A wonderful idea: Nokia, support your community with discounts [Archive] - maemo.org

Garage Battle

2007-10-20, 17:39

I saw the discount post for Maemo contributors for a discount on the product. But, this entire community does worlds for this non-loved oddball product.

I ask our Nokia contacts to inquire about getting the users on this site a discount on the new tablet. Everyone on here has contributed something to the development, and with Nokia renewing the product every year, keeping up is hard for loyal owners. Lets not be shy about it, everyone of us has been a guinea pig for this uncompleted product for years now.

I think a discount should be given to previous product supporters on this forum. Asking $240 more for the new product is absurd. Anyone with me on this? (maybe give us Wayfinder for free?)

jzencovich

2007-10-20, 17:44

Perhaps Nokia should be a little Apple-like. From what I hear, whenever Apple releases a new device (iPhone, iPod nano?) all Apple employees get one, FREE.

Perhaps Nokia should keep a list of all active contributors on ITT, and when Step 5 comes and Nokia releases the BIG device (N1000?) all of us get it for free :)

Just a little Thank you :)

aflegg

2007-10-20, 18:31

Bit of a logic leap, from "all Apple employees" to "all active contributors on ITT". How are they comparable?

Last time I checked, my pay cheque didn't come from Nokia (long commute to Finland from here - hell, it's long enough to London ;-))

The current programme for 500 discounts down to €99 for active community members seems fine to me: they're explicitly not limiting it to developers this time.

TTgowings

2007-10-20, 18:52

Here, here Garage, that is a brilliant idea, or even how about a trade-in, trade-up business model. That is unless some couldn't part with their beloved N770/N800's.

I beleve this would be my only option of getting one anytime before or after the holidays.

qgil

2007-10-20, 19:08

There is nothing stopping ITt contributors from applying to the N810 maemo device program, which is precisely a materialization of this 'wonderful idea'.

We have even discussed internally the possibility of computing ITt involvement as 'maemo contribution' if there is an automatic way to retrieve user data from ITt.

I mean:

In the maemo profile you can link to your profile in ITt. Imagine that the total amount of posts could count for your karma equation. (user karma is a feature that wil hopefully come very soon and will help us deciding who are the 500 fortunate owners of a discount code).

If ITt can provide some kind of API or way for that we are happy implementing this. The principle is agreed: ITt contributions are maemo contributions as well.

fpp

2007-10-20, 19:17

That is a fun idea ! :-)

elwood

2007-10-20, 19:21

I don't think that postcount should have anything to do with whether or not you should qualify for the programm (and I'm not saying that because I have hardly any posts in the 2 years i've been here; I won't qualify one way or the other). Postcount is in no way a measurement of quality.
I still think, and guess that's the way it will be done, that limiting the discount to active and proven developers is the best way to benefit the whole community. If after that phase there are a few left for other active community members that's fine.

elwood

2007-10-20, 19:54

Here, here Garage, that is a brilliant idea, or even how about a trade-in, trade-up business model. That is unless some couldn't part with their beloved N770/N800's.

I don't think that that will happen. That is exactly what some of us early 770 adopters hoped for when they released the n800. It didn't happen back than and it was a way bigger step from the 770 to the 800 than from the 800 to the 810.

qgil

2007-10-20, 19:58

Let me be clearer:

- Anybody can apply to the N810 maemo device program. Yes, my granny too.

- Then we have our criteria to decide who actually gets one of the 500 discount codes. For instance, being a core developer of maemo applications getting 5 stars in http://downloads.maemo.org , a proactive tester with a record track of bugs filed at http://bugs.maemo.org , a regular contributor in the maemo lists offering patient support to newbie questions, a popular blogger featuring regularly the brightest and darkest sides of the maemo platform (long etc).

- To get there we mix some data that can be automatic retrieved in order to conform a karma value + our personal review. Let's say that the karma sorts the list and we start reviewing those getting more karma points (i.e. etrunko and hackers alike, I guess).

