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.