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Mithrildor

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Hey,

The first batch is outsold , and it's likely selling the 2nd batch won't be a problem. But what after this? Are there going to be advertisements or is it up to the communuity to impress as much people as possible with the Pandora? If we wan't lots of games on the Pandora we first need atleast 10.000-20.000 units sold. So anybody can answer my question?
 
Lots of games on the Pandora?

You can play about ten thousand games on that thing! How many more do you want?
 
Logokas said:
Lots of games on the Pandora?

You can play about ten thousand games on that thing! How many more do you want?
He was speaking about commercial games.

P.S: It's obvious that (also if it is a very unlikely scenario) wich is intrested in the gaming part of the Pandora hope that there will be commercial games. I myself can't keep my hope in this possibility...
 
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giovanni said:
Logokas said:
Lots of games on the Pandora?

You can play about ten thousand games on that thing! How many more do you want?
He was speaking about the commercial games.

P.S: It's obvious that (also if it is a very unlikely scenario) wich is intrested in the gaming part of the Pandora hope that there will be commercial games. I myself can't cover up my hope in this possibility...


And homebrew. People don't like making homebrew if just a few people can play it.
 
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Mithrildor said:
giovanni said:
Logokas said:
Lots of games on the Pandora?

You can play about ten thousand games on that thing! How many more do you want?
He was speaking about the commercial games.

P.S: It's obvious that (also if it is a very unlikely scenario) wich is intrested in the gaming part of the Pandora hope that there will be commercial games. I myself can't cover up my hope in this possibility...


And homebrew. People don't like making homebrew if just a few people can play it.


Ah, right. Also if I think that the real sign of success are commercial games.
 
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I think as the DEVS recoup their costs from the first 2 batches they will probably find that they then have a budget for a few select advertisements (mags/web) probably any Retro/Linux/UMPC/etc type mags.

Other than that we as the community will no doubt be promoting the Pandora like mad anyways

====
gp32_console + :gp2x + hopefully Soon!

http://www.gp2xwizandpandora.blogspot.com/
 
Reviews popping up on Engadget / Gizmodo / Ars are going to do more to sell the Pandora than any amount of print or web advertising ever could. We may or may not do actual advertising, but actual advertising is not going to make a huge difference in sales. Digg / Slashdot / Reddit get hundreds of times the number of readers that we could afford to get ads in front of. If we want a lot of people to see the Pandora, that's where we have to put it. If the Pandora is as great as we're trying to make it, then it will sell itself.
 
I agree, advertisement are just way too expensive. Beside some specialised gaming magazine it would probably be too difficult to reach the target anyway.

I hope that once the first pandora ships the overall feedback will be positive. Positive review on the Internet and the buzz around is a key factor. Then making sure that everything goes smoothly for the other batch.
And then the hardware, even if great is only one part of it. Focus on making the OS easy to use, having lot's of software ported and so on is essential.

Really getting the device right is much more important than advertising IMO... if it's good ppl on the internet will talk about it, that's all.
 
@Chip

"Reviews popping up on Engadget / Gizmodo / Ars are going to do more to sell the Pandora than any amount of print or web advertising ever could. We may or may not do actual advertising, but actual advertising is not going to make a huge difference in sales. Digg / Slashdot / Reddit get hundreds of times the number of readers that we could afford to get ads in front of. If we want a lot of people to see the Pandora, that's where we have to put it. If the Pandora is as great as we're trying to make it, then it will sell itself."

Really sorry Chip but I'm going to disagree with you - and I know you are the main fella when it comes to Pandora comms :) but the fact is that yes at this stage in the Pandora's lifecycle as a niche of a niche product being purchased solely by those with an interest in the bleeding edge of gaming, gadgets and open-source, yes paid advertising is unnecessary and a little pointless - word of mouth via forums, engadget etc will be far more powerful in influencing like minded people (those also with a keen interest in the latest, bleeding edge handheld). However as the Pandora moves through its lifecycle, the message and proposition will need to be built out, promoted and packaged in a way that those who are later adopters or even further down the lifecycle, can understand, accept and be motivated to purchase (don't forget these same people may be thinking psp, dsi or "Pandora - this thing I've read a bit about on X." as evidenced by some of the enquiries on these boards).

Using myself as an example, I love games, own the three current gen consoles and a psp. I had never heard of the GP2X until I saw an ad in GAME magazine - a UK publication (presumably placed by CraigX), "Handheld Amiga emulation?" I thought - "No this must be a con" thought I. I dismissed it but the ads were still there a couple of issues later. I looked on the web site (which was a wee bit poorly presented but did the job) and here I am 2 years later, salivating over my eagerly awaited Pandora.

2 points really - do you believe Pandoa has the potential to sell in real, "stand up and take notice" numbers? If so an integrated campaign, mixing ads, "influencer marketing/word of mouth review placement, selected events etc etc will be critical because generally people will be thinking "Pandora or (UMPC, PsP, DSi whatever)". Also don't make the mistake that every consumer segment is like the people on this forum - the people here (including myself now :)) represent a very vocal minority. Most people don't have the time or inclination to search this stuff out (even though it may be the best, most useful product they could ever need), therefore you have to bring it to their attention with a proposition they can understand.

