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Did any businesscards at "embedded world" make it into the queue?

Former Member

Hello

 

Did anybody of you give a business card at Farnell's booth at "embedded world" and got into the "interested"-queue? I got some generall Farnell advertising a couple of weeks later but until now not one single (personal) message remotely connected to the RasPi. I'd say they put me into the "general exhibition contacts" and *not* into the "Raspberry customers".

 

I registered interest with RS some time after I got that Farnell general ad mentioned and they sent me a preorder-key about 1 1/2 weeks agou. Of course I preordered, including entering credit card etc. but they did not yet tell me when or if I'll get a board. We'll see.

 

I registered interest again through the element14-website when I could be sure my business card got into the wrong pot - but I am at the very end of the queue now, of course. I'll see what happens. I don't think I'll get my order invitation before normal public sale starts anyway. At least that way I can't say I was unfair; most of the people really wanting one (and beeing able to do something with it) got their board by now, I guess. A friend of mine already got his - he was ordering online at the same moment I was standig in the crowd at the Farnell booth.

 

By now prices on eBay got down to a level nearly comparable to Farnell's and RS's regular prices (including shipping). Maybe there's quite soon no need to order new ones since market is swamped with all those boards their buyers don't have a clue how to make it work. It was a hype after all and it's likely sales rates drop dramatically to almost 0 by the end of the year, isn't it?

 

Regards

    Peter

Parents

  • Peter, Given the problems that the Nokia and Seneca people have had getting their Pi's, I expect the chances of getting anything more than marketing literature is unlikely.

     

    Whilst I don't think sales will drop to anything near zero towards the end of the year, I do think sales will drop off and ebay prices will come down sharply from the original prices, mainly due as you say to people buying them, being unable to do anything they were made to think they could, and then just getting rid of it.

     

    If people are looking at the RasPi forums they will also see numerous problems with power supply and SD cards, which I think could well put people off of buying them that are expecting something that just works.

     

    There is also the question of increased competition from the far east, already some devices are available from DealExtreme and Intel are also wading in with their Next Unit of Computing.

     

    I do think the future of the Pi could not be as rosy as I first thought and hoped but I will be happy to be proved wrong.

  • in reply to GreenYamo

    I also think the Pi's future is uncertain, despite the foundation end goals and noble cause, as soon as somebody figures how to run a decen distro in a box like the Roku2 the Pi is out of the picture. I still believe that the $25 linux box motto is misleading, as is, you can do nothing with it for that money.

     

    For $10 extra I'd prefer to keep the connectivity option and extra USB port.

     

    -J

Reply
  • in reply to GreenYamo

    I also think the Pi's future is uncertain, despite the foundation end goals and noble cause, as soon as somebody figures how to run a decen distro in a box like the Roku2 the Pi is out of the picture. I still believe that the $25 linux box motto is misleading, as is, you can do nothing with it for that money.

     

    For $10 extra I'd prefer to keep the connectivity option and extra USB port.

     

    -J

Children
  • in reply to jamodio

    I know countries where $10 are definitely something to think about. Some projects I want to try out at the Pi might be suitable for such cases. And when you buy 1000 Boards it's suddenly $10000. That's most likely something schools even in Europe definitely have to take into account (pun partly intended ;-) . Therefore I guess the model A has got a market of it's own. Of course, as a Swiss only "needing" a few boards (and even those are mainly for fun) model B is the one I'll buy.

     

    BTW: The final price including shipping and taxes is still OK, but quite far from $35, isn't it? :->

     

    Regards

        Peter

  • in reply to Former Member

    No doubt that in some places and when you talk volume every cent counts.

     

    Yes final price is far from $25 or $35 when you add everything you need to make it work. I guess that at some moment after the initial rush and hype evaporates the distrubutors may be able to offer some volume discounts.

     

    Hype and extreme PR appart, if there is a real volume market for something like this IMHO the approach should be different.

     

    But it is just my opinion.

     

    -J