- I'm just saying that ITt posts could be one more input value in this karma equation. For instance, without knowing anything else this system would put aflegg and fpp in a top level compared to the rest of posters in this thread including myself.

Well, worksforme. :)

ColdFusion

2007-10-20, 20:15

I can't even register on maemo garage...
Not that I'd have any chance in getting a free unit. :rolleyes:

benny1967

2007-10-20, 20:24

I ask our Nokia contacts to inquire about getting the users on this site a discount on the new tablet. Everyone on here has contributed something to the development, and with Nokia renewing the product every year, keeping up is hard for loyal owners. Lets not be shy about it, everyone of us has been a guinea pig for this uncompleted product for years now.

Is this a reasonable approach? What Nokia does right now with the discounts is a great thing, and the way they're doing it is probably as community-friendly as it can ever get. What else are you expecting? Yes, they're a Finnish company, but I'm not sure they're owned by Santa Claus.

(BTW, if you own an uncompleted internet tablet, you should return it and get a regular one instead. I wasn't aware Nokia had problems with half-assembled devices...?)

ColdFusion

2007-10-20, 20:27

Yes, they're a Finnish company, but I'm not sure they're owned by Santa Claus.
http://www.smileyhut.com/laughing/roll2.gif

qgil

2007-10-20, 22:07

I can't even register on maemo garage...

It's difficult to help you with such diagnose. ;)

If you have issues please file a bug at http://bugs.maemo.org providing as much details as possible.

ColdFusion

2007-10-20, 22:32

Nikem

2007-10-20, 22:39

It's normal that you have to wait some time before you are accepted by maemo.org, try again to log in in a few hours.

ColdFusion

2007-10-20, 22:40

It's been 2 days :D

zerojay

2007-10-20, 22:49

How can I file a bug when I can't even register and log in to maemo. ;)

Anyway when I get the "verify your account" e-mail and click the link, enter my user and pass it says:

"Access denied

Credentials you entered do not correspond to valid account."

The username is ColdFusion. Maybe some admin can enable the access.

Uh, did you happen to click on that link from the e-mail client on your N800? If so... try replacing any quotation marks in the link with &'s.

See my bug at https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2128

ColdFusion

2007-10-20, 22:55

Not from n800.
Not a phpbb forum activation, but for maemo garage.
No " or & in the link.
;)

Thanks anyway.

zerojay

2007-10-20, 23:01

Not from n800.
Not a phpbb forum activation, but for maemo garage.
No " or & in the link.
;)

Thanks anyway.

The bug's not phpbb-specific but with any links shown in the e-mail program.

Just making sure. ;)

bunanson

2007-10-20, 23:11

But, this entire community does worlds for this non-loved oddball product.

I will NEVER forgive you for coining such a, OMG, horrible description of my dream toy, 770........................but it does convey the most vivid picture of my feeling:( . I cant stop laughing when I thought about the term, this non-loved oddball product.

bun

zerojay

2007-10-20, 23:52

I just love the fact that Nokia giving away 500 discounts just isn't enough to satisfy some people. Nokia could make a quad core P4 internet tablet with 2000x1000 screen resolution that last for three years on a single battery charge given away completely for free and there will still be some people that will complain and say it's not enough, even though it's above and beyond what Nokia *needs* to do.

jzencovich

2007-10-21, 01:30

For the record Zero, I would be satisfied :)

Also Aflegg, I wrote up a huge long reply to your post, it was nice too, but I took too long to type it and i got autologged off I guess. So when I hit submit it told me I wasn't logged in, I logged in and... POOOF. I lost my post :(

Anyone have any idea how I could try to extract that lost text from my Firefox browsing session? Cause I know Firefox has memory management issues, so all that text is still floating in my ram somewhere... and I am NOT going to attempt to rewrite it all :(

rcadden

2007-10-21, 01:40

Oh yeah, this is a FANTASTIC idea. Let's see, we have this device, with a very small core group of users. They all hang out on this site over here. You know what, despite the ACTUAL costs of the device, and despite the fact that these people are the ones MOST LIKELY to purchase the new device, hell, let's just give them all big fat discounts. That's sure to work. Yeah, that's a great idea.

