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Suggestion: Pre-order with layout selection to find out wanted hwkb layouts


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Currently the Pro¹ is only available with a US international QWERTY layout. I'm sure many people are interested in getting their native keyboard layout instead, while at the same time Livermorium probably has to be careful about which layouts to offer at first.

Thus I suggest a possibility to preorder the phone under the condition that it is available with a certain keyboard layout within a certain time. This mechanism can serve as a voting about which layouts are most popular at the same time, providing some data to the Livermorium folks on which layouts to concentrate on.

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I think this is a bad idea. This is because the previous Moto Z Keyboard Mod never made it past production-stage, due to the low volume count. Offering additional selection means additional inventory needs to be produced. It does sound pro-consumer to offer choice/variety, but is this worth putting the entire Pro1 at risk? The expenses also includes product support such that producing a product is not the bulk of the expense: it is the product support that is the money sink. That said, it would be nice to get a better picture of the cost, so reasonable requests can be made.

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If they think they can deliver alternative layouts, let them try. The moto mod didn't exactly fail just because of low volume.

I can't recall all details from top of my head, but stuff that took part in it it was the Moto team being unresponsive, relocated and like half laid off; parts reaching end of life/end up being very hard to source (concerning parts required for Moto Mod functionality); the Transform the Smartphone Challenge prize money never being paid out; etc.

Some of that may not be 100% accurate, but to think it failed because of the layout versions that were never made in the end is a bit odd.

 

It's not nothing, but it's pretty much a different print + software keymapping. That's not free, but most likely won't make the project die.

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Your pre-order would not be valid if the layout does not match. No matter how clear it was stated.

 

Why wouldn't it be illegal? Considering you don't have to pay anything before the actual final shipping, and you can cancel your pre-order at any time before that shipping, they could easily then send out a message that "We are sorry to inform that the order amount for your keyboard layout of choice did not meet the minimum demands and won't be produced as of this time. Please inform us if you want to cancel your pre-order or if you accept receiving the phone with a standard, US QWERTY layout instead"

 

Or something like that. And when you do the pre-order they could easily add that paragraph about orders having to meet a certain minimum demand etc. :D

 

 

But yes, a poll would be the best. I am kind disapointed that they haven't done that already, whilst constantly acknowledging that there are interest in other layouts.

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Your pre-order would not be valid if the layout does not match. No matter how clear it was stated.

 

Why wouldn’t it be illegal? Considering you don’t have to pay anything before the actual final shipping, and you can cancel your pre-order at any time before that shipping, they could easily then send out a message that “We are sorry to inform that the order amount for your keyboard layout of choice did not meet the minimum demands and won’t be produced as of this time. Please inform us if you want to cancel your pre-order or if you accept receiving the phone with a standard, US QWERTY layout instead”

 

Or something like that. And when you do the pre-order they could easily add that paragraph about orders having to meet a certain minimum demand etc. :D

 

But yes, a poll would be the best. I am kind disapointed that they haven’t done that already, whilst constantly acknowledging that there are interest in other layouts.

 

IF they would do it like that, that would most certainly work (not a lawyer). But this would mean, that everybody who does not get the wished layout has to explicitly accept the new pre-order. A lot of people surely would. This means that the pre-order count is a worse indicator for how many device they have to produce, which is all that matters about this pre-order button.

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Your pre-order would not be valid if the layout does not match. No matter how clear it was stated.

 

Why wouldn’t it be illegal? Considering you don’t have to pay anything before the actual final shipping, and you can cancel your pre-order at any time before that shipping, they could easily then send out a message that “We are sorry to inform that the order amount for your keyboard layout of choice did not meet the minimum demands and won’t be produced as of this time. Please inform us if you want to cancel your pre-order or if you accept receiving the phone with a standard, US QWERTY layout instead”

 

Or something like that. And when you do the pre-order they could easily add that paragraph about orders having to meet a certain minimum demand etc. :D

 

But yes, a poll would be the best. I am kind disapointed that they haven’t done that already, whilst constantly acknowledging that there are interest in other layouts.

IF they would do it like that, that would most certainly work (not a lawyer). But this would mean, that everybody who does not get the wished layout has to explicitly accept the new pre-order. A lot of people surely would. This means that the pre-order count is a worse indicator for how many device they have to produce, which is all that matters about this pre-order button.

 

No they dont have to accept the new one. The paragraph example I wrotr said they can either choose to cancel or accept the US type.

 

But yeah, first step now would be for fxtec to properly investigate the actual interest in different layouts.

 

The reason for why it would be good if they added the choice in the pre order section, is because not all who pre orders can be bothered to come to the forums. I have been following this phone for a while, but it took me until 1.5 weeks ago to actually register and jump onto the forum.

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No they dont have to accept the new one. The paragraph example I wrotr said they can either choose to cancel or accept the US type.

 

But yeah, first step now would be for fxtec to properly investigate the actual interest in different layouts.

 

The reason for why it would be good if they added the choice in the pre order section, is because not all who pre orders can be bothered to come to the forums. I have been following this phone for a while, but it took me until 1.5 weeks ago to actually register and jump onto the forum.

 

"They can either choose to cancel or accept" That is what I mean. To make the pre-order valid the customer has to actively accept the new pre-order (with US-Layout). This makes it really hard to pre-produce the phone. How many will cancel it? The whole sense behind the pre-order is to have a good estimate about the number of phones they have to produce. Pre-order people also want the phone as soon as it is out. So it is crucial to have enough, but every unit to much is a loss.

 

Of course an open poll would be easier, but you also have to consider following two points:

- Drawing people to the forum is a good thing. As you did they will post there opinion in multiple threads not only the keyboard ones

- The people which are taking the extra steps of registering are more important for the poll. They are more likely to buy the phone. The quality of the poll is also better because people can't vote twice (in the best case).

 

But an vote with some usable results inside the Forum would be good.

In the end I think it is too late anyway. A German layout will be done, I think there will not be time/ressources for a third layout.

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