First, let me start by saying I bought a Neo 1973, and would support such a device again -- depending on my finances at the time. :)
On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 6:41 AM, arne anka <[email protected]> wrote: > > And, I never understood why we should assume, that a premier league > > player would ever care for a small community like ours. > > not for that small community per se. > it would most likely be only a intersection of interests. > the manufacturer would be able to > - gain a reputation as being "open" (which might appeal to goverments as > well b/c of several reasons) > Or not -- see the current spat over Blackberry in India/UAE/etc. "Open" isn't good for governments looking for tight controls. And while it might be great for their citizens, it's the gov'ts that control devices, unfortunately. > - additional promotion by mouth-to-mouth through people being interested > in open devices, probably cheaper than paid merchandising for the same > group > While this is true, this target audience is small. > - somewhat broadened developer base > Do you really think that the term "open" will attract more developers? Maybe a handful or two, but developers flock to where the money is. See iPhone. :S > - android inspired cost structure: make your hw specs public -> enable > developers to make the best from it -> gain market share since your device > offers the most b/c developers can use the hw and are not limited to > app-like apis (cf iP[od|hone|ad]) > > with the success of android, i think a more open approach might appeal to > vendors. > I'm not up on all the latest android stuff, but from what I've seen, you can make a pretty closed system from those building blocks. What Sean got right was that a phone should have mass appeal. If your girlfriend and her mother want to use it, then that's good. The Neo and the Freerunner are second (third?) class hardware -- there is no doubt. The idea was to build great software, and that would make the appeal to ordinary people strong, despite having hardware that wasn't best of class. The problem was that the great software never got there, and combined with old and problematic hardware, it didn't have a decent chance. It's clear from the GTA03/0X wishlists that there are people out there who want an open phone. Some are even willing to pay good money for one. I am. However, to not end up with a hobbyist phone, some compromises have to be made. Not everyone will be happy, but the journey to a fully open smartphone will be long, expensive and perilous. It's important not to lose sight of the end goal -- which should be a device that is long-term viable. There aren't enough geeks out there to make an open phone successful, unfortunately. And to get the latest bells and whistles, the phone has to be successful, so that there is another phone to follow. So, it's important that the phone be pleasing to the eye, have good software and hardware. So, forget about "open" short term. Consumers don't care, vendors don't care, operators don't care. If we can build something _appealing_, that hackers find fun and consumers will buy, even if it isn't as open as everyone would like, then that would be awesome. And as such a project gains success, it has more clout and more money. And more clout and more money means more leverage with suppliers, hopefully meaning that things can be more and more open. Let's remember that even the great iPhone maker Apple stumbled with their first phone -- not iPhone 1, but the joint deal with Motorola called Rokr. And even their latest phone has some issues. Now, some on the mailing list might already know this. What I haven't seen, so far, is anyone talk about how many devices would be needed to be a "success". Would 100,000 phones do it? 1 Million? More, or less? I'd love to see a truly open smartphone running Linux and BSD, with full access to as much of the hardware as we want. I'm hoping to see this sooner, but we'll have to see how many intermediate steps there are, from "mostly closed" to "fully open". I'm willing to accept Android as a stepping stone, but it won't warm anyone to "open" or push suppliers in that direction. Gerald
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