09-11-2020, 10:29 AM
My off the rip take is, yeah this is a bad thing for consumers in the short-run.
But Pine64 is a small and growing company, and these scalpers are giving them money and stability. They’re doing it in a shady way, but the more orders for the phone, the greater resources and incentives Pine64 has to re-invest. And it also means that Pine64 enjoys a degree of free advertising. Just being listed on Ebay, or whatever, is a mechanism that’s getting Pine64’s name out there, and alerting customers to the existence of an Android/iOS alternative.
And sure, it’s not all positive for the new consumers, since they’re introduced to the phone at a higher price point. But I think long-term, it’s a net gain because everyone can find out (with minimal effort) that if you just wait a bit for the next round of orders, you can get it for cheaper.
When that dynamic is gone, like if Pine64 gets to be really popular and powerful, then the scalper phenomenon will be more of a pure negative. And we can deal with it more seriously at that point.
But Pine64 is a small and growing company, and these scalpers are giving them money and stability. They’re doing it in a shady way, but the more orders for the phone, the greater resources and incentives Pine64 has to re-invest. And it also means that Pine64 enjoys a degree of free advertising. Just being listed on Ebay, or whatever, is a mechanism that’s getting Pine64’s name out there, and alerting customers to the existence of an Android/iOS alternative.
And sure, it’s not all positive for the new consumers, since they’re introduced to the phone at a higher price point. But I think long-term, it’s a net gain because everyone can find out (with minimal effort) that if you just wait a bit for the next round of orders, you can get it for cheaper.
When that dynamic is gone, like if Pine64 gets to be really popular and powerful, then the scalper phenomenon will be more of a pure negative. And we can deal with it more seriously at that point.
