OQO SVP: Future production of model 2+ "unlikely"

By on Apr 25, 2009 at 10:34 AM
General April 25, 2009

More bad news for OQO fans we’re afraid, as a recent conversation with Senior Vice President Bob Rosin basically confirms worries that had been circulating regarding the longevity of the UMPC maker. Long story short, the company is in dire need of a knight in shining dollars. Regarding a recent rumor that suggests OQO is canceling pre-orders from vendors, Rosin had this to say:

While we haven’t canceled the orders, it is unlikely that we will be able to produce additional model 2+ units, so it did not seem worth trying to police that story, as it is accurate in a long-term sense.

Ouch. You can’t bring home the bacon if you can’t keep building a product, but OQO’s woes are hardly all off in the distance. In fact, the company seemingly can’t even afford to support its products right now. Rosin confessed that support services were currently unavailable, leaving current OQO owners to fend for themselves, but stated “there will be a solution to that available soon.” The shame of it all is that OQO’s evolutionary model 2+ was shaping up to be quite an exciting UMPC, albeit pricey. If the company can’t find a way to turn things around soon, it looks like very few people will ever get the opportunity to find out just how exciting it really is. We’ve also independently confirmed the above with OQO, but what we’re still not clear about is if any or how many OQO 02+ models have been already manufactured.

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  • Jon

    Its hard to compete with the big boys a la Sony Toshiba Apple etc. You need very deep pockets and the ability to lose big $$$ before you make it.

  • Nancy

    Even if they had huge amounts of money they would not compete either. Their problem is the design is all wrong. No touch type keyboard no way they will ever sell many units per year.

    They need a new design built around having a built in touch type keyboard yet still being at least large coat pocket size when folded.

    Their only cool factor is they build a PC so small but it is not very useful so to most people it is not that exciting at all including the 2+ model they wanted to build.

  • TIman

    You only need to be a junior high school kid to realize that a PC with query thumb input is never going to sell. If you can not touch type you might as well buy a smartphone. I own a smartphone but would buy a keyboard based OQO in a heartbeat. It would need to be longer but that is ok as it could be increased 1 to 1.5 inches without affecting its pocketablility for me.

  • Robrain

    I’m not quite sure what you all mean by “touch type”. I’ve got a Sony UX, and I’ll be the first to admit that the keyboard isn’t awesome for typing marathons, but once I used it for a couple of days, I can definately type without looking at the keyboard. Can’t imagine it’s all that different with the OQO.

    Just like a lot of people new to computers don’t think they’ll be able to learn how to type without looking (I was one of that mindset waaaay back in middle school before I had typing class that year), you really shouldn’t label this system as a “non touch type” one if you’ve never personally tried it/own it.

    I don’t own it, but I own a similar system, and yes, it’s definately possible to “touch type”. It’s all just muscle memory. Fine motor skills. Whatever you want to call it.

  • Bryan

    You know something, although I’m not an owner of the OQO, I’m getting a little tired of everyone making all these design flaw comments. The OQO looks like an awesome device and I’m really upset that they aren’t going to produce the Model 2+ because I wanted one. I tried to purchase a Model 2 but can’t get them from anyone. If you don’t like it, don’t say anything but the device was designed for a purpose and saying it’s flawed because of something that you don’t like it pointless, it’s SOLELY your opinion.

    I do agree that advertising would have helped, possibly lowering the price, and maybe even trying to put it into like BestBuy or something would have been better but they didn’t for whatever reasons.

    I hope the company stays in business because I know that I’d be one who wants to purchase the Model 2+ from them as soon as I can!

    Just my 2Cents.

  • Al

    What is touch typing? a standard keyboard where you can type with two hands. The OQO uses a tiny thumb key layout so you are forced to use two fingers. The difference is instead of typing say 50-100 words per minute you will take more than 10 times the amount of time to enter the same information and you will likely need to stare at the keys.

    OQO had great technology but a terrible design as full Windows software is not made to work with your thumbs. If they made it a simple clamshell design they would not be going out of business. That is just the facts, OQO could cut the price in half and the sales would still be weak and they would go out of business. The fact is that they only after 8 years got up to say 8-13,000 units sold a year that should be pretty clear that not many share the belief that using your thumbs to do full PC work is what they would want to buy.

  • rundmz

    I’ve seen the OQO at a Best Buy and Fry’s Electronics. I’ve also seen dozens of advertisements in magazines, etc. so it has nothing to do with marketing at all. The product was just a dud with no market. The sales are weak and they are dead because people whom want a laptop that is pocketable would never want it due to the lack of a keyboard and the people whom want a computer to use while standing and running around can buy a Pocket PC for $200-$600 with instant on, longer battery life, integrated full cell and wireless features and even smaller. It is about time they go away.

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