Dumb. Just plain dumb.

Greyghost

2007-10-21, 04:43

Dumb. Just plain dumb.

I could not disagree more. First of all, Nokia has already thought about this, and since they have now committed to discount (not give away) 500 units to a 'core' group of users, we should see this as proof that they are committed to both the device in the long run, and the users who are helping 'build' it, in the shorter run so to speak.

In other words, it makes FANTASTIC sense to utilize this core group of users! You could read as 'reward', but it's more than that; it is part of a relationship building process that Nokia has (rightly) decided must be a part of the new generation of mobile devices.

This brings me to my second point, which is that Nokia is smart enough to realize that the core group is not the sales base. If it were, they woiuldn't still be pursing it. No, remember, Nokia is a LARGE manufacturer of mobile devices, and what they learn here in the laboratory, so to speak, will be used in the larger marketplace, where they stand to make millions! All just by giving us a little discount! Sounds like good economics to me!

O, and BTW, I want one, of course. :D

aflegg

2007-10-21, 08:43

...and that's what they're doing :-). It's just not "all", and as qgil explained, it's not just users of ITT they want to reward, but application developers, bug reporters, bug fixers, good mailing list netizens, bloggers etc.

So with over 10,000 registered users on here, and 500 discount counts it's going to be who Nokia deem to be most "valuable" across all those different media taking into account a number of factors.

I agree though, it's a really clever business move - especially when qgil comes on here to explain the process in a bit more depth. It really gives the warm & fuzzies.

Milhouse

2007-10-21, 14:45

In the maemo profile you can link to your profile in ITt. Imagine that the total amount of posts could count for your karma equation. (user karma is a feature that wil hopefully come very soon and will help us deciding who are the 500 fortunate owners of a discount code).

I don't think that postcount should have anything to do with whether or not you should qualify for the programm (and I'm not saying that because I have hardly any posts in the 2 years i've been here; I won't qualify one way or the other). Postcount is in no way a measurement of quality.
I still think, and guess that's the way it will be done, that limiting the discount to active and proven developers is the best way to benefit the whole community. If after that phase there are a few left for other active community members that's fine.

I agree with elwood, and there are better ways to identify "quality" posters in forums by using karma/thank-you systems (not implemented on this forum, unfortunately - I'll submit a request to Reggie). Post count is not reliable, but as things stand it's all there is.

ColdFusion

2007-10-21, 14:58

zerojay

2007-10-21, 15:28

I agree with elwood, and there are better ways to identify "quality" posters in forums by using karma/thank-you systems (not implemented on this forum, unfortunately - I'll submit a request to Reggie). Post count is not reliable, but as things stand it's all there is.

Good idea, except that most people *never* use those on forums so it wouldn't really be all that much better than post count anyways.

tabletrat

2007-10-21, 16:15

and when they do there is a tendancy for people to stick to groups and only add karma to people they know

phi

2007-10-21, 16:20

i propose anyone that stuck around from the 770 days get a small discount! :D

kooda

2007-10-21, 16:31

Competition is a good thing. As competing devices (and new models) come to the market, the prices go down. Just look at what happened to N770 and N800. I doubt if N810 will be any different.

I really think that Nokia should refine and polish the N810 UI and do some commercials on US television. Most people here have never heard of N8xx devices and the adoption will be at least fourfold if Nokia were to advertise them on TV (only after refining the UI).

qgil

2007-10-21, 19:17

How can I file a bug when I can't even register and log in to maemo. ;)

Bugzilla has a different account but you didn't have to know. :)

Anyway when I get the "verify your account" e-mail and click the link, enter my user and pass it says:

"Access denied

Credentials you entered do not correspond to valid account."

The username is ColdFusion. Maybe some admin can enable the access.

Bugzilla uses different account, but it's not your fault not to know that. :)

We are not receiving complaints about this so I guess there is something wrong at your end. It would take us more time to investigate than activate the account, this is why I have activated manually.

