Braben: No Raspberry Pi for Consumers Until 3Q12

[freggo]

Waiting, Mastercard in hand... 🙂

 

[c_for]

Here's the correct info straight from the horses mouth:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/633

Tom's you upset a lot of people it seems.

 

[__Miguel_]

[citation][nom]gallidorn[/nom]"Those who purchase a Raspberry Pi unit now will not receive leads, a power supply or SD cards, but the missing items can be bought at the same time from the store."Really? Why would you sell a unit without the power supply and then offer it at an additional cost? Wouldn't the board be worthless without power? This is starting to sound like $25/$35 is nothing but a marketing ploy, in order to generate buzz about their product. The actual product will most likely be over $100 after you add all of items you would expect to be included![/citation]
Please, please, PLEASE take a look at the RaspberryPi's FAQ page before saying stuff like that. Most of the answers you might have are answered there.

Now, to try to make sense of what you said: as already mentioned ad nauseam before, the first batches (before the cased models appear, which will basically be the same thing being sold starting the end of this month, only with an extra pretty box enclosing it), though available for everyone, are geared especially towards, let's face it, people who basically BREATHE technology, either because they are software/hardware developers, or because they're geeks like me, who can't say no to a new hardware piece.

These people are going to be the early adopters, and who will find out interesting ways of working with the RasPi, building custom software and hardware solutions. Those people will most likely 1) already have spare parts (power brick, SD card, keeping in mind some smartphone power bricks should be able to power the RaspberryPi, which means you may not even need to buy one) laying around from earlier builds and/or 2) not care for the extra parts anyway, because they'll have specific needs (like an ultra small/large capacity/speed SD card, power input via the GPIO connector, etc.).

Which means, for those people, $35 will in fact be the required investment, which is all what has been promised since day one, the Foundation has NEVER said $35 would get you an SD card, case or power adapter. You get the motherboard and the CPU, and you customize it to YOUR needs, like any other DIY build.

However, an SD card starts at $5 for 4GB these days, and you can either get an USB->microUSB adapter or a cell phone charger with a microUSB lead for what, $10-$15? Even if you factor in HDMI/Coax and Ethernet cables and an USB KB/mouse combo, you'll be hard-pressed to go over $100 total.

OK, I'm done venting. Liz, Eben, James, if you're reading this, please sorry if I was a bit harsh, and do tell me if I should edit something.

Cheers, everyone.

Miguel


P.S.: Full disclosure: I don't know anyone from the RaspberryPi Foundation, nor do I work for or have any economic interest in it, I'm just a geek that has followed the RasPi story since the early stages.

 

[__-_-_-__]

GOOD TO KNOWN THAT TOMS CONFIRMS IT'S SOURCES.

/end sarcasm

 

[freggo]

[citation][nom]__Miguel_[/nom]...Which means, for those people, $35 will in fact be the required investment, which is all what has been promised since day one, the Foundation has NEVER said $35 would get you an SD card, case or power adapter. You get the motherboard and the CPU, and you customize it to YOUR needs...[/citation]

What, no monitor either ?
Rats...


Seriously, this obviously not a retail mass market product 'as is' but a tinker toy for us geeky types.
And we all have boxes full of misc. spare parts like power supplies and unused memory cards.
Think of it as a motherboard purchase with CPU; some parts required 🙂

 

[ElectroGoofy]

[citation][nom]edvinasm[/nom]There are a number of competitors. Some of them having 1GHz or bigger, up to dualcore CPU and 1GB RAM, WiFi, bluetooth. See Cotton Candy. Any of them can step in and end this nonsense with Raspberry Pi. Was great idea, poorly implemented and delayed too much. Next! Better! I'm off this train. This looks like with ASUS EEE PC line. Started very slowly but picked up very well and now we have loads of netbooks from each manufacturer.[/citation]
Yes, it is true that there are other alternatives out there... But have you even compared price? The Cotton Candy will be sold for "well under $200." This means, I'm guessing, more than $100. Beagleboards are already out, and they sell for more than $100 as well. If you've taken the time to read, the Raspberry Pi will be selling for $25-35. This is quite a bit less, if you didn't happen to think about it... The main purpose for this product is learning. I am planning on picking up at least a couple of these for personal use... there are so many applications that this would excel at, for a very low price!

The reason it was delayed was because there was some difficulty obtaining the crystals the RPi was designed to use... As far as I know, it was only delayed 2-3 weeks or so (not sure if there have been other delays in the past... I've only been following it for the past 3 or so weeks). 2-3 weeks isn't too bad, in my opinion.

 

[bbiandov]

Guys the team developing this board is European. Has anything ever worked or had been delivered on-time and in a foreseeable manner that came out of Europe?

They don't call it European economy for nothing. It is Utopian dream carried by inspired but poor and over-regulated people. If the Raspberry ever comes out and it sells at the expected prices that WILL BE a huge achievement. Of course it will need to function as expected but that goes without saying.

The education intent does appear to be a joke but we may not know important under the rug hook ups - such as connections with regulators and some ministry of education just like those institutions on "Brazil" where once your foot is in the door they force schools and such into buying the board and mandate for it to be used as educational tool. That's how UK rolls so the foundation's intent may very well be a success. We just don't know what hook ups they have already established with the regulators.

Europe isn't like us - if something doesn't work it dies... Not at all, it's a different world out there. My condolences!

 

[philipmach]

[citation][nom]bbiandov[/nom]Guys the team developing this board is European. Has anything ever worked or had been delivered on-time and in a foreseeable manner that came out of Europe?[/citation]

You mean by contrast with US auto makers, who have never gone broke and been subject to government bail-outs? 🙁

Here are a few examples of successful European tech companies (in various sectors): Nokia, Philips, Bosch, VW, Siemens. Is this enough for the troll, or is it still hungry?

 

[Guest]

Im gonna buy two this time around, one to play with and one for my garage TV.
Then this summer I will buy two with case, one for the kids and one to give to church to plug into the TV.

I just went to the store today and bought a 40$ case for my smartphone and 70$ for a PS3 game.
Thats more or less how much Im going to spend on the 4 Pi's.

For us, its cute toys but for underprivileged abroad AND at home, this is awesome.

Dont forget taht the $35 indian tablet for students (60$ but subsidized at 35) came out last october. The Akash sold out its first 2-3 runs quickly and are taking orders for the March batch .

The OLPC got saddled with the Microsoft-Intel-etc parasites and their backroom antics and never got to their target so Im happy these projects didnt sufer the same fate.

Just checked out the site now and it still says the target is end of this month and the Q3 date was for the educational board kit.
Seems like everything is on plan. Do a run of boards with no cases, then a later one with cases as well as the educational
components.

Still going to buy the two right away if Im lucky.

 

[Mu33rto]

I would love to get me hands on a raspberry pi.

 

[Guest]

Hi hum, still waiting for general availability, looks like 3Q may have been optimistic!!!