OQO Inc. , For Sale or Bust?

[Guest]

[trf]

Tech repair indicated a couple of weeks ago that the 02+ is right on track. 

If they can simply get to a launch of the 02+ they should see a significant improvement in their cash flow, and do doubt a resumption of customer service excellance.

Welcome back tnkgrl it has been a while since we have heard from you.

[ChrisArden]

I'd certainly like to see OQO succeed but even if the 2+ is launched I have doubts about their long term viability unless they find some powerful new backers or put a major strategic partnership in place.

After all, they clearly would need to do better in sales and marketing than they've done in the past in order to survive which will be challenging in an increasingly competetive marketplace, during a recession and with many of their best people gone or, at best, seriously considering other career options.

Dynamism are still showing the 2+ as due on May 22nd but how many people would pay the $2348 asking price for the "best" model today (or $3000+ with a few accessories) when recent performance suggests that they can't be sure of ongoing support or repairs and against a backgroung of questionable reliability for previous models?

Unfortunately the availability of review models doesn't mean much: there have been a few of those doing the rounds recently with selected journalists, in Intel demos etc so that doesn't mean there has been a real production run.

Sadly there may not even be much to buy: I don't think that the (relatively unknown) OQO brand has that much value in such a fast-moving industry sector where buying decisions are more feature than brand-loyalty based and a company that has the financial resources and corporate expertise to make a success of it probably already has better brand recognition anyway.

Equally I doubt there's a lot of intellectual property to sell: Intel and AMD are both investing heavily in the UMPC sector and providing a lot of support for companies designing umpc solutions; the other components and design aspects are also evolving very quickly. I just don't see OQO's technology as anything that a variety of companies, Nokia, htc, Samsung etc etc couldn't duplicate or even improve on very quickly if they felt the market was there ... and they have the ability to then roll out in volumes and at prices that would leave OQO in the dust.

The good news for users is that it looks as though there'll be a variety of new pocket "full PC" solutions launched in the next year or 2 at much more affordable price points... good news for users but not for OQO I fear.

Chris

[ecsk2]

If they can simply get to a launch of the 02+ they should see a significant improvement in their cash flow, and do doubt a resumption of customer service excellance.

Rumor has it that that's the "cash" that's not there, the one needed to get the launch done, meaning buying all the components in the quantities needed (as always in mass production).

[Bungee]

I think at this point, it's probably best that another (much larger) company picks up the OQO product and technology. The negative PR this is generating cannot be good for business.

The existing management team has all but squandered the goodwill of their existing customers and scared off potentially new ones. It's truly sad that the OQO brand is now synonymous with bad PR, Marketing, high failure/RMA rates and horrendous customer support.

[charlieboy]

The idea of shipping direct to American & European customers from the Asian factory is a bit strange. Especially if the majority of OQO's customers are in the USA, for the ones in Asia and Australia it makes sense.

But shipping direct might help them a bit now. They might be able to do a deal with the manufacturer based on pay as they ship rather than paying for big batches at once then waiting to sell them.

This is not going to end well way too much speculation. Nothing concrete from OQO or its investors. I was going to send back my first OQO to get the antenna covers fixed. But I am so glad I didn't. From the experiences others are seeing I might never get it back. If OQO does go under anyone who has a unit being fixed may never see it again. This might also explain the fact they are not issuing RMAs anymore.

[Ronc]

...they are not issuing RMAs anymore.

Where did you hear that? Anything in writing from OQO?

[PlacidoDomenech]

OQO Rumors in Internet...

http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/04/oqo-rumors

http://jkontherun.com/2009/04/13/oqo-rumored-to-be-looking-for-buyer-expansys-pulls-new-model-off-website/

This type of news don't help OQO and sales of OQO 2+...
Who can spend 3000$ in a device from a company in this situation ¿?¿?
I buy a 3000 euro OQO e2 SSD 64 GB HSDPA a year ago and actually is in RMA process... lost in time 

I think OQO 2+ could be the best UMPC with better battery life (Viliv S5 6hours) , and better marketing.

