How to bring forward the community?

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 29.02.2012 um 18:05 schrieb Gerald A:

> Hello,
> 
> On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 3:27 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns at goldelico.com> wrote:
> 
> [Leadup discussion pruned]
> May I ask why you need a (mechanical) keyboard?
> 
> Some people like it.

Yes, I know and want to better understand why. It looks as if they like them because they feel better than on-screen keyboards.

> While I do like a mechanical keyboard, I find the ones in most mobile devices too small. I can touch type, so now I have to relearn all over to "thumb type", which I don't like so much.
> 
> And, onscreen keyboards suck. :S They are fine for typing a few words, but not e-mails or conversations.
> 
> One thing that is important in a mobile device is tradeoffs. The big plus of such a device is that it can fit in your pocket. I haven't yet seen a decent keyboard that is foldable (but lots of crap ones).
> 
> So, in my opinion, the question shouldn't be "do you want/need a mechanical keyboard", but rather "would adding this bring the subscription rate over 100%"? If it would, even if it adds to the cost, it's something to consider. If it's only going to be a feature that will bring subscriptions along 10%, then it should be something considered for a "future model".

Well, I would not put too much focus on the group tour subscriptions only. For the group tour there is neither enough time to develop a mechanical keyboard nor add it to the device. So even if it would increase subscription by 1000%, it is not possible without delaying the project by 1-2 years. And, I expect that the cost is simply beyond imagination... The reason is that we can't go to some catalog distributor like DigiKey or Mouser and buy a keyboard module at 5 EUR. It has to be designed and tested.

Nikolaus



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/community/attachments/20120229/b5ae9cf2/attachment.htm>