Doug, some good questions there, some of which I can only answer at this point in generalities. Let me give you as a preface a little bit of background. When I took this role on almost a year ago, I spent a lot of time listening and learning, and then in conjunction with our Development team, put together a strategic plan for the future of the BrailleNote line. . You're starting to see the impact of that with the announcements today. In one day full of big news, we've addressed many of the most frequent user requests our customers have made of us. One of the other major concerns is that we are a closed platform. This is most certainly going to be addressed. I hope you can appreciate that what we first need to do is get the underlying infrastructure right, that is to say bring the OS up-to-date and add some critical features. Early next year, we will begin work on an SDK that will open the BrailleNote platform way up for development of a range of applications from games to personal finance to whatever the customer wants. I can't wait for the time when a community of talented users develop products by the blind, for the blind, and it's not far away. What we've announced today is an important step towards that goal.
As for your hardware questions, all I am able to say at this point is that one of the reasons why I was so proud to come to work for Pulse Data is because of its understanding that purchasing a product like this is a big commitment, and we should make it last as long as we can. It is true that people pay a lot for these products, and this is hard to avoid because of the small size of the market and the high cost of production with refreshable Braille technology. That's why we've already offered one major hardware upgrade, something which sighted PDA manufacturers don't do. And I can promise you that the existing BrailleNote is not going to be phased out any time soon. We are committed to continuing its development and you can be assured that when you buy a BrailleNote, you're not buying something that may no longer be supported in six months' time. Jonathan Mosen Blindness Product Marketing Manager Pulse Data International Ltd DDI: +64-3-373-6192 Fax: +64-3-384 4933 Mobile: +64-21 466 736 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: www.pulsedata.com Doug Lawlor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 30/06/2004 08:47 a.m. Please respond to Braillenote List <[email protected]> To [email protected] cc Subject [Braillenote] Future hardware possibilities for the BrailleNote? I wonder could someone at Pulse Data speculate on future hardware upgrades for the present BrailleNote line of products? Will we see the regular BN get stereo audio for example? What about USB support? What about an upgraded processor for speed? What about the ability to install drivers to support other hardware which PDI does not want to support for what ever reason? When is the SDK coming out so end users can get some real development work done? Doug ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