I, like all, hope official news from OQO Inc.

[omals38]

You all are scaring me with these news.
I sent my OQO for RMA 6 weeks ago, and I have not been able to reach OQO support for 2 weeks.

I hope Dany Popell will reassure those of us who sent our units for repair, and confirm OQO will at least ship them back 

[charlieboy]

...they are not issuing RMAs anymore.

Where did you hear that? Anything in writing from OQO?

 I was referring to complaints from others on the forum recently where they were saying they were still waiting for OQO to get back to them with their RMA's after several weeks. In the old days they would issue RMAs same day or at worst 2 days. Nothing official as such..... but isn't that the problem, nothing official.

[jkim]

I am keeping my fingers crossed. I would hate to see the OQO go, especially since it has so much potential in healthcare.

[edelson9]

While I am one of those people who can't get an RMA to fix a dead screen, and I have expressed doubts in this forum about what is happening at the company, we must keep in mind that most of the comments from other places seem to be based on the complaints from this forum. We have a circular firing squad. We express bad doubts. They are repeated elsewhere with us as a source, and then we hear the comments from elsewhere and go, oh my!. Actually, it likely all comes from this forum. Having said that I am thinking that my dead screen 02 is on its way to being a paperweight.

[2disbetter]

While I am one of those people who can't get an RMA to fix a dead screen, and I have expressed doubts in this forum about what is happening at the company, we must keep in mind that most of the comments from other places seem to be based on the complaints from this forum. We have a circular firing squad. We express bad doubts. They are repeated elsewhere with us as a source, and then we hear the comments from elsewhere and go, oh my!. Actually, it likely all comes from this forum. Having said that I am thinking that my dead screen 02 is on its way to being a paperweight.

Yes I saw on engadget, that their sources for this is this forum and jkkontherun.com.

That being said, no one gives a crap about OQO like this forum does. It stands to reason that we would be the authoritive source on such things?

Not only that, but in the past Picasso has been very accurate with his comments.

I really hope OQO doesn't go under. I would like the oppurtunity to keep buying OQOs. One day it would be nice to have a 07 or 08.

2d

[charlieboy]

I hear what everyone is saying about sources of rumor. But the idea of a marketing department, PR function, Management board is to make sure that discontent amongst the user base does not lead to "speculation" as to its cause. Like I said in a different post a lot of the OQO management techniques could be used in an MBA course as a case study on how not to manage things. Disaster management is a core function of management, right now OQO is heading for a disaster. Whether the disaster is just in its reputation amongst the user base that can be fixed by advertising and PR later, or if it is a "total" basket case only time will tell.

Seriously who do the management of OQO think is going to run out and register to buy an OQO 2+ right now? Delivery will not happen till the earliest first week in June why pre register? Why take the risk. Wait till you hear that other people have received theirs before taking that gamble.

They must say something. What do they hope to gain by staying silent. The reality cannot be any worse than the speculation. Any investor looking at buying into to OQO at this point is going to do due diligence. They are going to see the tide of change on this forum, from being as many have described as a bunch of Fanbois's to what it is today.

But sadest thing in all of this is I really believe they have a killer product.

[ecsk2]

The idea of shipping direct to American & European customers from the Asian factory is a bit strange. Especially if the majority of OQO's customers are in the USA, for the ones in Asia and Australia it makes sense.

This practice is a lot more common than you might think, the last brand new HP laptop (around 2 years ago) I bought directly off HP.com shipped directly out of Shanghai (after they were done putting it together) to my door.

[Dave P]

So far, the only update to JKOnTheRun's reporting of this forum's concern is at GottaBeMobile:

I sent an email to one of the OQO execs asking if he could shed any light on the subject. He said he couldn’t talk specifically about any possible buyout or the rumor that the OQO 2+ may not come to market.

He did acknowledge that “Times are tough right now for us like many other companies.”

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/04/14/is-oqo-hitting-tough-times/