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The shortage ruined the brand for me. Any sort of commercial product based on this cheap platform had supply issues, which caused a pivot. I had an old boss bal

The shortage ruined the brand for me. Any sort of commercial product based on this cheap platform had supply issues, which caused a pivot. I had an old boss balk at me for suggesting we use Pi's back in 2013, I now see why. Glad to see the gouging finally come to an end!

tjoff 3y ago
How is that the brands fault? For better or worse they even prioritized commercial products despite it not being their core audience.
- wittenbunk 3y ago
  How is the impact of the brands choices the fault of the brand? Did you forget an /s?
  - tjoff 3y ago
    Their choice can most certainly be questioned, but in this case the choice favored the use-case OP was talking about. So if anything it should have strengthened the brand image from that point of view.
  - euniceee3 3y ago
    It was mentioned as a footnote in the Dec 2022 update. Seems like a miss by the marketing team. My bad for missing this and only seeing the headlines.
- euniceee3 3y ago
  This is the first I am hearing about the commercial support on this. I had no idea my EIN was so powerful. The brand in my mind is 100% hobby because if I was able to source enough for prototyping (which was not possible over the last 18 months without getting gouged) then sticking with tried and true platforms was the only path forward. Not trying to be cheeky, just surprised the prioritization for commercial products was not publicized more.
  - fn-mote 3y ago
    I don't know what quantities you wanted for prototyping, but on the actual "we have a product and need rpi to ship" this was well enough advertised (imo). I certainly knew about it just from looking into acquiring some hobby-use Raspberry Pis.
incrudible 3y ago
Pivot to what? Any sort of product based on SBCs had supply chain issues. The supply chain risk with comparable board was and still is higher. Maybe if you target a common denominator you can amortize that, but that also has a bigger upfront cost.
habibur 3y ago
I need to give it two more years to see how stable the supply really is, before planing to extend on it. Right now it's basically supporting the old systems to keep those at least running.
t43562 3y ago
The reason hobbyists had shortages was because they allocated supply to businesses to help them stay afloat. Possibly your old boss was not right.
- avian 3y ago
  You are both right. Supply was allocated to businesses, but there was not enough for every business, so quite many of them could not buy Raspberry Pis for their products. Then again, everyone was having major supply issues. Yes, you could pivot from the "hobby" R. Pi to a "serious" industrial brand that had sales people talk big words about how they don't have these "beginner player" issues - right up to when it was time to deliver and suddenly they start talking about 100+ week lead times and 2025 delivery dates...
- dingledork69 3y ago
  I thought the raspberry pi was meant to be an educational diy system? Prioritizing businesses over hobbyists seems to go against that.
  - t43562 3y ago
    Lots of small businesses sprang up that used it - perhaps some of them were even started by hobbyists. If they didn't get their supply it would have cause a loss of jobs and hardship. The Pi Foundation decided to help those people keep their jobs during COVID etc which seems to be the clear moral choice.
    - dingledork69 3y ago
      They surely could have pivoted to an alternative, potentially creating more jobs in the progress. Most commercial raspberry pi projects should be microcontrollers anyway, and certainly not be running on the sdcard.
      - t43562 3y ago
        Obviously they didn't think so - whereas hobbyists can do so too and have no risks to worry about.
washadjeffmad 3y ago
Just to reinforce what another commentor said, Pis were still being made available to sectors like business and education, so vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate. We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing them from a single vendor at MSRP alongside their product. Of course, that's not what I expected since I'd been personally affected by the shortage to retail, and because the others weren't aware of that, I probably looked worried over nothing when I suggested we explore other SBCs.
- euniceee3 3y ago
  What was the path you took to get volume from vendors? Any links would be most appreciated.
  - jccooper 3y ago
    What I did was email business@raspberrypi.com, as suggested at https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain...
  - washadjeffmad 3y ago
    To clarify, it was from a single vendor who sold a product that was designed around use with particular models of raspi, not bulk individual boards (even though that's how they shipped). This was also two years ago, although we've been able to get more from them since, so I'd recommend calling companies that have any kits or products that include pis and asking them for info on ordering. If you have a procurement office or purchaser, they can help. You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to threaten our golden goose just yet :)
- sshine 3y ago
  > vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate > We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing We had minor sourcing difficulties ordering much fewer for production (10-15).
ilyt 3y ago
I'm sure your old boss magically predicted pandemic and chipaggedon happening /s

tjoff 3y ago

How is that the brands fault? For better or worse they even prioritized commercial products despite it not being their core audience.

