No more go for the Ogo?
By Peter Rojas 
posted Mar 25th 2005 8:45AM
posted Mar 25th 2005 8:45AM
Is the Ogo dead? Cingular hasn't exactly been going all out for the little handheld messaging dealie since they absorbed AT&T Wireless a few months ago, and now it appears that the Ogo has disappeared from their online sales site completely (AT&T Wireless's official product page for the Ogo forwards to Cingular tech support now). Though maybe pronouncing it dead is overstating it a bit, since supposedly there is a good chance that a "third-party" might revive the Ogo.
Oh yeah it's dead; we worked it for then-AT&T Wireless, the thing launched, then came "let's hope it does better over Xmas", and then came the wake, hoping someone would just hush it under the carpet.
I heard unsubstantiated rumours that it didn't sell more than a few dozen thousand (only ~15,000 units by New Year, but I have no hard facts). It's a market failure alright, but many of us could've seen this coming (no phone capability, bulky, expensive extra subscriptions for IMs on top of your existing account, somewhat unreliable service, and the merger of AWS and CW may have scared a few more off).
One addition, the Ogo *is* dead, Cing will discontinue the service for existing subscribers sometime before Summer.
That thing was DOA. Cell companies need to stick to sellling things that can make calls.
Sad. I really like it because Websense blocks all IM traffic at work. If they were to reincarnate it with phone capabilities, I might think about switching phone service to Cingular. It would also be a reason to buy a wireless bluetooth headset. It's a cool little gadget and I always have people asking what it is and what it does.
Oh well, It looks like I just flushed $100 down the toilet...Oh well, I hope that Cingular doesn't pull the plug on the existing IM service immediately.
I loved the product. I really looked at it hard. I wanted one, but it couldn't be justified. I mean, I need a phone, and it doesn't really do anything a good phone can't. If it had come out five years ago at this price, I would have bought it. If there had never been T9 text entry, I would have bought it. I almost gave one to a friend who I wouldn't have trusted with a cell phone.
The OGO just didn't bring anything to the party, except another monthly bill. If it had been marketed to kids, it might have carved away at the market the Motorola IMFREE has developed for itself.
I hated the Ogo while I had it because:
1. The service was too expensive. $12 per month would be more inline with the service they provide.
2. The device, though inexpensive, was crap. The keyboard was almost good, except they slanted things a bit to make it look cooler, but made it harder to type. The screen resolution was crap, and the font was horrible. The device was too big, too. And the UI Designer should have been shot.
3. No display of foreign charsets. It's an english-only device.
4. Service was really really spotty. Sometimes I couldn't get my email for a whole day.
5. Text-only email. All formatting disappears on rich text or HTML, making it very hard to work with. No viewing of images or attachments.
I have since switched over to using my iPaq with my Motorola phone w/ Bluetooth. I still get my hotmail wirelessly, as well as getting MSN Messenger perfectly fine (albeit no emoticons). If I'm going to carry around two devices, I prefer a slim iPaq 1945 with a ton of capabilities than an Ogo. Plus, you get only 1 bill, you can surf the web, and have unlimited POP and email access.
That's why, IMO, the Ogo died.
I guess they're not offering it now since with unlimited text messaging, you can send millions of votes to your favorite American Idol candidate. ;)
LOL.
It looks like an ideal candiate for hacking!
brian
http://mostlytrivial.com
From what I was told by someone at the local Cingular store recently when I was looking at stuff there, apparently all of the AT&T branded products have to be gone by the end of this month. I was told that some (specifically the Audiovox SMT5600, which is the one I was looking at) should be showing up as Cingular branded products soon after. Presumably if this one isn't selling, this won't make it across.
Ogo is not dead. I heard from a guy at Cing that the device will be supported and will continue to be sold.
I personally love my Ogo, the IM is great. It could be smaller, but its the best thing out there.
Ogo is not dead. I heard from a guy at Cing that the device will be supported and will continue to be sold.
I personally love my Ogo, the IM is great. It could be smaller, but its the best thing out there.
I think the device was "ok" for what it does. I was lucky to catch it for $49.99 off their web site the one day it was at that price and since I use AOL IM mostly, it gives me the ability to be mobile with IM for $20 per month.
If the service dies, I will not be happy but it will not be the end of the world. I will keep using it until it dies. If there are any hacks available, please post them.
This device was designed for the youth market, look at it, its a cheap device that does IM/SMS text messaging and works on a prepaid plan. One reason that it may not have been a success is because most people outside the tech community have never heard of it, no major ads if any, so Im not surprised.
Something else that needs to be considered, there are those in this world that dont need to use a voice phone, all they need is the e-mail, IM, SMS, and that would be the deaf community. I know from experience that there are those people who love this device not only cause its affordable but that they dont have to get a crap voice plan that they will never use (Example: T-Mobile Sidekick).
If Cingular has really dropped this device then it defiantly has lost revenue on an unadvertised product and alienated a segment of the population.
I agree with Frank - Bad Marketing, Bad Timing, Bad Support, that's what killed the ogo. I have one, I love it. And really the next closest option is twice the cost. They just didn't market or support it very well at all.
