An idea for an advertisement

[kent at songbird.com]

On Sat, Jul 21, 2007 at 11:08:47AM +0200, Martin Straub wrote:
[...]
> Anyway, Openmoko seems to become well-known without further action =-O
> The picture attached is from the weekend journal of a major Austrian 
> newspaper ("Kurier").
> 
> The text basically says:
> 
> "The Openmoko platform is the basic element of a new series of mobile 
> phones utilizing open source software.
> Hence you can adapt the software to your needs. The first mobile phone 
> of this series is the Neo1973 which can be ordered for EUR 220".
> 
> The price given is correct for Europe (w/o shipping).
> 
> But I think before advertising there should be a product ready for the 
> mass market, which obviously is not the case right now.
> I think we have some months left designing advertising campaigns.

Yes indeed.  At this point I'm beginning to seriously worry that there may be
too *much* publicity, not too little.  Having our phone die because of a 
backlash from unrealistic expectations would be a really bad thing.

There is a *large* population of users who are sick to death of phone company
lock-in bullshit.  Our phone doesn't need a lot of advertising to succeed. 
It doesn't even need a "killer-app" -- what it really needs, at the
beginning, is well-done basic cell phone functionality.  The initial set of
applications should be simple and bullet-proof.  Given the open framework,
other things will come in time, but when the first consumer reviews come in,
it will be death if they say "great idea, but I can't make a phone call, and
the directory management was too awkward for me to figure out."

Kent