I'm not accusing you of this but people outside marketing generally refuse to accept its necessary, that it excerts a bad influence over them and "good products sell themselves". The best products fail if no-one knows they exist or understand what they can do. Of course lots of people will know about the Pandora but many will likely dismiss it as an open source curio before going back to buying from larger manufacturers (obviously the people on this forum are not in that boat). Adverts make people feel secure in their purchase as much as anything and helps to confirm the legitimacy of the product in their minds both before and after purchase.

Sorry for the essay, I never comment, I've lurked for years, feel free to flame as appropriate and hallo to everyone I had a bit of time on my hands and thought I'd comment - can't wait till I get my Pandora, ads or no ads :)

EDIT - fixed quote
 
pandorasloveflaps said:
do you believe Pandoa has the potential to sell in real, "stand up and take notice" numbers?
...
Also don't make the mistake that every consumer segment is like the people on this forum - the people here (including myself now :)) represent a very vocal minority. Most people don't have the time or inclination to search this stuff out (even though it may be the best, most useful product they could ever need), therefore you have to bring it to their attention with a proposition they can understand.
On the first point, probably not. It is unlikely (though not impossible) for the Pandora to sell millions of units. It is simply too expensive for the average handheld gamer - the sort that are buying PSPs and DSs now. It is also unlikely to provide the sort of big-budget titles that those people expect from a modern gaming device. Similarly, those looking solely for a handheld computing device are going to see a lot more options in the coming year or two, and many of them will be more polished and possibly cheaper.

As to the second point, vocal or not, anybody who is really excited about the Pandora is in the minority. As you said, you were drawn in by the possibility of handheld Amiga gaming. Do you think that there are tens of thousands of other people who would be similarly excited by that possibility? Excited enough to spend $340 for it? Maybe there are, but how would you go about finding them? Magazine advertising is expensive, and magazine readership is falling like a stone across the board. Sure, any advertising campaign will probably reach a few potential customers, but will it reach enough to be financially worthwhile?

I am as excited about the Pandora as the next guy - probably more so. But I am well aware that although the Pandora is the perfect device for me, it is not the perfect device for everybody. Between smartphones, netbooks and existing handheld consoles that they already own, most people aren't going to want or need the Pandora. You could spend a fortune trying to convince people why they should want a product that they do not, or you could spend that money making the product itself more worth wanting. We do not have a marketing budget at all right now, and we're unlikely to have lots of money for that sort of thing any time soon. If it came down to spending a couple grand for a quarter page ad in a gaming zine that might reach a few thousand people, or spending that money to encourage software development that would improve the platform, I would hope we would do the latter. It's not my call, but the devs have made it pretty clear from the start that quality is more important to them than quantity.
 
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I am excited for the Pandora because I thought it would be a UMPC with game controls at the size of NDS.

When I first came here people were like, EMULATORS! and I was all, "but it could be a perfect portable computer WITH game controls."

Thankfully, Ubuntu is going to be doing an ARM build in 9.04.

Personally, I think you should market it as an UMPC with game controls
 
If we can convince either of Big Steeve's and slap an apropriate logo on it. We could sell billions! xD

But I would agree that Engadget / Gizmodo would get us more custumers that for example a magasine advertising.. I rarly see a person reading a magasine nowdays. It's all in the web.
 
PlayAsia. Thats where I found the first signs of homebrew handheld consoles, and it is a good balance between extreme niche and mainstream in terms of customer base.
 
IIRC somebody on this forum said that the GP2X sold something like 20000 units: that's about the order of magnitude that the pandora can realistically hope to sell, and that's an amount that can be reached through word of mouth and reviews on tech sites.

To aim for more, it isn't enough to let people know of the device (which you can do with a small cheap ad, or by making a good device that gets great reviews), you need to convince random people that they need one, and that requires an huge amount of money

Now, if somebody came out with founds for an huge microsoft-like promo campaign and no string attached , great, but unless craigix or some other dev has a non-shrek-style fairy godmother (are they still common in the UK, being a monarchy and all? :) ) it's not going to happen.
 
I disagree completely. Gp2x is a toy, Pandora is not(only). Pandora has got a much broader audience ;)
 
I'm excited about the Pandora because I wanted a real computer in my pocket again. The last one I had was the Psion Series 5mx; every handheld since then has been at best a subset of a complete computer, lacking either hardware elements, connectivity options or openness of the infrastructure.

Pandora is a full computer and can be used as such, that's what made me open my wallet.
 
mali said:
I disagree completely. Gp2x is a toy, Pandora is not(only). Pandora has got a much broader audience ;)
1. what do you know about the gp2x? do you have one?
2. how is it a 'toy'?
 
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