FreeRunner Pricing and PVT update

[Ben Burdette]

Great news that things are getting so finalized. 

I have a question about the '10-pack'.  I'm thinking about getting 
together a group order for my local LUG.  Suppose we have 11 people 
interested?  Is it more a 10-plus pack, or would that extra 1 phone have 
to be ordered at full 399 price? 


steve wrote:
>  I thought I would combine a couple posts today. First an update on PVT, or
> production verification test. Phones are being sent to me from the first PVT
> run. Michael Shiloh will be back in Silicon valley next Tuesday, so he and I
> will test the samples and get them out to key partners. I want to check a
> couple things like using the Nokia batteries as spares and generic USB
> chargers before I send these samples out.
>
> Now, for the update on Products, and Pricing,  
>
> 1. Products.
>
>  Orginally the FreeRunner ( GTA02) was planned to come out in two packages.
> Basic and advanced, just like the Neo 1973. We killed that idea. It was a
> quick humane death. The problem was the GTA02 advanced unit would have been
> $650 USD. After seeing the response to Neo 1973, a huge response, we decided
> the best path was to lower the price, reward our early developers, and
> attract more developers. 
>
> 2. Pricing
> We scrubbed the BOM ( bill of materials). We eliminated the Luxurious bits.
> Optimized the box like it was code. The first thing we got rid of
> was the lunchbox. It was cool, but it was expensive and heavy. Eliminating
> that was a sizeable cost savings. ( think shipping weight). 
>
> Next we pulled out the debug board and made it a separate product.  We
> priced it at $99 US. about 1 tenth what people would pay for similar
> capability.
>
> My goal was to get to a place where we could sell the FreeRunner at $399.
> USD.
>
> We did that.
>
> The FreeRunner will ship from Openmoko.com at $399. For early customers
> I'm looking at throwing in a few free things. More details later.
>
> The debug board will be available as a separate product for $99 USD.
>
> Many people wrote me mails asking if they could get a discount by buying
> more than one phone. Sometimes they were universities, sometimes a small
> business, sometimes a small group or club. 
>
> For these people we created a 10Pack. instead of 399 per phone, we will
> charge 369 per phone.
>
>  
> Over the next few days I will explain the next steps we go through and how
> the product will get distributed
>
>
> Steve
>
>
>
>  
>
>
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