project customers

[Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman)]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:19:43 -0300 Werner Almesberger <werner at openmoko.org>
said:

> Carsten Haitzler wrote:
> > day. openmoko never made it to be big enough to continue - and ye once you
> > get big enough, the kind of thing you talk about no longer make business
> > sense (as you are busy shopping around to telcos who will order millions of
> > devices). catch 22 :-S
> 
> This is where an Open hardware design can help :-) No matter which
> role you play, you always have the purchase power of the whole group
> behind you.
> 
> Openmoko Inc. found many doors open that would normally be closed
> for such a flyspeck of a company, because it promised manufacturers
> access to the Linux market.

too late for that. the others are in on the game. and now being "open enough"
is all that's needed. window of opportunity for om and the likes has closed -
or at the best is very close to closed.

> The Open hardware design also increases the scalability - the small
> garage company that makes 100 customized phones for the local
> shopping mall has access to the same design resources and can have
> access to much of the production resources as the largest member of
> the group.

depends on who is buying the units to make it scale - if it's a telco, chances
are they want it far from being open - that includes the hw design. chaning
that doesn't come from a small company like om screaming. it comes from someone
big enough to change the rules and power balance so its "you have to come to us
and beg for a phone - then we set the rules". apple are in such a position
right now for example. :)

-- 
------------- Codito, ergo sum - "I code, therefore I am" --------------
The Rasterman (Carsten Haitzler)    raster at rasterman.com