GTA04 Group Buy - Status

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Dear all,

now, several days after the announcement of the "GTA04 group
tour", the first subscriptions have arrived (thanks you to all who
have already subscribed!).

And we have already seen many improvements by the kernel
and distro developers that show how much superior the GTA04 
hardware has become compared to the GTA02.

When looking at the filling level indicator:

	http://www.handheld-linux.com/gta04-level.php

it shows that already 20% of the time has passed. The remaining
time until 10th of February may look as plenty of time.

But we have so far just 6% of the minimum quantity that is
required to keep the price as indicated. I.e. we should already
have triple as many orders if we assume linear growth.

This is not enough.

Unfortunately, one thing is clear: if the 350 are not reached
in time, there won't be a mass market priced GTA04. Just
the more expensive variant "from stock" will remain :(

And it will be very unlikely that there will be any offer for a
"next chance". We can expect a new subscription offer (and
reduced price for the "from stock" units) only if this one
becomes successful. And thinking about extending
the subscription timeframe also won't help.

Is it possible at all to reach the 350 units?

Yes, definitively.

There have been distributed approx. 15k GTA02 units
and 3k GTA01 units in total. So if we can convince 10% of
the owners for a GTA04 upgrade, we have 1800. And if we
just get 2% we have the 350 units.

And, the total smartphone market worldwide is predicted
to be 400 million devices in 2012. So we should be able
to convince 1 person in 1 million!

So I think it is possible.

Now, what can we all do to improve the chances of a second
birth of a mass market Openmoko?

I think we need to heavily increase the awareness about
the GTA04 in the Linux communities! There have been no
reports in the usual new channels of the announcement
that the GTA04 is now ready to be ordered. At least I have
not seen them.

And, if I read this:

	http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/30/smartphone_spying_app/

it is obvious why the open and free software community needs
a device where every individual has control over the software.

Some ideas:

• we convince our friends to upgrade their GTA01/02 as well
  (on orders of 5 units or more, there will be an additional
  rebate).

* become a local reseller.

* contact your old friends from the intense discussions on
  the openmoko community-list. I think only a percentage (10%?)
  of the previous subscribers are still subscribed. So they may
  not even be aware about this new developments.

• we can talk about the GTA04 in general and this offer in our favorite
   blogs, forums, twitters, facebooks, mailing lists, conferences
 
* we notify magazines like slashdot.org or linuxfordevices.com

• add an <img> link to the Filling Level image and/or link
  the group tour order page from home pages, blogs, project
  pages etc. 

* help to provide complete devices:
   - design and build your own cases (3D printing, wooden)
   - or look at e.g. eBay for used/defective GTA01/GTA02
     devices and offer an upgrade service.

If you have additional ideas, please share!

Nikolaus