Is #PocketChip gone? @nextthingco #makerbusiness

Adafruit 2018 0398
Spotted this in today’s The Prepared Newsletter “The company behind C.H.I.P., a linux based computer that crowdfunded for $9, appears to be insolvent.” Hackaday had a post in April and here is a post “Refund Experiment” on the CHIP nextthing.co forums.

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Additionally, there is a site called “http://www.ntcfailure.com/

This website will try to explain and cover the story of what happened with ‘Next Thing Co’ from when they started with the CHIP to when they went silent and left backers without refunds or a product.


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2 Comments

  1. You can’t just sell a $9 computer and stay in business. You have to make a profit and charge for services.

    You have to charge more than 5%. What is five percent of a million dollars? It is $50,000 or about what it costs to pay a sales person.

    What about other services and costs of doing business?

    Commodore was successful and had cheap computers but Apple charged more and had trouble in its history.

    About all of the computers in the computer wars went bankrupt at some time except for the large companies with government contracts and big pockets.

    And you have to have a lot to offer the customer or they will ask, “What is in it for me?”

  2. You can’t just sell a $9 computer and stay in business. You have to make a profit and charge for services.

    You have to charge more than 5%. What is five percent of a million dollars? It is $50,000 or about what it costs to pay a sales person.

    What about other services and costs of doing business?

    Commodore was successful and had cheap computers but Apple charged more and had trouble in its history.

    About all of the computers in the computer wars went bankrupt at some time except for the large companies with government contracts and big pockets.

    And you have to have a lot to offer the customer or they will ask, "What is in it for me?"

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