maemo.org - Talk - View Single Post - Jolla Tablet Refunds (latest developments)

bluefoot	2015-10-08 , 15:04
Posts: 338 \| Thanked: 496 times \| Joined on Oct 2010	#1200

Originally Posted by Copernicus

I disagree; this time, they've finally gotten a full end-to-end build and delivery of the final version of the tablet to actual end-users. So they now have concrete data upon which to base their schedule. My guess is that they'll now be able to get the parts they need to the factory in time to meet their production windows (something that is extremely important to get right when using "Just In Time" manufacturing, as they seem to be doing).

Plus, Golden Week is now finally over.

Odds are good that this schedule is going to be pretty close to reality.

They've had final hardware for nearly 2 months now.

They had to wait for software to catch up. It did, sort of. 1.2.x obviously got more delayed, so they're launching with 1.1.9.28 instead.

Now they have to wait again for more than a handful of hardware.

As I hinted at last year, aside from numerous other reasons, going with Intel for the tablet, as a small player and using a tiny OEM is so self-defeating, even if the Intel chips and platform are hugely subsidised and Intel helped them financially too ...

The reason availability is so patchy on things like the Nokia tablet (and all its Intel ilk) is that very, very few SoCs are produced by Intel compared with practically any ARM alternative SKU. There are frequently months between manufacturing runs of the tablets, despite reasonably solid demand for some of them. Even if Intel suddenly started pumping out more of the Atom tablet chips (which they won't), that wouldn't help as it'd catch RockChip out (the Chinese partner that makes all the motherboards for the platform). Availability has improved, but Jolla and their OEM are likely rock bottom on the list of priority for inventory. Then there's the fact that if there are any delays to other component batches or faults, the small OEM they use probably doesn't have the resources or wherewithall to fix that quickly.

Even if the Jolla Tablet got rave reviews and 10s of thousands of people wanted to buy them, the chances of Jolla ever being able to meet more than a fraction of that demand are practically nil. But at least there's no chance of a repeat of the disaster with the Jolla Phone, where they've had inventory of their last manufacturing run for more than 18 months now.

The whole thing has been (another) gigantic waste of time and resources.