If you find more issues please report them in the maemo channels. We have got hundreds of device program applicants, so the app seems to work.

ColdFusion

2007-10-21, 20:00

Bugzilla uses different account, but it's not your fault not to know that. :)

We are not receiving complaints about this so I guess there is something wrong at your end. It would take us more time to investigate than activate the account, this is why I have activated manually.

If you find more issues please report them in the maemo channels. We have got hundreds of device program applicants, so the app seems to work.

Thank you very much! :D

Garage Battle

2007-10-22, 00:05

We are "early adopters". We put the product in front of others and educate them about it because we love it. We are the test mules when SD cards get corrupted, or when our tablet battery drains because it cant get along with the router. We are your supporters, but the price asked for everything coming out is ridiculous, considering the tablets biggest problem was not fixed...it needs to have more power.

Texrat

2007-10-22, 00:24

bunanson

2007-10-22, 03:09

how to separate garbage from gold?

I beg to be different, garbage or gold are in the eyes of beholder, to begin with. And afterall, garbage helps to make gold to be gold, gold is not gold without garbage...........I am proud and contend to be a piece of garbage, to make contribution to a forum that I feel identify with, growing, learning and having fun. I honestly think, any posters in this fora contribute to the development of the tablet, in a big stride or a small step. Period.

bun

jzencovich

2007-10-22, 03:32

One caveat: there are some here whose "contributions" amount to nothing but spamming, bashing and/or other non-tablet related postings. Personally, I don't think that the otherwise truly contributing folks (like fanoush, thoughtfix, Reggie, Milhouse, penguinbait, et al) should be lumped in with trolls. So the challenge is, how to separate garbage from gold?

It's interesting Tex how you left off from your list the top poster on ITT.... :D

You're right, but I also think it's very easy to separate the real contributors from spammers, and I dare say that there are few (if any) real spammers here.

Most people on ITT are here to either contribute or learn, and most of the ones here to learn don't talk much (in general; personal experience).

Bun, I dare say that you're no garbage! You're a very appreciated contributor, and I can't say that anyone here is garbage. We're all contributing in some way or another. Some more than others based on their circumstances.

Some are Genius coders, others are Genius testers :)

Still waiting for that KDE 4 port so that I can "test" it.... :)

Texrat

2007-10-22, 12:15

I beg to be different, garbage or gold are in the eyes of beholder, to begin with. And afterall, garbage helps to make gold to be gold, gold is not gold without garbage...........I am proud and contend to be a piece of garbage, to make contribution to a forum that I feel identify with, growing, learning and having fun. I honestly think, any posters in this fora contribute to the development of the tablet, in a big stride or a small step. Period.

bun

Bun, that's EXACTLY why I asked the question of "how".

But by the same token, those (like Karel) who focus on constructive criticism I would consider contributers. Those bashing for the sake of some less-than-honorable agenda, however... well, enough said.

There are some who have dropped in, as well as some who have stayed, that in my opinion contribute nothing of substance no matter what or how they post. But again, there's a degree of subjectivity there so who's to do the filtering?

The easy answer is give every poster here (including those creating the "BUY NOKIA PHONE$ CHEAP!" threads) a free N810, right? 10,000+ posters. Oops.. there went the profits! Time to kill the platform. ;)

Hedgecore

2007-10-22, 12:49

First. Post count would be a horrible metric. I have a high postcount and lots of them are poking fun at TexRat and Thoughtfix. :)

Second. I would *hate* the idea of someone taking part in a community message board snagging potential device discounts from developers.

Third. Finland, while geographically closer to the North Pole than many other countries, ain't home to Santa as someone had said in a previous post.

Fourth. I'm stopping this numbered list and will resort to my usual incoherent rambling.

I do think that people here have helped the product along somewhat. It was hard to get them in Canada but I've personally gotten three people to buy them (one purchased a lot of 10) and have a few more interested in the n810. It's easy really, you just put your device in their hand and tell them to play around. You answer a few questions, and then a week later they show you theirs. So yeah. This forum's done a lot for the product. What *would* be nice, is a contest of sorts. I've got no ideas, but if Nokia sliced over a bunch of coupons for web purchase or something. iTT admins can make us jump through hoops and feed the winners discount tickets. (I recommend something stupid that anyone can do, like take a pic of your tablet in your town/city by a landmark).

