element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet & Tria Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • About Us
    About the element14 Community
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Japan
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      •  Vietnam
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
Raspberry Pi
  • Products
  • More
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi Forum 512MB deliberate deception?
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Quiz
  • Events
  • Polls
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Join Raspberry Pi to participate - click to join for free!
Featured Articles
Announcing Pi
Technical Specifications
Raspberry Pi FAQs
Win a Pi
Raspberry Pi Wishlist
Actions
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 56 replies
  • Subscribers 711 subscribers
  • Views 7294 views
  • Users 0 members are here
  • raspberry_pi
Related

512MB deliberate deception?

e14 Contributor
e14 Contributor over 13 years ago

The RPF has made lots of predictions that turned out to be way off,

but perhaps they were just being overoptimistic.   They have told stories

that I don't think most people believe now, about needing to resolder 10K

ethernet jacks, but perhaps they were just mistaken.  But now we

have a more clearcut case:

 

On October 15, Liz wrote:
"This has, as you've probably guessed by now, been in the works for months. (In fact, the day we visited the factory last month, all the Pis being made there were 512MB ones already - we had to be very careful which photos we used from the visit.) "

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=19963&start=75

 

However, On September 5, 2012 at 3:59PM when Ozy asked:

"are there any plans for GPU, CPU, or RAM updates in the pipeline? "

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1929

 

JamesH at 4:00PM answered:

"Not at present."

 

and Liz confirmed at 4:00PM

"Not at the moment, no."

 

They have explained that this was done because they were afraid that

their sales would dry up because many potential customers would prefer

not to buy the 256MB version if a 512MB version was in the pipeline. 

And of course, they are not required to look out for their customers' interests

or to divulge confidential information on future products.  But the standard

solution to that for any organization that values its reputation for honesty

is to say simply "we have a policy of not commenting on unannounced products."

  • Sign in to reply
  • Cancel
Parents
  • cjbaird
    cjbaird over 13 years ago

    > They have explained that this was done because they were afraid that their sales would dry up because many potential customers would prefer not to buy the 256MB version if a 512MB version [...]

     

    Commonly know as "The Osborne Effect" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect).

     

    The bump up to 512MB was certainly expected by myself--- the 256 MiB part would be EoL eventually, and even before then, the cost of the 512 part would match on production price.

     

    I think it was the Android porting announcement that blew the cover on the impending memory upgrade-- there was no way a 256MB RPi could demo Android like it did, and when they wouldn't give out much details of the porting effort, it certainly suggested that they had 512 MB hardware, even if hand-spun engineering test boards.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
  • e14 Contributor
    e14 Contributor over 13 years ago in reply to cjbaird

    > I think it was the Android porting announcement that blew the cover on the impending memory upgrade--

     

    yes, as noted here:

    http://www.element14.com/community/thread/19691?start=4

     

    I think what happened is that Rev 2.0 was intended to include 512MB

    along with the mounting holes and other changes.  Element14 was

    apparently ready to deliver that combination around the beginning of September,

    but RS didn't have anything at all to deliver for almost all of September.

    There seems to have been some severe arm twisting, and as a result,

    Element14 went ahead with a compromise 256MB Rev 2.0 temporarily,

    and RS stuck with the original plan, waiting on Rev 2.0 until they were

    ready with 512MB just this last week or so.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Reply
  • e14 Contributor
    e14 Contributor over 13 years ago in reply to cjbaird

    > I think it was the Android porting announcement that blew the cover on the impending memory upgrade--

     

    yes, as noted here:

    http://www.element14.com/community/thread/19691?start=4

     

    I think what happened is that Rev 2.0 was intended to include 512MB

    along with the mounting holes and other changes.  Element14 was

    apparently ready to deliver that combination around the beginning of September,

    but RS didn't have anything at all to deliver for almost all of September.

    There seems to have been some severe arm twisting, and as a result,

    Element14 went ahead with a compromise 256MB Rev 2.0 temporarily,

    and RS stuck with the original plan, waiting on Rev 2.0 until they were

    ready with 512MB just this last week or so.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Children
No Data
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2026 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube