OpenMoko Update

Sean Moss-Pultz updates the OpenMoko community on behalf of the OpenMoko team regarding the progress of the project as it moves towards the Phase 1 of its development. It looks like there may be some delays due to certain hardware issues, and stability and quality are a priority.

Here is the letter:

"Dear Community,

Today is April 1st (well...somewhere, but no longer in my current
timezone). My original plan was to announce that Harald convinced us all
to turn OpenMoko into a closed source distribution --ClosedMofo. And
that hardware would only be onsale as a locked phone.

Then announce that we're accepting orders.

The latest hardware spin -- GTA01B_V4 was supposed to fix the few
remaining issues keeping us from setting phones free; but, we uncovered
some other issues.

All along we've taking the stance that openness goes deeper than
just source code. And we don't plan on stopping today because of pesky
hardware delays. So, I'm letting you know there will be some delays.

Engineers worked through the weekend trying to verify the latest
hardware. We have some stability issues that could be hardware and could
be software. This is one of those areas that could be resolved quickly
or could require another hardware spin.

In the past many have rushed products to market to "catch" a market
window or to counterattack a competitor. But, you'll all agree, having
unstable phones in the wild would be headaches for all of us.

I promise you all will be the first (behind myself) to know when we
isolate the problems, if we need another spin or not, and when we are
ready to ship. We are all working toward the same goal.

Here are some pictures you might find interesting:

* http://people.openmoko.org/sean/pictures/gta01b_v4_front.png
* http://people.openmoko.org/sean/pictures/gta01b_v4_back.png

Thanks again for your continued support of our work. We ask for your
patience and understanding during these unfortunate delays. Phones will
be freed soon. And you'll all be the first to know.

Sincerely,

The OpenMoko Team."