Re: Openmoko Community Survey 2011 – Results

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

> 
> Also Raspberry Pi for $25/$35 is too expensive. The Allwinner A10 board with ARM Cortex-A8 and MALI400MP 3D graphics (with Open Source userspace driver) could be manufactured for $15.

That is wishful marketing...

The $15 is expected (!) @100k units, not at small numbers in the 100 range:

> "<http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/orders/>
> 
> Pricing
> 
> Regarding pricing: the hardware NREs from the factory are $USD 2,000. Therefore, based on the number of committments so far (23 as of 2011Dec12), pricing looks set to be around $100. By the time the number of preorders reaches 30, that will be around $75 (30 reached as of 2011Dec17).
> 
> The mass-volume (100k units) price will be somewhere around $15: the more committments received, the closer the price will get to that. One expression of interest has been received for 1,000 (stable) units: a pricing evaluation request is outstanding with the factory and will be reported as soon as it is received.
> 
> Please note: this price excludes a case, power supply, packaging, shipping, tax, customs and import duty.

If, we get preorders for 100k GTA04, we can come below 300 EUR. That is no magic and no hidden secret.
We could now advertise the GTA04 @ 300 EUR and wait until we have collected enough preorders for that
price level :)

And, they exclude cost for packaging, shipping, tax, customs.
What I also doubt is that they are aware of other hidden costs like handling, warehouse, repairs, tests, CE
certificate etc.

And, they neglect one major issue: the board design may not work in the first shot.
Then, they have to repeat the NRE...

Finally, a major difference: the GTA04 design is finished and we know how expensive development is.
They are starting based on assumptions. I wish them that they can reach their goals.

Conclusion: you can't compare these projects.

Nikolaus