Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On 2013-08-26 14:02, Alan Pope wrote: On 26 August 2013 13:28, Andy Random wrote: Yes, and I think that is part of the problem with the Edge, without support from the mainstream providers it will struggle to sell in sufficient numbers. The Edge wouldn't have sold in any numbers. The *only* way to get one was to back the campaign to the relevant level. There was no intention to continue selling the Edge through retail channels (or otherwise) after the campaign finished. It doesn't matter if the device is great value for money, if it isn't affordable to the man in the street it probably won't sell in volume :( The Edge needed 40K people to back it to the relevant level to gain enough money to actually make it. The intention was that there might be another crowd-funding campaign "Edge 2" a year or so later, with the original backers of the Edge maybe having first refusal for upgrade, or having input on changes for the next generation. It seemed like a great idea to me, allowing people to actually have input on the next gen device. But it was not to be. Cheers, Al. Seemed like a great idea to me too Al. Yes, maybe not to be - yet! I really, really hope though that it's rattled enough cages in the way the iPhone did some years back - to disrupt things and also crucially, *thinking* in the market - as for those who say the price is too high, wake up and check out the lines of Fanbois queueing up outside the Apple Stores every time a new i* gets released. iPhones aren't exactly cheap, and somehow I doubt the next full spec, fully unlocked one will beat the proposed Edge on price by much. Oh, and who remembers this Steve Ballmer Quote about the initial iPhone, just recently republished in theregister.co.uk: --- "$500, fully subsidized, with a plan! That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine." --- I travel on business, *a lot* and could really, really do with a portable device with decent processing power and versatility like the Edge would [have] had. Sometimes in my remote offices I get a screen. Sometimes even a desk. Sometimes I squat in unused meeting rooms, and other times I plug some device into a hotel HDMI TV port. Currently I tour with a company supplied Macbook Air 10", a Nexus 7 Tab, Nexus 4 phone and a multiboot USB stick which gives me a load of Linuxy goodness boot options on pretty much whatever hardware is available. This all means though that I shouldn't have to take so much kit around with me, but my job requirements demand it. IMHO Canonical should def. have another go and do Edge Crowdfunding 2.0, but first have a damned hard look at who the likely early adopters might be before setting the price levels, and also get some "pre-event pledges" perhaps? Shame about the corporates in this event, Bloomberg was the exception, but having spent most of my professional life in Bluechip Consultancies, IT and/or Telcos I know first hand how damn hard it is to get budget approval for a crappy 2nd user laptop, or even an essential replacement part for a business critical "P0" monitoring system for £2k - let alone a state of the art, groundbreaking, potentially high risk Überphone. OTOH there are a lot of very dynamic and forward thinking startups/second rounders around right now, who might have just been able to spring for a 5 or 10 pack. There was no such offering st start on Edge 1.0. In fact, had there been a decent discount for a 5 or 10 pack, I reckon I could have persuaded enough of my own team members to club in and go for a group buy. We're not a startup, but we view mobile as our most important target market and might well have been willing to take a punt on this. In fact, that's probably the way to go, facilitate group buys for small biz or groups. Fair play to Canonical for the brave effort, and not least for their pragmatic response to the missed target. I really, really hope it ends up making a +ve difference. /jfk -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On 26 August 2013 13:28, Andy Random wrote: > Yes, and I think that is part of the problem with the Edge, without support > from the mainstream providers it will struggle to sell in sufficient > numbers. > The Edge wouldn't have sold in any numbers. The *only* way to get one was to back the campaign to the relevant level. There was no intention to continue selling the Edge through retail channels (or otherwise) after the campaign finished. > It doesn't matter if the device is great value for money, if it isn't > affordable to the man in the street it probably won't sell in volume :( > The Edge needed 40K people to back it to the relevant level to gain enough money to actually make it. The intention was that there might be another crowd-funding campaign "Edge 2" a year or so later, with the original backers of the Edge maybe having first refusal for upgrade, or having input on changes for the next generation. It seemed like a great idea to me, allowing people to actually have input on the next gen device. But it was not to be. Cheers, Al. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On 26/08/13 13:28, Andy Random wrote: > > > On Mon, 26 Aug 2013, Tim Brocklehurst wrote: > >> Hmm, I pay ?25 a month (roughly) and am on a 2 year contract. That's >> ?600 for >> the contract and includes the S3 phone (approx ?400-?450 new a little >> while >> ago). Would I buy the phone and add a sim, saving ?100 or more? No. ?25 a >> month is much easier to live with; and that's quite a significant >> point. Most >> people will buy a phone and contract together. > > Yes, and I think that is part of the problem with the Edge, without > support from the mainstream providers it will struggle to sell in > sufficient numbers. It won't sell anywhere. As the crowd funding campaign didn't reach its target, it will never exist. (Even if the goal had been met, it was still never intended to retail.) There are plenty of carriers joining the advisory group, so one of them may yet put a handset out, but it won't be the Edge. