Last Updated on January 13, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org
For several years during Corona Raspberry Pi was not able to deliver single board computers. For industry users we suppose it was available for higher prizes. Is the stragety not to sell any Raspberry Pi’s during Corona a sign that Raspberry Pi for private users is a market segment which is given up by Raspberry Pi Inc. and now controlled by bankers?
If so, did they care about the users, or only about what can be financed? We as Swiss think in Switzerland, if Raspberry Pi Inc. would be located in Switzerland, according to Swiss mentality and Swiss quality standards, a Swiss company would eventually have immediately retreated from selling SBCs to private users, if the company cannot deliver SBCs to private users during Corona. Since does such a procedure not harm tremendously the image of a company, also for the Raspberry Pi for industry? And what happens if the Raspberry Pi 5 is well developed by private users and the market is saturated, and becomes smaller and smaller each year because of a lot of competitors which produce SBCs as well?
A similar thing happened with the Dreem 2 headband which was sold for 500 USD to private users. But then it was stopped to sell it to private users and it is now only available for medical and research applications for 1 400 USD. Was this also a decision of bankers, and do we have to expect similar things with Raspberry Pi for private users? If so, should we not keep an eye on alternatives such as the Orange PI 5 and the Mango Pi SBCs? But currently these SBCs do not have a large community of developers and we do not have a real alternative to Pi’s. Is this not a situation which is very unsatisfying for people who are used to Swiss quality standards?
And suddently, the market is saturated with with Raspberry Pi 5, and sell number will stagnate. As soon as the Rasperry Pi 5 is developed they have an interesting products also for industry users. And if bankers are at the power so as we for instance we know from Swiss bankers, do they not suddently decide that it is no longer possible to finance to produces SBCs in UK for private users and they stop to finance it? We know such a procedure from Swiss bankers. The fate of the Dreem 2 headband is a warning sign for Raspberry Pi users that they risk to pay a special prize for their favorate SBC sooner or later which could eventually be only available as a Pi for industry, which is not available for private users at all.
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