neil Brown has almost everything working in a Linux 3.2 kernel. And QtMoko brings almost everything to the User Interface. So what is missing? Just some weeks of ironing out the final bugs. And more OS options to be ported. If the developers keep the speed (these activities did not start before October this year!), it will be perfect when the Group Tour devices are ready to ship... What might work is having people invest, rather then buy something. That's something I could wrap my head around. Make the open phone happen -- Invest now. Don't make it complicated or expensive. $10 in one 'block' kind of thing. Maybe 40 blocks would allow the investor to see a completed phone, if one was to ever be produced. Make the risks clear -- the open phone might never come to market, but if we get 5000 blocks sold, we then have the muscle to negotiate with the big boys. The issue here is what is in it for the little guy, and I'd be a bit fuzzy. 40 blocks gets a phone, but what if I buy 2? Do I get the use of a phone for a week? :P I also don't know the legal side of calling it an investment (rather then a donation or a purchase). But this would be simpler to market, and would have better funding potential then selling the kit. As an aside -- if I have extra cash, I might be willing to buy a kit or two -- but they would either end up as donations to others, or as a dust collector. So it's not that I'm not willing to put money into it. But I also realize that one or two more kits won't make this happen in isolation. Well, to me it looks as if you own a GTA01 that is not used? Maybe you could think about donating it to someone who urgently wants to have a new case for a GTA04? Thanks My thoughts too, set up a kind of micro credit, where people can lent money, lets say 100 euro, and with that money build the phones. Once the phones are made, more developers can develop different aspects of the phone and people will see the GTA04 become more mature. I think
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:22:55 +0100 Ed Kapitein e...@kapitein.org wrote: On 12/30/2011 06:59 PM, Gerald A wrote: On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com mailto:h...@goldelico.com wrote: The other strategy is the one taken by Apple. They have a very low marketing budget compared to other companies. And the media are still happy to report every small move at no cost... ... which is because Apple is super secretive, so even rumors become big news. While this is a great strategy, it becomes difficult to achieve if you are trying to have everything open. What I think is lost in all of this is the question: Who is the intended customer? I've seen some people talk about linux geeks, etc etc. However, at least for the first rev of the GTA04, it's _hardware_ geeks, and hardcore ones at that, which is the focus. There are lots of unix-heads that would love a phone that is free-er then Android or Apple let you be. But having to buy a phone, then cannibalize it with another kit you buy? It's definitely outside the mainstream. Now, it's not that I don't want this project to succeed. I think it's a great cause -- I was one of the early GTA01 (neo) buyers. For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan some assembly required, which gave you the right idea. I thought that it just needed a good software stack to make things great. (I still do). What might work is having people invest, rather then buy something. That's something I could wrap my head around. Make the open phone happen -- Invest now. Don't make it complicated or expensive. $10 in one 'block' kind of thing. Maybe 40 blocks would allow the investor to see a completed phone, if one was to ever be produced. Make the risks clear -- the open phone might never come to market, but if we get 5000 blocks sold, we then have the muscle to negotiate with the big boys. The issue here is what is in it for the little guy, and I'd be a bit fuzzy. 40 blocks gets a phone, but what if I buy 2? Do I get the use of a phone for a week? :P I also don't know the legal side of calling it an investment (rather then a donation or a purchase). But this would be simpler to market, and would have better funding potential then selling the kit. As an aside -- if I have extra cash, I might be willing to buy a kit or two -- but they would either end up as donations to others, or as a dust collector. So it's not that I'm not willing to put money into it. But I also realize that one or two more kits won't make this happen in isolation. Thanks My thoughts too, set up a kind of micro credit, where people can lent money, lets say 100 euro, and with that money build the phones. Once the phones are made, more developers can develop different aspects of the phone and people will see the GTA04 become more mature. I think success stories with video clips on youtube will convince more people to buy a GTA04 then good stories on paper. And the microcreditters can either get their money back once all phones are sold, or can get a 110 euro discount when they buy a GTA04. Just my thoughts.. Kind regards, Ed PS i guess you must be Dutch to come up with a micro credit plan in west-europe ;-) Perhaps Kickstarter[1] would be an option here. It's a crowdsource funded site where creative projects of many kinds, including open hardware[2], can get the funding needed to keep them alive. I'm not suggesting it's a panacea for all the hurdles involved but there are quite a few success stories. I think the OM community probably has an edge in competing for funding due to it's age and the fact that the new hardware already exists. It would be nice to see at the very least a 'hardware hacker kit' with the basics as suggested here by Neal: I suspect that people who are buying a GTA04 at this stage are not looking to use it as a phone immediately--they probably want to hack on it. These people don't need a phone case. But, they do need an LCD to get the experience. My proposal would be to create a hackers package: a GTA04 board, LCD and a big bulky case that could be placed next to a workstation. Even better would be if there is a commitment to provide a case once it is ready (do you have a time frame for this?). Eventually the project could graduate to a fully complete phone with a case based upon the old one or ideally a new case with a better LCD and qwerty keyboard. Brian [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter [2]http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/open%20hardware?ref=sidebar ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org
