Raspberry Pi Gets Its Own Brick-and-Mortar Retail Store (venturebeat.com) 72
The Raspberry Pi, believe it or not, now has its very own retail store. From a report: Located on the first floor of the Grand Arcade in Cambridge, U.K., the Raspberry Pi Store is open through the day, every day, and sells everything from Raspberry Pi microcomputers and accessories, to branded coffee mugs, soft toys, and more. [...] Despite its popularity -- more than 19 million Raspberry Pi units have been sold since 2012 -- the Raspberry Pi still feels a little niche to merit its own dedicated retail store. Indeed, most people who would be interested in building their own electronic gadgets from scratch are likely well-versed in the wonders of online retail. But conversely, that is likely the same reason why the Raspberry Pi Foundation wants its own space in the physical retail realm: it needs a new audience.
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And much like the USB design... (Score:5, Funny)
And much like the USB design of the Raspberry PI, there will be multiple entrances to the building which will then funnel all traffic through a single door.
Re:And much like the USB design... (Score:5, Insightful)
And much like the USB design of the Raspberry PI, there will be multiple entrances to the building which will then funnel all traffic through a single door.
Yes, they should have bought the former department store next door with 50 times the floor space and 8 independent doors. Except that would have cost a lot more and rendered the whole project financially impossible.
The Pi has a USB bottleneck (and falls short to being totally open source) because they used a dirt-cheap, off-the-shelf system-on-a-chip in order to meet their prime requirement: its so cheap that you can happily mod it, let the kids play with it etc. without any drama if/when somebody lets the magic smoke out. Or just buy a new one for your next project rather than have to tear apart your last project to retrieve the expensive computer.
It would be great if there were some ARM equivalent of generic x86 PC hardware - with proper USB, Ethernet, PCIe, M.2. SATA etc. and standardised firmware/drivers - but that's not what the Pi was intended to be, and is unlikely to cost $35 or less...
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It would be great if there were some ARM equivalent of generic x86 PC hardware - with proper USB, Ethernet, PCIe, M.2. SATA etc. and standardised firmware/drivers - but that's not what the Pi was intended to be, and is unlikely to cost $35 or less...
Or just proper USB and Ethernet since those are the only two things that the Pi is offering (but that is a nice looking straw man you've put together). The ODROID-C2 manages to pull it off (proper USB and Ethernet) at $46 but it also has double the ram and a few other nice perks as well.
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The issue with the Raspberry Pi alternatives is that none of them come close to the 35€. If I try to order an Odroid-C2 it would actually cost me 60€, as those $46 don't included shipping and taxes, same with Rock64, RockPi4, etc. There is no lack of nice alternatives to the Raspberry Pi, but I haven't found any that would beat the thing at the same price while also having reasonably hardware support (e.g. some OrangePi are cheap, but support is lacking).
Re:And much like the USB design... (Score:4, Interesting)
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You can't find an x86 computer for $35? Seriously? I can buy complete windows systems w/ operating system, keyboard, mouse, display, and power supply for well, well under $100, maybe even as low as $50 - $35 is tough, but since the Raspberry Pi, at $35, doesn't include keyboard, mouse, display or power supply the comparison is probably valid.
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Re:And much like the USB design... (Score:5, Funny)
A USB entrance?
*Tries opening the door by pushing. Door doesn't open. Tries opening the door by pulling. Door doesn't open. Tries opening the door by pushing. Door opens.*
partial (Score:3)
Huh, you'd think a Raspberry Pi store would come without walls or a roof.
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Huh, you'd think a Raspberry Pi store would come without walls or a roof.
You can order cheap plastic walls and roofs for your Raspberry Pi store in a wide variety of tootie frootie colors from Amazon.
FTFS:
But conversely, that is likely the same reason why the Raspberry Pi Foundation wants its own space in the physical retail realm: it needs a new audience.
*Gasp!* Does this mean . . . 2019 will be . . . the year of Raspberry Pi on the desktop!?!?!
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*Gasp!* Does this mean . . . 2019 will be . . . the year of Raspberry Pi on the desktop!?!?!
Only when the Raspberry Pi supports Windows, oh wait! [techrepublic.com]
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Windows 10 IOT Core is not "Windows" (as we all know it)
It's a cut down version of Windows Mobile.
microcenter (Score:1)
raspberry pi's (and related stuff) are the only thing I really go to microcenter here in the usa for any more, so this doesn't seem like a bad idea.
The new Radio Shack (Score:2)
I spent a lot of time browsing the packets of parts there. I worked there as an assistant manager and the markup of parts was phenomenal.
I built a-d, d-a converters for the TRS-80.
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The old Radio Shack, before they started selling mobile phones and disposable R/C toys and overpriced batteries and pestering their customers with extended warranties, would have jumped all over the Raspberry Pi and Arduino and all the other kinds of stuff you find at Adafruit, Sparkfun, and so on. They would also have an extensive mail order catalog like Mouser/Digikey, a fab for custom circuit boards, and local Makerspaces.
It could've been so beautiful.
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I don't have a problem with pricing being higher at Brick n Mortar, as convenience is key there. Sometimes it is worth paying extra to have it today, rather than save a buck and wait for it from Amazon Prime in two-three days.
Many of the people complaining about paying $1 an LED are the same ones drinking $5 Coffees.
