Outstanding news. Thanks again to you and the rest of the team for your vision, judgement, and determination.
Full speed ahead into the new waters! :-) Mark C. On Thu, Jun 28, 2007 at 09:20:13AM +0800, Sean Moss-Pultz wrote: > Dear Community, > > Andre Gide once said, "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the > courage to lose sight of the shore." Sexism aside, I can't think of a > better way to describe our adventures this past year. > > Around the end of March, we were three months behind schedule. Critical > hardware bugs were being discovered almost weekly. I had just returned > from an exhausting trip around the world. Harald landed in Taiwan the > following week. One look at his face and I knew he was in basically the > same depleted state I was in. But, we were both dedicated to keep > pushing forward. We've come to realize, largely because of your support, > that failure is not an option for this project. > > For the people pushing this project, an open phone is not really even a > product. It's the very embodiment of our vision of technology. We > absolutely, passionately, believe that something as fundamental to our > lives as the mobile phone must be open. > > OpenMoko has become far bigger than just a small group of people trying > to build an open mobile platform. I can tell you for sure, things will > never be the same again inside FIC. To their credit, whole departments > and divisions have been reorganized to maximize the opportunity for > OpenMoko. This is the reason for my absence from this list for so long. > > The people inside FIC are amazingly open-minded. Our CEO and Chairman > are the two greatest supporters inside this company. Earlier this month > they did something courageous and support of the communities commitment. > The entire mobile communications division was restructured to build > devices for OpenMoko. And OpenMoko -- the project will officially become > OpenMoko -- the company. This is how much they believe in us. This is > how much faith they have that we will be successful. > > What does all this mean to us as a company and community? > > In one word: focus. > > We now have full control over the future of OpenMoko and the resources > needed to give it every possible chance of succeeding. Behind us (well > actually still in the same building :-) sits an supportive 800 pound > gorilla in the OEM/ODM world, eagerly waiting to work with us to make > our dreams a reality. > > OpenMoko -- together with all of you in the community -- will design, > from the ground up, open devices and write the free software platform > that powers them. FIC will build the hardware and help us set phones > free around the world. This is about the most perfect relationship we > can think of. Sure there will be rough times ahead. If it were easy, you > know who would have done this long before. Making new things is never > easy. But we're in this together. This project has changed me, changed > you, and changed FIC. Hopefully, one day, this project will change the > world. > > Now that OpenMoko is officially a company inside the FIC Group, > blueprints of our office modifications cover the desk and walls where > I'm sitting. Writing this letter to you all is finally giving me time to > reflect on this thrilling roller coaster ride. Sorry for putting so many > bits into your inbox. But I just can't help it. It's been months that we > could hardly step back and see things from a big picture. Now, I really > don't think I've been this excited since the day I got my first set of > Lincoln Logs. For those of us that love to build new things, Taiwan, > especially now at FIC and OpenMoko, is a great place to be. > > So here's the point of this email, finally after more than one year, > we're entering into a new ocean. > > In our factory in China, 400 Neos are waiting for you all. Another 600 > will be ready before next week. More are queued up waiting for us to say > go. > > We've had a particularly challenging time trying to setup the online > infrastructure and figure out how to ship these phones. Sometime later > today or early tomorrow we're going to make another announcement asking > for some advice. > > (Here come the details.) > > Starting July 9th, we will launch openmoko.com and start taking orders. > We're going to have two configurations: > > Neo Base -- everything the mobile application developer needs to enjoy > the benefits of the first freed phone, the Neo 1973: > > * Neo 1973 (GTA01B_v4) > * Battery > * Stylus > * Headset > * AC Charger > * Phone Pouch > * Lanyard > * SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card (2x) > * Micro USB Connectivity Cable > > Neo Advanced -- everything the mobile device hacker wants to get down > and dirty with the first freed phone, the Neo 1973: > > * Neo 1973 (GTA01B_v4) > * Battery (2x) > * Stylus > * Headset > * AC Charger > * Phone Pouch > * Lanyard > * SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card (2x) > * Mini USB Connectivity Cable (2x) > * USB Host Mode Cable > * Debug Flex Cable > * Debug Board v2 (JTAG and serial console) > * Ruggedized Toolbox with shoulder strap > * Guitar Pick (for opening case) > * Torx T6 screwdriver > > The delays have been expensive for us and annoying for you. We've > decided that instead of setting up a complicated return or tracking > system to remember who gets a discount for GTA02, we going to give you > _all_ a discount on GTA01. > > We're going to sell the Neo Base for $300. The Neo Advanced will be > $450. > > GTA02 (AKA: The Mass Market Neo 1973) is on schedule to go on sale in > October. It will have the following new hardware components: > > * 802.11 b/g WiFi > * Samsung 2442 SoC > * SMedia 3362 Graphics Accelerator > * 2 3D Accelerometers > * 256MB Flash > > We will sell this device through multiple channels. Direct from > openmoko.com, the price will be $450 for the Neo Base and $600 for Neo > Advanced. > > We have three more mobile devices planned for next year (not including > GTA02). During the next few months we will be adding serious resources > to both FIC and OpenMoko to support these projects. I will update you > all after we stabilize GTA02. Right now we must collectively focus > everything on turning the Neo into mass marketable device that proves, > once and for all, the power of an open phone. > > Finally, more than a few of you have complained about a lack of > transparency during the past few months. You have my word that we will > always best to be as open as possible. But sometimes we must make > compromises. I had to make a choice: keep up my travel schedule building > support for this project and tend to this list, or fix these real > issues. > > Ignoring this list was one of the hardest things for me to do. All of > your comments give us our drive to keep pushing. But if we didn't keep > the project on track and make the necessary organizational changes this > project would be even later. And I knew that when I could come back to > explain this to you all, you would understand. Thank you. > > We're back now. I can tell you like nobody else can, this project is > stronger than ever. We've got a whole new ocean in front of us just > begging for exploration. > > Sincerely, > > OpenMoko and FIC. > > P.S. It seems that in all this restructuring, someone has been > eavesdropping on us. It could be a spy. Or it could be a ninja. Only > time will tell. So stay tuned ;-) > > > > > _______________________________________________ > OpenMoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