wittenbunk 3y ago
How is the impact of the brands choices the fault of the brand? Did you forget an /s?
- tjoff 3y ago
  Their choice can most certainly be questioned, but in this case the choice favored the use-case OP was talking about. So if anything it should have strengthened the brand image from that point of view.
- euniceee3 3y ago
  It was mentioned as a footnote in the Dec 2022 update. Seems like a miss by the marketing team. My bad for missing this and only seeing the headlines.
euniceee3 3y ago
This is the first I am hearing about the commercial support on this. I had no idea my EIN was so powerful. The brand in my mind is 100% hobby because if I was able to source enough for prototyping (which was not possible over the last 18 months without getting gouged) then sticking with tried and true platforms was the only path forward. Not trying to be cheeky, just surprised the prioritization for commercial products was not publicized more.
- fn-mote 3y ago
  I don't know what quantities you wanted for prototyping, but on the actual "we have a product and need rpi to ship" this was well enough advertised (imo). I certainly knew about it just from looking into acquiring some hobby-use Raspberry Pis.

incrudible 3y ago

Pivot to what? Any sort of product based on SBCs had supply chain issues. The supply chain risk with comparable board was and still is higher. Maybe if you target a common denominator you can amortize that, but that also has a bigger upfront cost.

habibur 3y ago

I need to give it two more years to see how stable the supply really is, before planing to extend on it. Right now it's basically supporting the old systems to keep those at least running.

t43562 3y ago

The reason hobbyists had shortages was because they allocated supply to businesses to help them stay afloat. Possibly your old boss was not right.

avian 3y ago
You are both right. Supply was allocated to businesses, but there was not enough for every business, so quite many of them could not buy Raspberry Pis for their products. Then again, everyone was having major supply issues. Yes, you could pivot from the "hobby" R. Pi to a "serious" industrial brand that had sales people talk big words about how they don't have these "beginner player" issues - right up to when it was time to deliver and suddenly they start talking about 100+ week lead times and 2025 delivery dates...
dingledork69 3y ago
I thought the raspberry pi was meant to be an educational diy system? Prioritizing businesses over hobbyists seems to go against that.
- t43562 3y ago
  Lots of small businesses sprang up that used it - perhaps some of them were even started by hobbyists. If they didn't get their supply it would have cause a loss of jobs and hardship. The Pi Foundation decided to help those people keep their jobs during COVID etc which seems to be the clear moral choice.
  - dingledork69 3y ago
    They surely could have pivoted to an alternative, potentially creating more jobs in the progress. Most commercial raspberry pi projects should be microcontrollers anyway, and certainly not be running on the sdcard.
    - t43562 3y ago
      Obviously they didn't think so - whereas hobbyists can do so too and have no risks to worry about.

washadjeffmad 3y ago

Just to reinforce what another commentor said, Pis were still being made available to sectors like business and education, so vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate. We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing them from a single vendor at MSRP alongside their product. Of course, that's not what I expected since I'd been personally affected by the shortage to retail, and because the others weren't aware of that, I probably looked worried over nothing when I suggested we explore other SBCs.

euniceee3 3y ago
What was the path you took to get volume from vendors? Any links would be most appreciated.
- jccooper 3y ago
  What I did was email business@raspberrypi.com, as suggested at https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain...
- washadjeffmad 3y ago
  To clarify, it was from a single vendor who sold a product that was designed around use with particular models of raspi, not bulk individual boards (even though that's how they shipped). This was also two years ago, although we've been able to get more from them since, so I'd recommend calling companies that have any kits or products that include pis and asking them for info on ordering. If you have a procurement office or purchaser, they can help. You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to threaten our golden goose just yet :)
sshine 3y ago
> vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate > We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing We had minor sourcing difficulties ordering much fewer for production (10-15).

ilyt 3y ago

I'm sure your old boss magically predicted pandemic and chipaggedon happening /s