[Gta04-owner] [Marketing] Ideas / Plan

[Xavi Drudis Ferran]

On Fri 30/12/11 07:39 , Alishams Hassam <alishams.hassam at gmail.com> wrote:
> Things to mention:
> 
> 1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974.
> This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting
> dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit?
>

Yes, we should encourage people who have an GTA02 and don't want an upgrade to
pick and do some of these: 

 - sell it online

 - contact this list, some wiki or whatever communication means to at least leave
   a message they may be interested in donating it or selling it and with what conditions

 - answer some survey on why not doing some of the previous 

> 2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR.
> 
> 3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts,
> in small runs - hence the price tag.
> This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap. 
> 

Ok. 

> 4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as
> possible.
> Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot
> interfere with the O/S is a great example. 
>

I haven't heard about wifi firmware isolation. I'd like to know. If you mean
the circuit preventing propietary firmware upgrades, this is not implemented now. 

Maybe add 5. limitations to freedom in android devices in general (depending on 
the target audience). I say android because the simplistic view in the public is 
iPhones are propietary and Android free (some even think iPhones are somehow 
open because they're not MS or something, I've been surprised by people assumptions).
Anyway, if we're targetting GTA02 owners we don't need to say this. 
 
> Areas to Attack:
> 
> 1. Online and print magazines, news websites:
> 
> We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with
> the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot
> early this month
> http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rise
> s-from-the-ashesNo mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon
> blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/ 
> Phornix also did an article on Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one
> line about the GTA04 :< People are not excited, so let's make some noise!
> There are many other tech news sites out there.  Ars Technica comes to
> mind, Lifehacker and Make would get a kick out of the board switching
> procedure, Wired is an older popular magazine, Phoronix  I'm sure will do
> one focused on the GTA04 and 2600 for the geeks who like print (someone
> please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll publish
> it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention  http://lwn.net/
> 

I agree with Neil that we could do all this after we sort out the cases problem 
somehow. If we can't, we could at least do it calling GTA02 owners to upgrade, 
sell or donate their phones. But it would be nice to know what is the state
of any case options.

> Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before
> and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has
> written one before?
> 

I've been trying for a couple of years and always end up writing almost the 
opposite of what a good PR should be. I'm no expert, but I believe a good 
PR should be the most useful to journalists: 

- brief, to the point and with a subject and initial paragraph(s) sumarising very 
precisely what it's all about so journalists can quickly filter the many PRs they get.
In general the paragraphs should keep on expading the details and progress 
from summary to detailed explanation 

- written as an article would be, so that parts of the text can be cut&pasted 
immediately. So write "GD is selling a new GTA04 board" instead of "we are
selling a new GTA04" and don't abuse anaphora so that chunks are more 
useful out of context. 

- Facts can be written as are, but any opinion, or anything someone might not agree
with should be stated as a quotation from someone relevant. Don't 
write "It's outrageous how little control people has of their phones", but "according
to Mr.X from organisation Y, expert in Z,  "people are giving away their freedom 
for shiny little gizmos some neighbour raves about, or sacrificinf features for 
freedom, like GTA02 owners, and it does not need to be like this". And of course 
you watn the quotes to be authenthic, so you either collect them from past
statements or suggests relevant people to tell you something about it.

- include or link any usable footage (photos, videos, sound clips). 

- include contact information for any journalist not understanding something or
needing more information. They're often on a hurry and appreciate telephones
or synchronous communications and generaous availability times

- link it somehow to current events. As this week news or yesterday's. 

> 3. Free Geeks
> 
> Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all
> independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list
> and start a discussion. Starting points include how replacing a board is
> much more ecological than full new cell phone. The challenges with such an
> approach, and perhaps how FOSS helps to ensure old devices see much more
> support than their counterparts. I'll be updating the wiki with some
> adresses as I collect them. For now, Free Geek Vancouver: 
> fg-general at lists.freegeekvancouver.org
> 

I didn't know about this movement (I've seen these views, but I wasn't aware of 
organised  campaigns), very interesting.
 
> 6. Kickstarter / similar services
> 
> Perhaps funding for a case for the phones can come form these? 
>

Or even funding for getting PaulK a GTA04 board ?. Or similar software projects
that need the hardware. I'm not specifically interested in Replicant, and  Ican't buy him a 
board, but I'd like to have Replicant too in GTA04, and might send some little money
to a crowdfunding project if well defined, and raising 500 or 666,66 EUR might be
within reach of the crowfunding ?
 
> Phew, that's all I can think of for now. I'll be updating
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 as time permits. Please reply
> to the thread, submit ideas, constructive criticism, or just show you're
> listening!

I'm listening