Texrat

2007-10-22, 13:10

First. Post count would be a horrible metric. I have a high postcount and lots of them are poking fun at TexRat...

There are those who would say that alone qualifies you right there.

bunanson

2007-10-22, 22:16

Well, I would like to extend an apology to everybody that get offended by my previous post. I think the tone I am using is too strong and it is uncalled for. I am sorry, especially to Texrat.

BTW, I thought we all are heading for the same goal, i.e., try to make the tablet better but using different approaches. This is like beating up your little brother because he does not do good on an exam. We beat him up not because we want to beat him up, but because we want him to be good. I am going to stop right here.:)

bun

Texrat

2007-10-22, 22:20

Bun, no biggie. I didn't see anything offensive; just pointing out I actually agreed with you for the most part.

If there are concerns about the tablets, they definitely need to be expressed. Hey, I want the product line to succeed! I was one of many midwives in the birthing process. ;)

jzencovich

2007-10-22, 22:32

Bun: NICE :D

By the way, I'd like to point out that there are only roughly 120 users on ITT with over 100 posts. I'm not saying that all 120 deserve a free IT, but a sizable portion of them most probably (though not necessarily) have contributed a fair amount to the community. It wouldn't take too long to browse through those 120 users' posts for sizable, useful posts.

Perhaps 50? 50 highly active and contributing members that meet a certain criteria. I know that Nokia can't play Santa, but 50 devices (as an upper limit?) wouldn't be too big of a "gift" to the early adopters... And I'm not talking about a free 810. Perhaps "Step 4" or even down the line "Step 5" device, those that are STILL here, and have been contributing for quite a while to the platform (out of love, since we're not getting paid :) )

I'm just throwing out there numbers and ideas. Don't pelt me with stones :)

Karel Jansens

2007-10-22, 23:21

But by the same token, those (like Karel) who focus on constructive criticism I would consider contributers.

[de-lurking momentarily]
Please, don't give me a coupon (or whatever) for a N810. I really really don't want one.

If, by some parallel-universe-switcheroo, I were to be elected for one, I'd much rather see the money go to the development of one of these:

- usable full-screen HWR,
- a better thumbpad (iPhone(<spit!>)-like and with transparency) and/or
- the integration of an office suite in the installed program base (Abiword, Gnumeric and a decent flat-file database - presentation software is kinda pointless without a pain-free method of displaying stuff on an external screen).

I realize it's only a couple of hundred euros, so I'm not expecting miracles, but it could be a start...
[lurking away...]

Texrat

2007-10-23, 00:29

Karel, I was just acknowledging that you actually do have value. :p

bunanson

2007-10-23, 01:10

[de-lurking momentarily]If, by some parallel-universe-switcheroo, I were to be elected for one, I'd much rather see the money go to the development of one of these:

[lurking away...]

I hope you have totally recovered from your hospitalization. In fact, to escape from daily routine, hide in the hospital to play with your tablet for several days, undisturbed, makes many people jealous.:rolleyes:

regarding development, I think getting a basic sync with contacts/task/calender is really really important for the tablet to be competitive. Even people are not in this forum, when they heard of tablet is running on Debian, "forget it, no PIM sync"

bun

qgil

2007-10-23, 04:37

> What *would* be nice, is a contest of sorts.

If ITt comes up with a proposal it is very likely that we will pick it up. Not to mix with the maemo device program, though.

> Please, don't give me a coupon (or whatever) for a N810. I really really don't want one.

The N810 maemo device program only distributes discounts among those having applied for it. If you don't apply you are safe.

ImDisaster

2007-10-23, 05:16

Curiously, I think the number 55 is a good cutoff point for coupons. Wait...56.

Khertan

2007-10-23, 09:01

..... lol ......

