What Went Wrong?

On this fateful day I am reminiscing about the early days when the Edge was not yet released. I am one of the first ones to pre-order and had to wait months before I got mine. My first two units were defective but my 3rd has worked great to this day. I still think it is a great device and I don’t regret getting it.

But… what went wrong? Why didn’t the Edge succeed? Was it ahead of its time (writeable e-ink side not responsive enough? Not fast enough hardware? Android version just too new to the world?) The look and feel of it (design)? Poor reviews? Not enough reviews? Not enough press or word of mouth? Apple just having too much market presence?

Thoughts?

I think the sort answer is that sales weren't sufficient, despite the relatively wide retail coverage. No doubt in professional and academic circles, the iPad proved irresistable. Recall that enTourage never issued a press release indicating rave reviews by classes of students at any institution, even though they did launch at least a couple of pilot projects.

enTourage had strong marketing, I think, with presence at trade shows, etc., but the wider public simply "didn't get it". As wrong as the professional reviews were, it seems they did accurately portray the average Joe's perception.

Of course, we'll never know for sure.

As you mentioned, the fact that we never heard about the results from the pilot programs could very well be telling. Anyways, I work with several people who were seriously considering the Edge but when the iPad was released they got one of those instead.

No SDK - minimal, grudging support even for release of code. "Do it all ourselves" mentality, trying to compete against Apple, who can afford to lose big money big time doing it themselves, and even they don't try to do that. Ent's whole manner of thinking on this is totally mysterious to me. It doesn't appear to have been a roaring success, either. Maybe they'll learn from their experience?

And, I'm beginning to wonder if Android is really a viable OS for devices like this. It requires a lot of effort from each individual company to get upgrades on a given device.

Originally Posted by Dr. T

And, I'm beginning to wonder if Android is really a viable OS for devices like this. It requires a lot of effort from each individual company to get upgrades on a given device.

I think Google foresaw this, and hence, we have Honeycomb. The next few months will tell whether it was a good response to the challenge of tablet vs. OS.

first post, todays soap opera made me sign up for the forums..... as zem stated earlier "stay tuned", maybe all this is an elaborate april fools joke.

Originally Posted by daricksta08

first post, todays soap opera made me sign up for the forums..... as zem stated earlier "stay tuned", maybe all this is an elaborate april fools joke.

I don't think they're that stupid. I imagine Zem was asking us to stay tuned for froyo and not much else.

I meant that in a wishful thinking manner, obviously it is not the case.

Ah, I think that would be more like "magical thinking." Or perhaps, hallucinating.

Originally Posted by Dr. T

And, I'm beginning to wonder if Android is really a viable OS for devices like this. It requires a lot of effort from each individual company to get upgrades on a given device.

I have to say that is my though also. One person can head up a Linux distro but many people write code so it is more like piecing together appropriate instruction for the desired outcome. It may have been talked about before... I am pretty sure it has, but for their next (if ever... ) device, why not entertain using hardware that is already written for and maintained in the Linux community? Then updates will not be impossible. Community members can write many, many apps and bug fixes if they desire.

hey if we can get 8-10 inches of snow almost two weeks into spring....

Agree with canezila. There is a *really* active thread on a tablet PC board about the Asus Eee Note and the thing hasn't even been released in North America yet. They've made their own little programs for it, figured out how to change it to English on their own etc. Since we are a niche community anyway, being able to entice the linux community would have added a lot to this.

There are a lot of devs creating and tweaking for android as well. I don't think you need linux, you need an SDK.

Originally Posted by daricksta08

hey if we can get 8-10 inches of snow almost two weeks into spring....

Heck, we even got Snow in the forum today.