Re: [Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Hi Nikolaus, On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com wrote: Am 30.12.2011 um 19:22 schrieb Ed Kapitein: On 12/30/2011 06:59 PM, Gerald A wrote: What I think is lost in all of this is the question: Who is the intended customer? Currently: those who own a GTA01 and GTA02 or are willing to give it away. There are approx. 18000 units out there waiting for a potential upgrade to a GTA04 board. And we just have 56 group tour orders within 6 weeks. This is 0,3 %... Well, 18000 is a pittance of the 4.6 billion cell phones, and a fraction of the 500,000 smart phones. Since part of the issue seems to be attracting numbers, I was thinking of ways to attract people who might otherwise might not be interested or be able to. For me, I don't have time right now to assemble a Freerunner and a GTA04 to get a working phone with possibilities. I want the completed package, then end result. The neo was shipped with the slogan This takes approx. 15 minutes. Rarely more. And we have an installation service if you don't want to DIY (I would appreciate if there will come up local resellers or hacking groups in your area). Does this 15 minutes require soldering skills? (I think it does). I personally am not averse to trying to solder -- it's something I want to learn more about. But your average linux geek probably doesn't want to. But they still might be enamored by the prospect of an open phone. Well, to me it looks as if you own a GTA01 that is not used? Maybe you could think about donating it to someone who urgently wants to have a new case for a GTA04? I actually do hack on it once in a while. I had written lots of primitive utilities for it, but never got it working as an actual phone. My thoughts too, set up a kind of micro credit, where people can lent money, lets say 100 euro, and with that money build the phones. Once the phones are made, more developers can develop different aspects of the phone and people will see the GTA04 become more mature. i guess you must be Dutch to come up with a micro credit plan in west-europe ;-) I'm not Dutch, but I like the idea of micro-funding, and I am aware of micro-credit. Well, the problem is not to get a credit to produce the devices in advance. My block system, which is really close to the micro-funding that someone referred to on Kickstarter. But what about this idea: Group Tour orders with partial payment. My idea/kickstarter would allow something like this -- here, let me give you some money, and return 'something' of value in the future. It allows even smallish donations -- in kickstarters case, they give you a keychain. I'd rather allow it to be used against a future product, like a complete phone. I guess you could sell power adapters for ~$10, which if people didn't top up you could give away. What do those of you think, who still hesitate to subscribe to the group tour to upgrade your existing GTA01 or GTA02? PS: Taking too much credit is what the Greek state did do wrong. They are no longer able to pay back neither the interest rates nor the credit without subscribing to another credit. The Group Tour is now advertising a price of 474Euro (approx $600CDN). For this, I'm getting some neat upgrade bits, and I have to pitch in my $300+ Neo. For this price, I could buy two non-open but complete iPads. It's just passing through the holidays and things are tight budget wise here, so I'm still waiting to see. However, I'd pledge $100 for a more complete device later, even though it might never get to completion. As for your Greek example -- almost every country in the world uses credit to finance their Government. And this goes for business too -- in one way or another, most businesses use credit. Politics aside, just as you have to manage how much power your chips consume, just as you manage the number and purpose of your chips, credit has to be used wisely. And wisely used, both chips and credit can yield wonderful results. My idea wasn't pure credit, though -- it was a kind of investment in a future device, rather then the kit of today. My thought process was to move the game forward, the kit is the first step, but the eventual phone is what people are after. If you let people pledge towards what they want, you can fund what you need to get there. I thank you for your ideas and response -- and I hope that we'll get your kit out the door, either with or without my idea. Thanks! ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
[Marketing] Ideas / Plan
Hello All, Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested), please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 Things to mention: 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974. This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit? 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR. 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts, in small runs - hence the price tag. This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as possible. Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot interfere with the O/S is a great example. Areas to Attack: 1. Online and print magazines, news websites: We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot early this month http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rises-from-the-ashesNo mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/%20 Phornix http://www.phoronix.com/ also did an articlehttp://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_itempx=MTAzNDEon Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 : People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech news sites out there. Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/comes to mind, Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/ and Make http://makezine.com/ would get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix http://www.phoronix.com/ I'm sure will do one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 http://www.2600.com/for the geeks who like print (someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention http://lwn.net/ Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has written one before? 2. Mailing lists of FOSS projects: This area cannot be done with a press release blast. Well it can, but I don't think the subscribers will appreciate spam. Ideally each of us can write a post about the GTA04 on any other FOSS lists we are on. I'll get the ball rolling with a post to the Debian user list soon.The other big relevant list to hit is the LXDE related mailing lists: lxde-list lxde-l...@lists.sourceforge.net, lubuntu-desktop lubuntu-desk...@lists.launchpad.net Plasma active could be another one, assuming it runs on the hardware, as with gnome-shell gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org Let's get a list of mailings lists going on a wiki page. 3. Free Geeks Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list and start a discussion. Starting points include how replacing a board is much more ecological than full new cell phone. The challenges with such an approach, and perhaps how FOSS helps to ensure old devices see much more support than their counterparts. I'll be updating the wiki with some adresses as I collect them. For now, Free Geek Vancouver: fg-gene...@lists.freegeekvancouver.org 4. Hack Spaces Hackers love linux and tinkering! We can organize with Hack Spaces to help less hardware oriented users like myself with supervision/teaching of the board swap. I'll also be adding them to the wiki, please help collect addresses if you're too shy to post. Vancouver Hack Space: vhs-gene...@lists.hackspace.ca 5. LUGS Linux User Groups are *not* dead. They're less active than they used to be, however at Linux Con North America, the president of the CLUG (Calgary LUG), gave a speech and is trying to reinvigorate things. This is usually full of people who have disposable income and love to have cool geeky things. The VanLUG address van...@robomod.net 6. Kickstarter / similar services Perhaps funding for a case for the phones can come form these? Phew, that's all I can think of for now. I'll be updating http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 as time permits. Please reply to the thread, submit ideas, constructive criticism, or just show you're listening! http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org
