Status GTA04 GroupTour

Ben Thompson ben.thompson at yandex.ru
Thu Dec 29 12:49:22 CET 2011


Hi

Thank you for creating the GTA04.

29.12.2011, 10:50, "Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller" <hns at goldelico.com>:
> Hi all,
> that status of the GTA04 mass market group tour
>
> http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%20Group%20Tour
>
> is that we have:
>
> * passed half time yesterday
> * first early bird batch is sold out
> * but still only 16% preorders (56 units)
> * we have approx. 6 weeks left to fill the remaining
>    gap of 84 %
>
> So I would say that we are still far away from becoming
> successful.
>
> If I read that over 2 Million new Android units have been
> activated over the Christmas holidays [1] and 4 Million
> iOS devices just on Christmas day [2], I can't believe
> that we do not find 350 potential buyers in 60 days...
>
> Well, we don't have a real mass market device and I think
> we should not even pretend to have one, in this phase.
> Because we are then compared to the 100 EUR Huawei
> Android/UMTS units where one has to suspect that the
> workers in China are being ripped off...
>
> What do you think should we do to make this group
> tour a success?
>
> * extend the subscription timeframe until we reach
>   100%?
> * ask for/collect donations to extend the early bird rebates?
>    Some sort of sponsorship by community members for
>    community members who can't afford a new GTA04
>    immediately?
> * have more resellers or buying groups to order batches
>    of 10 units?
> * talk more about the benefits and special features one
>    can only find in a GTA04 and nowhere else?
> * subsidize GTA04 boards by combining them with a
>    UMTS contract?
> * offer to pay only part of the price by end of the subscription
>    time frame so that we can already buy the expensive
>    and difficult to source components, but postpone
>    production individually until the remaining payments
>    arrive? (i.e. pay 200 EUR until 10th Feb and the remainder
>    until May)
>
> More ideas are welcome! But please keep in mind
> that we can't develop something completely new until
> February and components cost what they cost...
>
> The simpler the idea the better!
>
> And, there may be ideas which are too big for a single
> community member, but may become feasible if we all
> work together, contributing many small pieces.
>
> Curious about your ideas,

My problem is the early bird pricing which it seems to me requires some people pay more than others, without any real incentive or added value in the goods received. I don't want to pay 474 euros one day when you were offering the same item the day before for 449 euros. First you need to find out if my view is held by others, if so my advice would be to write to the current subscribers to the group tour explaining that you made a mistake with the pricing, and ask permission to cancel their orders. Then you could create a new group buy with fair pricing for all which I am guessing would be a price somewhere between 449 and 499 euros.

Ben



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