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Yeha! Radio Shack used to be the shit, I agree.
Which made me think, if kids walked into a store that looked like a cross between Radio Shack (of yore) and FAO Schwarz (also of yore), maybe kids could see tangible results of homebrew tech integration to create dazzling, unique items.
Just Add Overhead (Score:3)
No thanks.
If you want to get kids into electronics and programming then you have to keep costs low. Parents aren't going to shell out hundreds of dollars for the latest hobby of the week.
Parents aren't going to pay the markup, and people who are serious about the hobby know they can buy direct from China and get the same parts.
Unless you need a part this second, there's no need to buy parts at a local retailer.
Mouser and DigiKey have been around for decades with their mail order and now on-line business.
Raspberry PI would be smarter to team up with local maker spaces to provide common parts to makers where they go to work at a price that doesn't go much above wholesale costs.
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Mouser also has decent prices, fast shipping, and you can order individual pieces instead always ordering in bulk. The problem I have with them is the shipping usually costs as much or more than the parts, so you have to order quite a bit to make it
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I'm still not sure why they can't grab a few dozen resisters and capacitors and use a standard first class letter for $0.55, instead of a mailer envelope for $8.00+ shipping.
Because it makes their life so much easier, and the $8 probably approximates the cost of picking, packing, and shipping your order.
If they offered $0.55 shipping in a first class envelope (I assume), they'd have to worry about the components being crushed in the mail, weighing and labelling each shipment, and they'd actually be encouraging their customers to place onsie-towsie orders, which will kill their profitability and drive them out of business.
I can only imagine the number of "makers" that would orde
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Parents aren't going to shell out hundreds of dollars for the latest hobby of the week.
Don't know about where you're at but hoverboards are all over these parts.
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Raspberry PI would be smarter to team up with local maker spaces to provide common parts to makers where they go to work at a price that doesn't go much above wholesale costs.
Anything more involved than a vending machine stuffed with Raspberry Pi boards and accessories would be non-sensical, and even at that a vending machine in a maker space is a target for clever engineers to hack into and steal the contents.
For some reason you think relying mainly on internet sales with a handful of brick and mortar retailers is holding back the success of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem? Please explain, so far they've pumped 19 million of those boards into the world in about what, 7 years? Seems
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Are you kidding? Parents can and do shell out hundreds, or thousands, for the latest hobby for their darlings.
The pi was conceived as an educational tool, and it fills that role quite well. A physical store isn't so much a place to sell things as it is a place to show them off. Hopefully they set it up with lots of user meetings, free courses and demos.
Impressive (Score:3)
Its in Cambridge (Score:4, Informative)
the Raspberry Pi still feels a little niche to merit its own dedicated retail store.
Its in Cambridge.
To translate that for viewers in the USA its like saying... well, come to think about it, its like saying "Its in Cambridge" (copycats!).
It will have access to a slightly different customer demographic than your typical Radio Shack on a strip mall somewhere that doesn't have the students and professors from a top-tier university, the employees and families of ARM inc. and a dozen other tech companies passing by on their way back from the bookshop - is what I'm saying.
People can add it to the tourist trail between the alma mater of Newton and Hawking and the pub where Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry had a punch-up.
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Is it near the OLPC [laptop.org] store? That would seem appropriate, I'd love to get one of their new OLPC XO-1.75 laptops. [laptop.org]
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It will have access to a slightly different customer demographic than your typical Radio Shack on a strip mall somewhere that doesn't have the students and professors from a top-tier university, the employees and families of ARM inc. and a dozen other tech companies passing by on their way back from the bookshop - is what I'm saying.
People can add it to the tourist trail between the alma mater of Newton and Hawking and the pub where Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry had a punch-up.
That type of person is well aware of how to use the internet to buy electronics online.
This type of shop is more appropriate for younger audiences.
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And how will the target market of computer-illiterate school age children that live outside the community the store is located in benefit from this investment?
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity that works to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world. We do this so that more people are able to harness the power of computing and digital technologies for work, to solve problems that matter to them, and to express themselves creatively.
Source: Raspberry Pi Foundation - About Us [raspberrypi.org]
Anyone notice Raspberry Pi prices lately? (Score:2)
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Prices on Raspberry Pi boards have gone up noticeably (as have various kits sold with the Pi boards in them) in the past few months. Along with prices on other consumer goods that have also risen since November, this is likely the tariffs at work.
Where are your Raspberry Pis built? Where are you buying them? They've been building them in the Sony UK plant for the past 5+ years, to the tune of 14 million as of Sept. 2017 [zdnet.com]
Has your gov't entered into a tariff war with the UK/EU?
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Assuming he's American, the US has erected tariffs on pretty much everybody, including their long time allies the UK and EU, and their "brothers," Canada.
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You can access the gpio in c++....
Right next door to the OLPC Store (Score:4, Insightful)
Despite its popularity -- more than 19 million Raspberry Pi units have been sold since 2012 -- the Raspberry Pi still feels a little niche to merit its own dedicated retail store.
That is true, there are only two kinds of people in the world, those that own no Raspberry PIs, and those that own several dozen Pis - so that puts the maximal user base at well under 1 million world-wide. Now, conveniently, all those Raspberry Pi owners are clustered in high-density first-world cities, so this was an obvious next step for the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
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No, it means you need go out and get a few dozen more, you're falling behind!