Crowdfunding an Ubuntu smartphone

[arne anka]

> I don't think money is the only problem.

the missing money is just the indicator for this project's failure to  
create sufficient public interest or even awareness.
while the GTA01/2 was a nice idea, it was already slightly outdated when  
it appeared -- and since then nothing has changed, the gap between what's  
considered standard and what the GTAxx is prepared to deliver rather has  
widened.

to get even close to standard (and thus being a realistic alternative for  
smartphone users), the project would need backing of a far more potent  
entity than this tiny community is -- both money- and publicitywise.

since the GTA02 i spend about 2000€ on this project, maybe more (well, i  
can afford it and it was worth supporting the idea behind it), and in my  
very personal and subjective opinion, the GTA04 has been a huge  
disappointment. i wouldn't spend the equivalent of a highend, state-of-art  
smartphone or even tablet just to buy yet another even more outdated  
device, free or not. compared to the shortcomings of the GTA04, even  
complete freedom is not sufficient to justify that amount of money.

whenever i told somebody who had heard of OpenMoko that there's a  
successor, they were surprised -- and when i told them the features and  
the price, i got an incredulous grin and the question if someone really  
believed that people would spend that amount for such a device.

i am still undecided if i should admire or pity the thread starter, if he  
honestly believed that this community would be able to succeed where  
ubuntu failed -- and on top of that to jump from todays GTA04 to the  
device as imagined by ubuntu ...

all things considered, the realistic path is imo to cater to a tiny niche  
of institutional customers -- like jörg(?) proposed.
while i am personally rather fond of the original GTA01 case (and think  
that's almost the only tangible unique feature), i, too, would prefer it  
to pick up where the n900 left. maybe then it could even tap into the pool  
of still active n900 fans ...