Ok, let me bounce this one off the folks here: I really, really liked the Indiegogo tablet concept, because it seemed to offer a modern mobile computing platform that had a fairly open and fairly standard Linux OS.

So, would it be possible to have another Indiegogo campaign, but this time involving a group of people interested only in producing a tablet running a Mer-based OS? If the hardware isn't too expensive, and the OS doesn't take too much effort to port, and you can get the devices into users hands quickly enough, it might be possible to create a larger base of support for the OS...

Producing a phone is always going to involve getting support from cell companies, and face enormous competition from the duopoly. But the tablet market seems more open (especially if you can somehow market the device as the bridge between your desktop and your mobile life, something that still doesn't seem to have caught on; e.g., the blowback from Tim Cook's recent remarks that the iPad Pro can replace a desktop machine).

In any case, I still believe starting by selling directly to users is a better startup strategy than trying to woo large manufacturers to a new OS. (I think Jolla would have done better following that route themselves, doubling down on the phone and getting the tablet out more quickly...)