I agree with Frank - Bad Marketing, Bad Timing, Bad Support, that's what killed the ogo. I have one, I love it. And really the next closest option is twice the cost. They just didn't market or support it very well at all.
I'm deaf and I was planning on buying the Ogo. Since there's a rumor that Ogo will be "dead" then I guess I shouldn't buy it anymore? I don't want to buy it and knowing if Cingular is going to terminate the service by this summer. So much for getting excited over "No Annual Contract" for unlimited messaging.
There are several indications that ogo will continue to exist either under cingular or under a third company. The support forums are still swarming with information from both the doomsayers and the optimists but overall it looks like ogo will continue to thrive - even from info from IXI - it's maker.
To expand on some of my earlier comments: My complaint from the beginning was the fact that ogo was marketed as a teen messaging toy - I have used it rather effectively in the business environment since November (email, scheduling etc - with the help of some of the alert and calendar options available through Yahoo, MSN, Google.) At any rate, I think the scope was too limited and the release of the product was too close to the merger with cingular / ATT - other than that - there are rumors that another company may be interested in picking up ogo where cingular left off - there is also some talk from IXI (ogo's creator) that talks are still ongoing for other options. (according to information posted at the cingular support forums).
Ogo is NOT being discontinued! It is still for sale! I got this from www.attwireless.com message board for Ogo only.
http://www.cingular.com/ogosales
Please check the rumors first before posting!
Personally, I do like the Ogo. Some of you guys have been whining about the device's lack of phone functionality. Well, guess what. The device was NOT supposed to be like a phone in the first place!! Besides, like someone else said, there are some people who don't need the phone feature, like me. Sidekick has the phone feature plus internet access, and I don't want both.
However, many people who use Ogo have problems with the email systems on the device. It's crazy. It would be nice if Cingular/ATT would get to this issue; they always say it must be the email provider.
The Ogo has been discontinued. I called tried to sign up for service and they refused to activate my ogo that I just got from a friend that no longer wanted it. This really makes me mad. What company is going to refuse money? Seems silly to me. *sigh* no telling what I will do with it now. :(
Ogo has *NOT* been discontinued. This was a horrible horrible rumor. To Leslie specifically-- Ogo is still activating. I'm sorry they told you that it wasn't, we have been battling this very thing in the Ogo community over on Cingulars site. The employees that tell people that the Ogo is discontinued are mistaken! There is a big misunderstanding among the employees. But I assure you that we have new members activating everyday, via the activation wizard, as well by phone. Please come on by the Cingular message board, and we will get you activated, no problem: http://forums.cingular.com/cng/board?board.id=ogo
To all: Not only has the Ogo not been discontinued, IXI the developer is stepping up to the plate to fully engage and push forth Ogo's future with the help of another company called Neo Mobile Telecom. For more information on this check ou the Cingular Ogo community forum, www.ixi.com , and www.ogo.com
scared is quite right as anyone would see if they browsed the cingular support forums much at all. Ogo is very much alive and kicking. IXI has assured us that ogo will continue to thrive and most likely even evolve as time progresses. IXI is the original creator of the ogo - they have emailed me directly with this information and a copy is available on the forums or at my blog site.
yes! OGO is very much alive, and by the looks of it, there's an "OGO 2" in the make; IXI is giving away free OGO skins to OGO owners if you fill out their survey.
Also, people are complaining that the OGO is slow, buggy, and plain annoying to work with. Though it is ture that the OGO does have some bugs to iron out, in reality, the OGO was rushed. The OGO is actually an underdeveloped powerful phone (if you can call it that), and runour has it that the OGO is capible of porting Linux (http://www.ogomatic.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=104&forum=4) and, with proper configurations, can be set as a Bluetooth null modem from connecting to the internet.
my Husband still has his ogo. I'm getting mine tomorrow June 13th. I heard after June 15th you can no longer activate it. You just have to call to activate. I am deaf but Maine Center of Deafness still has them for people whom qualify that live in the State of Maine only. Good Luck. I believe they will stop releasing them after June 15th.
For the latest news and information regarding ogo, before just hearing the latest "doomsday date" and leaving it at that. If you really want to know what's going on check out the cingular forums and Tweaky's Ogo Site:
http://newworldsrd.blogspot.com
http://forums.cingular.com/cng/board?board.id=ogo
Cingular really is an annoying company... They are the registered owners of the website www.ogo.com, yet they will not honor the prices on that website...
They will activate the sims in the Ogo's under a Go-phone policy, so email costs per mg, txt messages cost per message, etc... Or you can go post pay for like $45 a month...
Can we say Bait and Switch....
KLW
I love the Ogo. I might be the only one! :) Does anyone know where I can buy accessories and obtain in new charging cord? Thanks.
ogo is not dead. my sister gave me hers before I found out the at&t would not service them. I talked to someone at sprint who said they would pick it up. All I have to do is bring it in so they can program it. I will take it to the sprint store next week. You should keep stuff if you really like it because it mite make a comeback.