Participating on MorphOS News, Raquel and Bill clarify their market strategy, where our community fills in the gaps, and what to expect in the future.

Original Post

bbrv (20-Jul-2003, 10:00:48) - [ Answer | Singleview ]

SuperBundle Sunday!

Good work Targhan!

In honor of the eve of the first SuperBundle Sunday we will just post this message here!

Why the Dell not?!

1. We started with the Pegasos by attracting smart computer users. We have found that "Geeks" who are creative and innovative work miracles. Just have a look at the weekly releases and activities report here and on the other sites. Further, by promoting the Pegasos as a multiple OS machine we opened ourselves to even broader based attention. Many special computer people appreciate this and are developing a number of very interesting applications for the Pegasos. The Summer Promotion and the Betatester Blowout were part of that strategy. Of course, the SuperBundle is too. The idea is to build a "Community" of active, enthusiastic users who have an interest in advancing the platform. Now that we have Pegasos machines in 34 countries, well over 200 MorphOS developers registered at MDC, and a framework for third-party and alternate OS involvement through Phoenix, we can begin to consider the next steps.

2. As mentioned before, we will do our best to take advantage of the Linux wave. We are definitely poised to do that here in Europe. We are positioning the platform as a non-west-coast-USA product. That has a broad appeal here. Look at the recent success of SuSE in Munich. Things are changing. For example, by the end of 2005, the French Government has mandated that no Windows OS can be used by any local government. In Spain, there is an even broader Linux move afoot. There is definitely an opportunity coming. Outside of Europe, a couple of weeks ago at the Developing World Conference hosted by the World Bank and the UN, one of the key issues/conclusions was that building an IT infrastructure based on Linux was key toward the establishment of stable societies in Africa. Worldwide, the "education" market will also be big. Enough about that.

3. We hope to have QNX running fully on the Pegasos soon. It is partially working already. We expect to see a commercial package later this year and hope the good folks at QNX will fully support our developing relationship. This addresses the embedded market.

4. In the meanwhile, MorphOS continues to improve. Have you visited http://mdc.morphos.net lately? We are definitely creating a community there. We also have a third party developer site picking up some steam at www.phinixi.com. The foundation for the future is being set.

5. This brings us to the whole Pegasos II/G4 discussion. To serve the markets mentioned above we need to have a dual approach. First, we need a basic system and second we need a "Geek" machine -- a SuperGeekTweak if you will. The Pegasos II G3 will sufficiently provide the gist for all the "basic" market capability we need. Can the G4 do the rest? Last week we decided it could not. The incremental difference in performance and efficiency did not warrant the investment we had intended to make. Frankly, the G4 works and we will make some, but the investment required does not correspond to the performance gained. This is why we let the information slip into the thread about the Pegasos III and the 970. With the 970 we can see the potential.

The information above highlights our ongoing, generally known intentions. As we do not have the overhead of a big company, it is not terribly difficult to do all that. Plus, our costs are further lower because we own or control everything internally (IP, production, etc.).

Now, what remains the ultimate objective? Why are we doing all of this?

Please remember, we have always said that first and foremost the Pegasos is a development platform. The ultimate target is the digital terrestrial/satellite television STB market. "Target" here means potential customers. Do not confuse what we want to offer them with what they have today. This is not a SetPal box (for those in the UK) -- it is MUCH more. We will offer two tiers -- basic (receiver plus a little extra functionality) and Super (bundled with a broadband ISP connection and ALOT of extra functionality). The market here in Europe is estimated by more than a few sources at over $2.5 billion in the next four to five years. MorphOS is "lite" and can lower our memory and comparative CPU costs against the competition. We do not pay royalties for its use either. Further, please notice that the PPC is the state of the art in this market space. We expect our first BIG customer to travel with us to IBM in Ny to help us negotiate CPU prices down for volumes over 1 million units. This STB WILL BE a computer and in fact could also be at the higher end the home server that is connected 24/7 and uses WIFI to communicate with everything in the "digital home." We really are talking about something revolutionary. It is not just a STB; it is a whole new kind of computer that integrates many different sources of data into one focal point for distribution on demand and as required. It really is something new.

#1 Rule of Marketing: offer people what they have already, just give them something better, more convenient, improve their life, etc.

We hope the Community we are gathering here can understand the potential we are discussing. One day not too far away analogue television signals will cease. The transition to digital will be fast in commercial terms. Everyone will need a receiver. The DVB standard has been broadly accepted in Europe and like GSM was to mobile telephones vis-à-vis the rest of the world, DVB will provide the same opportunity to this market here in Europe first (Australia and NZ too ).

The Pegasos as a computer will continue to march ahead, but the business plan in Genesi's future is about a multi-functional device that uses the internet and digital television signals to open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Now having said all that, a word about Press Releases and "professional" business behavior. We are accused of not be "professional" and even being "childish" by some of our more stern tormenters. We think they miss the point. What we are doing here is trying to build a broad and interesting mix of people that despite their different languages and cultures they share a common interest in the future we are trying to create. We cannot build a comfortable participative environment if we are not involved ourselves. This is not a "business" yet. We do not make money on the Pegasos or MorphOS. There are no profits. We do not need to hide behind Press Releases. We are here mucking around just like everyone else! We are not a public company. We are trying to cultivate something different. All the effort so far is still about creating something, which is why we feel like we need to be present and involved in mailing lists and Forums, and why we do our best to answer the emails we receive. This is also why we freely communicate our difficulties. We want to "share" the creative process with as many of you who want to be involved. We are not following a strict execution plan. We are following a light not a railroad track.

For example, here is the latest challenge -- as of today, Marvell will not even certify their own G4 development board. They are expected to. We have been expecting them to do so for a few months. They have not. What to do? Now if we are all in this together, you will consider the actions we are taking to be quite admirable. If on the other hand your intentions are not constructive (why are you reading this?), you might have another reaction...

Thomas and Gerald of bplan with the full knowledge and understanding of Marvell will remove the G3 from a Marvell development board and replace it with a G4. We will do the northbridge testing ourselves. We are pretty proud of their ability to do that... That means we will still have the Pegasos II ready in September. Nevertheless, we will sell it in exactly the same manner we did the Betatester machines in September 2002. Our focus will be developers and interested users with a bigger focus on other Operating Systems. In the meanwhile, the STB project marches along. You can see the prototype at the new bplan offices in Oberursel if you call ahead.

The SuperBundle and the Pegasos I G4 will be our focus at AmiWest and we look forward to participating. We just thought we would share a few thoughts beforehand to make the whole thing a bit more interesting. And yes, we have made more than a few of the G4 Pegasos I. We will showing them at AmiWest and getting these out after the Show.

Sincerely,
Raquel and Bill

Source: MorphOS News