Reggie

2007-11-02, 14:54

Can't mention any specifics yet but itT is definitely trying to work something out with Nokia. Hope things push through. Stay tuned. ;)

Texrat

2007-11-02, 14:56

Sweet. Nice work Reggie.

dormant

2007-11-02, 15:13

My suggestion to Nokia for criteria on which to base any decision for distributing free N800s or discounts.

20 or more posts in ITT.
Have said they will not buy N810 in the "will you buy" thread.
Enthusiastic about OS2008.

From the qualifiers, then choose one person for each country of residence.

Sorted.

luca

2007-11-02, 15:18

Have said they will not buy N810 in the "will you buy" thread.

Or that didn't even look at that thread :D

Garage Battle

2007-11-02, 17:23

you know, if i can make a suggestion, since i did start this.

as much as I think we deserve a break on the product (as early adopters definetly take a hit), I feel that we should also have to earn this discount in some way.

not all of us are programmers, and there is a certain program to take care of those people. but, at the same point, this community does help the general beta/debug process, and it would be smart to find a way to incorporate the discounts with this user base, or something else along those lines.

i wouldnt be against doing the following things to receive a discount:

1. fill out a customer survey for Nokia about its Tablet & Phone products

2. my membership/post count on ITT be consider towards it

3. maybe a video contribution to Thoughtfix's contest (one solid entry = discount eligble)

4. you have to goto a site to get the discount, and input your 770/N800 units serial # in order to generate a discount code (or use it as a coupon code on checkout). this code is a one time use, and would be emailed to you.

Im not saying it should just be given to us (which wouldnt be bad), but at the same time id hate to see this end up on Slickdeals or Fatwallet and new users taking advantage of it. Just my thoughts. Thanks for everyone who's looking out for the user base.

Hedgecore

2007-11-03, 19:59

Well. As I've said, everyone would enjoy a discount. $479 is a lot of money (did I mention the Canadian dollar just hit $1.07? I didn't? Well it did. But that's still a lot of money.) and as I also said before, if they want to work something out I'm sure we'd be gracious to accept it... but I really hope it doesn't take away from any benefits actual developers would get.

Most of us here are end users and whether technical or not, many have provided valuable feedback, etc.

I'll just flat out admit. I have *no* idea what kind of metrics should be considered so far as eligibility goes.

And on the side, if anyone from Nokia is paying attention to this thread, I used my 770 on the subway daily for months from Dec 2005 onward when they weren't available up here. In that time I must have demoed it to over 50 people who were curious what I had in my hands. For the love of #$&*&#$, there might only be 30 million people in this country but there's a huge interest in tablets. Don't forget about us canucks up here! Or at least tack 'Sorry, eh!' to the end of the "unfortunately not all products are available in all markets and we have no plans to release this product in your market space" standard form reply email whenever I inquire as to whether or not you'd like my $500.

Lunchguy

2007-11-03, 23:34

Don't forget about us canucks up here! Or at least tack 'Sorry, eh!' to the end of the "unfortunately not all products are available in all markets and we have no plans to release this product in your market space" standard form reply email whenever I inquire as to whether or not you'd like my $500.

Don't forget the Aussies too (hi everyone, first time poster - been reading for the last few weeks).

Haven't owned a tablet before but have previously considered importing Nokia's previous two versions (the 800 is available from only 1 retailer in Australia I think - and on request order).

Definitly want to buy the N810 but my email to Nokia didn't provide me with any information re availability locally (just that it wasn't released yet. which I knew) - although they did say I would be able to download Aus GPS maps if I import.

Good thing the AU$ is doing so well against the US$ at present, although I am concerned that my warranty won't be accepted on import.

kotzkind

2007-11-04, 00:09

genome4hire

2007-11-04, 08:10

I went onto maemo.org and edited my developer discount application.

Question: If you try to write more than a paragraph or two, it ends up looking like crap - as the website eats newlines, and won't take HTML BR tags.

I'd like my application to be as readable as possible - and right now, it looks like a mess.

Any suggestions?