Hi everyone,<br><br>I'm a little (actually quite) late in this scene so pardon my ignorance on any goofy questions. I am a LAMP (and uhm ... Java) developer and had always wanted/waited for a "dream box" like this. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I came across openmoko 1 year late. But better late than never... yeah.<br>
I'll be honest when I say I came pretty close to buying an iPhone when I went to US recently but the whole "Out of Stock" thing drove me mad. In fact I started harboring anti-Apple feelings ($20 for s/w upgrades, overtly-closed-and-controlled UI environment etc. etc.) that I decided to stick with my iMate SP5m until something really gets to me. And here I am.<br>
So, my first few questions (and I'm thrilled to know a thread on Neo Indian retailing exists!!) -<br><br>1. Where in India can I purchase Neo FreeRunner and its related accessories once it gets released. I know Rakshat is the man here but can we get some more info on this please? Can I pre-order one (just in case it runs out of stock!) <br>
<br>2. Whats this talk of 15.4K discount Mr. Krishna is talking about. How can I be entitled to it as well? :D :P<br><br>Thanks!<br><br>Rahul J aka sector7<br><br><br><b>Ganesha Krishna</b>
<a href="mailto:community%40lists.openmoko.org?Subject=Freerunner%20Sale%20Price%20in%20India%20-%20Official%20partner%20with%20Openmoko&In-Reply-To=" title="Freerunner Sale Price in India - Official partner with Openmoko">ganesh.krishna at gmail.com
</a><br>
<i>Tue May 6 11:45:30 CEST 2008</i><br><font size="1">> Hi,<br>> First off, my 'thank you' s are due..<br>> 1. To Rakshat for setting up the Indian distribution. You obviously have<br>> the know how of open device and open source which is great. This shop has<br>
> greatly relieved my anxiety of shipping and customs which tends to become a<br>> hassle.<br>> 2. To Harry, for the official announcement on Indian distribution.Always<br>> good to know that you are buying from the official shop.<br>
<br>> On the price point:<br>> I feel 20,000 for Free runner is very decent, (BTW I am eligible<br>> for 15.4K discount so that is very very decent :-) ). Neo has a potential to<br>> become the "office PDA phone". Conference calls to the US and other oversea<br>
> destinations are extremely common in Indian IT industry. neo +wifi+skype =<br>> ridiculously reduced cost.<br><br>> A GSM +GPS (GTA01 like ) box would be great for the rural India if priced<br>> around 10,000. Imagine a post man plotting the shortest path to cover all<br>
> the villages that he has to deliver mail to<br>> (<br>> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/south_asia_indian_postman/html/1.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/south_asia_indian_postman/html/1.stm</a>)<br>
> with the right features the government might want to buy the neo for<br>> them.<br>> A VGA screen with GPRS means the farmer can consult the market price<br>> of his crops, and the wealthy ones can lookup Stock market. (Oh, yes.<br>
> Commodity trading and stock trading are huge in my native village!! but<br>> there are only few brokerage houses that are miles away in the town center,<br>> one needs to call them frequently to be in touch with the market. The<br>
> village itself has GSM+GPRS coverage)<br><br>> Students and universities:<br>> Rakshat, have you considered talking to Universities/engineering<br>> colleges. There are mind boggling number of engineering colleges in<br>
> Karnataka(my state) and all of them run some kind of telecommunication<br>> course. a couple of neos to each college with a smartly packaged SDK and<br>> presentation on getting hands on GSM experience would help you sell many<br>
> phones. I know I would want to work on such a device If I were a student<br>> now.<br><br>> Regards,<br>> -GK<br><br><br><br>> ><br>> ><br>> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>> > From: "rakshat hooja" <rakshat at <a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a>><br>
> > To: community at <a href="http://lists.openmoko.org">lists.openmoko.org</a><br>> > Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 12:57:48 +0530<br>> > Subject: Re: Freerunner Sale Price in India - Official partner with<br>> > Openmoko<br>
> ><br>> > > Shakthi,<br>> ><br>> ><br>> > I have been using GTA01 (Neo 1973) my main phone for some time and felt<br>> > that at its price point (under INR 12000 for GSM and GPS and VGA display) it<br>
> > would make a great phone for the Indian market. Unfortunately with its power<br>> > draining problems (I carry 2 spare batteries in my pocket) it can not be<br>> > mass produced (My initial email to Micheal was about reselling the GTA01 in<br>
> > India).<br>> ><br>> > Anyway the good part is that the Openmoko and Qtopia software is GPL and<br>> > porting these to a GSM only hardware should be considerably easier than<br>> > writing a new GSM stack! We have plans get it to run on the CompuLab X270em<br>
> > board but thats kind of stalled at the moment. If that works out one can<br>> > bring out GSM only, GSM+GPS, GSM+WiFi and GSM+GPS+WiFi versions of a phone<br>> > running Openmoko.<br>> ><br>> > Maybe after the success of the Freerunner (I am quite confident on that as<br>
> > I have seen the software really improving over the last 6 months and the<br>> > price point is pretty decent too) Openmoko themselves may consider bringing<br>> > out a lower spec cheaper version.<br>
> ><br>> > Right now I think it would be best to support the Openmoko endevour and<br>> > try and make the Freerunner a great success, both at the market and as a<br>> > philosphy.<br>> ><br>
> > Rakshat<br>> ><br>> ><br>> ><br>> > ><br>> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>> > > From: "Shakthi Kannan" <shakthimaan at <a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a>><br>
> > > To: "List for Openmoko community discussion" <<br>> > > community at <a href="http://lists.openmoko.org">lists.openmoko.org</a>><br>> > > Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 09:53:15 +0530<br>
> > > Subject: Re: Freerunner Sale Price in India - Official partner with<br>> > > Openmoko<br>> > > Hi,<br>> > ><br>> > > --- On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Harry Tsai <harry at <a href="http://openmoko.com">openmoko.com</a>><br>
> > > wrote:<br>> > > | I am so glad to introduce Mr.Rakshat to you all, actually they are our<br>> > > | first partner in India market, if you are developer come from India<br>> > > that you<br>
> > > | can buy Freerunner from him directly for reduce your shipping cot and<br>> > > | customs process effort.<br>> > > \--<br>> > ><br>> > > I would like to thank you guys for this initiative. It greatly eases<br>
> > > our shipping+customs+tax import issues. Yes, I have made my order :)<br>> > ><br>> > > I just have one request. If you guys can strip the current model to<br>> > > just have 1. a GSM (say INR 5k, or USD 125) , or 2. a model with<br>
> > > GSM+GPS (with a reduced price, of course), it will be extremely useful<br>> > > for the "mass" market in India. I would assume the GSM takes<br>> > > one-fourth of the total price of the product. Not sure what is the<br>
> > > proportion of the GPS component.<br>> > ><br>> > > INR 20k (with four RF components) is quite affordable to most people<br>> > > working in the Industry here in India, but, a basic, customizable<br>
> > > phone would be really something that will be usable, and affordable<br>> > > for the "masses".<br>> > ><br>> > > Just my thoughts,<br>> > ><br>> > > SK<br>
> > ><br>> > > --<br>> > > Shakthi Kannan<br>> > > <a href="http://www.shakthimaan.com">http://www.shakthimaan.com</a><br>> > ><br>> > ><br>> > ></font>