I'd buy one, so it's an unfilled niche for me. The success of android was sort of predicated on this concept that openness always wins. It's just unfortunately

I'd buy one, so it's an unfilled niche for me. The success of android was sort of predicated on this concept that openness always wins. It's just unfortunately sort of turned out to be a bit of a bait and switch. I've talked to Chinese companies about this idea quite a bit. The Chinese companies that have put the effort into debugging a good phone motherboard don't want to give up that IP. However, the smartphone market is so brutal for manufacturers it seems like it's bound to happen sooner rather than later. After all, companies like Asus, Gigabyte have made plenty despite the software side of it open for years. The impression that I've got speaking to Chinese contract manufacturers about it is that if you BYO'ed your own motherboard design, and possibly forgoed some exotic components - you could do it now. Feel free to give me a buzz if you go down this path. If you are interested, I have a bit more feedback I can give on how you could keep costs really low. Email is in my profile.