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On Mon, 26 Aug 2013, Tim Brocklehurst wrote: Hmm, I pay ?25 a month (roughly) and am on a 2 year contract. That's ?600 for the contract and includes the S3 phone (approx ?400-?450 new a little while ago). Would I buy the phone and add a sim, saving ?100 or more? No. ?25 a month is much easier to live with; and that's quite a significant point. Most people will buy a phone and contract together. Yes, and I think that is part of the problem with the Edge, without support from the mainstream providers it will struggle to sell in sufficient numbers. This is exactly the problem the original Motorola Droid faced in Europe. It sold very well in the US where most of the big carriers offered it on contract, but none of the European carriers picked it up so you could only buy it sim free here and sales in Europe were consequently almost non-existent. It doesn't matter if the device is great value for money, if it isn't affordable to the man in the street it probably won't sell in volume :( Andy -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On Mon, 26 Aug 2013, Samuel Penn wrote: On Sunday 25 Aug 2013 21:11:58 Alan Pope wrote: On 25 August 2013 14:46, Simon Whitehead wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23793457 Is any mobile phone worth $625, $675, $695 or $725. I paid ?429 for my phone nearly two years ago. I recently spend a similar amount. At current exchange rates my phone (bought in January) cost me just over $750. I did consider carefully whether I was willing to spend that on a phone, but in the end decided I was and I don't regret the decision. Any gadget is worth what people are willing to pay for them, Absolutely, I use my phone more than I do any computer I own, I'm a low user of calls and txts, it's the smartphone features (PDA/net access/music player/camera/ebook reader etc.) that makes it worth that money and the Edge would have been similar in that respect. I'm not much of an early adopter, I like to see reviews before I pay out my hard earned cash, but if the Edge had delivered on most of what it promised I would have considered one once they were in production. and most people end up paying that sort of money for a phone, it's just spread out over two years so they have a very distorted view of the price of a smartphone. At the time I bough my current phone to get it "free" would have cost 960 UKP over two years (40/month), it's true that for that I would have got a ridiculous amount of minutes and txts that I would never have used, but it's still close to twice the price I paid for the phone. Not being tied into a two year contract makes it worth buying the phone SIM free IMO. I agree with you, but it does depend on your usage pattern. I'm paying 10/month currently for more minutes and txts than I use and about the right amount of mobile data. So over the two years I would of been in contract I'm saving several hundred pounds. However if you make a lot of calls/txts and would be paying 25+/month for them anyway then paying a higher monthly tariff and getting your phone included in the deal can sometimes make sense. On Mon, 26 Aug 2013, Tony Whitmore wrote: On 25/08/13 22:12, Tim B wrote: > Phone+laptop+desktop. That's a very big claim, and not one I think can > be supported, given the widely varied use cases. It's not specced to be a media workstation or video editing PC, sure. It would serve just fine as a day-to-day PC though, and has a higher spec than my media PC, netbook and (almost) my laptop. My phone (2GB RAM, quad core processor) is at least as well specced as any device I own, and better than most of them. Andy -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On Monday 26 Aug 2013 12:25:22 Samuel Penn wrote: > On Sunday 25 Aug 2013 21:11:58 Alan Pope wrote: > > On 25 August 2013 14:46, Simon Whitehead wrote: > > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23793457 > > > Is any mobile phone worth $625, $675, $695 or $725. > > > > I paid £429 for my phone nearly two years ago. > > I recently spend a similar amount. Any gadget is worth what people are > willing to pay for them, and most people end up paying that sort of money > for a phone, it's just spread out over two years so they have a very > distorted view of the price of a smartphone. > > Not being tied into a two year contract makes it worth buying the phone > SIM free IMO. Hmm, I pay £25 a month (roughly) and am on a 2 year contract. That's £600 for the contract and includes the S3 phone (approx £400-£450 new a little while ago). Would I buy the phone and add a sim, saving £100 or more? No. £25 a month is much easier to live with; and that's quite a significant point. Most people will buy a phone and contract together. Quite often, being tied to a multi-year contract isn't actually a problem for a lot of people; unless you're getting a bad deal or the coverage is poor in your area, and both of these are getting better with time. Tim B. -- Hampshire Linux User Group Chairman -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On Sunday 25 Aug 2013 21:11:58 Alan Pope wrote: > On 25 August 2013 14:46, Simon Whitehead wrote: > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23793457 > > Is any mobile phone worth $625, $675, $695 or $725. > > I paid £429 for my phone nearly two years ago. I recently spend a similar amount. Any gadget is worth what people are willing to pay for them, and most people end up paying that sort of money for a phone, it's just spread out over two years so they have a very distorted view of the price of a smartphone. Not being tied into a two year contract makes it worth buying the phone SIM free IMO. -- Be seeing you,Games: http://www.glendale.org.uk/ Sam. Posts: http://www.google.com/profiles/samuel.penn -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding drive misses target
On 25/08/13 22:12, Tim B wrote: > Phone+laptop+desktop. That's a very big claim, and not one I think can > be supported, given the widely varied use cases. It's not specced to be a media workstation or video editing PC, sure. It would serve just fine as a day-to-day PC though, and has a higher spec than my media PC, netbook and (almost) my laptop. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
