Moshe Yudkowsky is one of the smarter people in an industry filled with brilliant minds. I've read his work and heard him speak, and he never fails to make me think.

He posted the following this morning, which caught my eye because I recently had a brief email exchange with a friend about the Neo 1973.

Neo 1973 On Sale
Wednesday July 11, 2007 9:02AM

by Moshe Yudkowsky

The Neo 1973, which runs on Linux-based software from the OpenMoko project, is now shipping. Open source, less expensive than the iPhone, and very sleek.

OpenMoko has the potential to completely re-write the very meaning
of cellular phones. Why is this event passing almost unnoticed?

My friend asked me if I'd be evaluating a Neo 1973 like I have the Nokia phones. My response was "not likely." I've had some interaction with the OpenMoko fokls and the people behind the Neo several months back, but they just drifted off into silence. We talked briefing, then podcast, then nothing.  Frankly, there are so many people knocking on my door wanting to show me something so I'll talk about it, that I didn't pursue.

I think there's a lesson forming here about promotion. Comparing this device to Nokia handsets isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but it's about the closest we can get. When I look around among my colleagues in unified communications space, the reaction is consistent, almost universal. The Neo 1973 looks interesting, but I don't have enough information to say anything about it, good or bad. I just know it exists.

A blogger relations program putting them in the hands of people who might generate conversation could be a good success tool. Outreach to promote could be useful. A random press release every now and then is less useful, and less likely to generate conversation.

Maybe it's premature, but in the initial stages, I can't see the Neo 1973 making significant inroads into business, small or large, because so little is known about it. I think it's going to face the hurdles Linux, and Asterisk faced in the early days. It seems targeted to the Linux geek, which leaves out a huge market piece. I fear they're leaving too much on the table, perhaps happy to penetrate that small sector for the first launch. If that's the case, I think they've aimed low.

The Neo 1973 has the potential to be to mobile phones what the N800 (based on the Debian kernel, running Maemo) has been for Nokia in the Internet Tablet space. From what little I've seen, in this release, it isn't going to live up to that potential.

Aside to Moshe - I think that's why nobody's talking about it.


Technorati Tags: OpenMoko, Neo 1973, open source, Linux, mobility, unified communications