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I might be biased but I think this is a maybe looks good on paper decision but a terrible long term strategy decision. Just because they can't compete on price

I might be biased but I think this is a maybe looks good on paper decision but a terrible long term strategy decision. Just because they can't compete on price doesn't mean they can't compete on features. It was only two months ago that they were showcasing their android platform and practically begging for customers. [1] I've wanted to do a phone for awhile. I'm sure I'm not the only one. In the last few months I contacted people at Intel but I had no response whatsoever to my multiple inquiries (to you know, become a customer). And I have some of the company's most senior management in my LinkedIn. Now I know why. This is kind of pathological behavior on Intel's part imo. The big players were never going to come to their platform. Huawei, HTC, Samsung, LG etc have no reason to change from ARM. They are content to keep doing their cookie cutter thing while fighting a brutal price war in a staid market. On the other hand, the startups out there, those of us who want to do something really out of the box and grow new markets can't get a word in edgewise. It's disappointing. As a technologist, I really hope someone manages to ship an open source handheld one day. That will be the catalyst for the next iteration of smartphone evolution. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/23/move_over_continuum_intel_shows_android_smartphone_powering_bigscreen_linux/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/23/move_over_continuum_...)

petra 11y ago
>> open source handheld one day. I would guess that this is beyond Intel's pay grade and it is a political/security decision. Also except for selling openness, what else will sell that you couldn't do today ?
- grizzles 11y ago
  You can get a raspberry pi with an atheros chipset wifi dongle and you have pretty much a completely open source stack. It just doesn't look very nice to users. >> Also except for selling openness, what else will sell that you couldn't do today ? Anything that doesn't fit into Google's technical design / strategy that sells and customers like it. Android has heaps of preconceived notions about how a handheld should work that are baked into the system and unchangeable. If you are looking for exact examples of things that are not currently technically possible on android, how about a phone with a gps button widget that doesn't require you to leave the maps app to enable/disable gps or (not that I would personally pursue this) the ability to play video in a distributable app widget.
  - petra 11y ago
    You don't have to have the processor to be open to do all those, do you ? And the pi/atheros is open exactly because they're not a mass market product.
    - sambe 11y ago
      Raspberry Pi had sold 5 million devices by Feb 2015. It's a bit different from 7 figures per quarter, but I'd still call it mass market.
marssaxman 11y ago
Why would you use Intel products if you wanted to build an open-source handheld? I'm looking forward to the not-very-distant day that we no longer need to use Intel products so that we can build open-source laptops.
- grizzles 11y ago
  I just want to be able to call all the shots on the design of my product. Intel has historically been very open on the desktop. Linux and computing in general wouldn't be where it is without that openness.
  - marssaxman 11y ago
    I suppose we have different ideas about what "open" means. In my view, Linux and computing in general have gotten where they are largely despite Intel's efforts at rent-extraction.
    - scholia 11y ago
      Wintel provided the mass market that enabled the economies of scale that drove down prices. Linux has piggybacked on that. Linux was written for the 386....
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      If it wasn't for the likes of IBM and Intel, with Linux developers on their payroll, even though they also do lots of patents and closed source stuff, GNU would still be looking for a kernel.
      - pyre 11y ago
        > GNU would still be looking for a kernel. Linux came about before there was commercial interest. Linux (or GNU/Linux if you will) would have existed. Whether it would be in the same place it is today is another story.
        11y ago
gioele 11y ago
> I really hope someone manages to ship an open source handheld one day. 100% FLOSS mobile phones are available for sale since 2007 :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko The current revision (GTA04A5, ARM Cortex A8 1GHz) can be ordered at http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 The Nokia N950 was also very open https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N950 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N950 There are also other also-run phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_pho...
- continuations 11y ago
  Cortex A8 is a proprietary design, no? How is that open source?

petra 11y ago

>> open source handheld one day. I would guess that this is beyond Intel's pay grade and it is a political/security decision. Also except for selling openness, what else will sell that you couldn't do today ?

grizzles 11y ago
You can get a raspberry pi with an atheros chipset wifi dongle and you have pretty much a completely open source stack. It just doesn't look very nice to users. >> Also except for selling openness, what else will sell that you couldn't do today ? Anything that doesn't fit into Google's technical design / strategy that sells and customers like it. Android has heaps of preconceived notions about how a handheld should work that are baked into the system and unchangeable. If you are looking for exact examples of things that are not currently technically possible on android, how about a phone with a gps button widget that doesn't require you to leave the maps app to enable/disable gps or (not that I would personally pursue this) the ability to play video in a distributable app widget.
- petra 11y ago
  You don't have to have the processor to be open to do all those, do you ? And the pi/atheros is open exactly because they're not a mass market product.
  - sambe 11y ago
    Raspberry Pi had sold 5 million devices by Feb 2015. It's a bit different from 7 figures per quarter, but I'd still call it mass market.

marssaxman 11y ago

Why would you use Intel products if you wanted to build an open-source handheld? I'm looking forward to the not-very-distant day that we no longer need to use Intel products so that we can build open-source laptops.

grizzles 11y ago
I just want to be able to call all the shots on the design of my product. Intel has historically been very open on the desktop. Linux and computing in general wouldn't be where it is without that openness.
- marssaxman 11y ago
  I suppose we have different ideas about what "open" means. In my view, Linux and computing in general have gotten where they are largely despite Intel's efforts at rent-extraction.
  - scholia 11y ago
    Wintel provided the mass market that enabled the economies of scale that drove down prices. Linux has piggybacked on that. Linux was written for the 386....
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    If it wasn't for the likes of IBM and Intel, with Linux developers on their payroll, even though they also do lots of patents and closed source stuff, GNU would still be looking for a kernel.
    - pyre 11y ago
      > GNU would still be looking for a kernel. Linux came about before there was commercial interest. Linux (or GNU/Linux if you will) would have existed. Whether it would be in the same place it is today is another story.
      - 11y ago

gioele 11y ago

> I really hope someone manages to ship an open source handheld one day. 100% FLOSS mobile phones are available for sale since 2007 :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko The current revision (GTA04A5, ARM Cortex A8 1GHz) can be ordered at http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 The Nokia N950 was also very open https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N950 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N950 There are also other also-run phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_pho...

continuations 11y ago
Cortex A8 is a proprietary design, no? How is that open source?