FlipStart retail price nosedives, we're a little worried

It's one thing to have a price reduction, it's another thing to go from $1500 to $700 -- more than half off -- in a single day. Then again, if you want to move units, there's nothing like a fire sale. Perhaps the FlipStart 2.0 is just around the corner. Or perhaps these things simply weren't moving as fast as Paul Allen might have hoped.

[aguiluz @ Jan 16th 2008 6:41PM]

Ha! Screw the early adopters.

[Carlos @ Jan 16th 2008 7:24PM]

Thats assuming there were any early adopters. This thing is hideous and useless.

At the original price I rather have an Mac Book Air and at its new price the Eee PC seems like a better deal.

[Richard @ Jan 16th 2008 7:54PM]

I haven't used this one, but I have tested the ruggedized Itronix (now General Dynamics C4 Systems) version for the military. It's actually very useful if what you need is a small, versatile, feature filled device for work. Obviously you won't be gaming on this (or watching movies), but it's great for any Office or navigational duties. At this price I'm definitely tempted to pick one up.

[Standingfast @ Jan 16th 2008 9:12PM]

@Richard

I agree, I kind of like the size. If I had the money right now, I'd pick one of these up. I mean, its not like it has a Celeron M in it like most UMPC's. ^_^ The Pentium M is basically just an optimized PIII.

[Standingfast @ Jan 16th 2008 9:14PM]

lol, oops, I meant to reply to Richard in the next thread, not this one. Sorry. ^_^

[Guzzie @ Jan 16th 2008 6:41PM]

Welcome to 1996.

[Standingfast @ Jan 16th 2008 6:56PM]

1996!? HA! Try getting Pentium M, 30GB hard disk, 512 DDR2 TINY form factor....$700!!!! in 98!? Yeah, right...

[austin @ Jan 16th 2008 7:20PM]

standingfast, try getting all that in something considerably smaller, in 2008. not hard to do

[Taylor @ Jan 16th 2008 7:22PM]

Hah, it definetely looks like it! How the hell could anyone come out with a product that looks like that with design SUCH a big deal in today's market!?
-Taylor

[Standingfast @ Jan 16th 2008 8:54PM]

@Austin

Yes your probably right, however, I've been to their site, and its a pretty small size. I am not arguing that it looks nice (which it doesn't), I just thought price wise, and spec wise, it looks like a pretty good alternative to the eepc.

[Richard @ Jan 16th 2008 9:03PM]

"its a pretty small size."

The pictures make them seem much bigger than they really are in person. These are very comfortable to hold, although it takes some getting used to in order to feel comfortable with the trackpad.

[hickhamt @ Jan 16th 2008 10:23PM]

here's a video demonstration of the unit.. it IS tiny... 1.5 pounds.. palm size!!! not a bad price for a umpc... running vista!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSMvvGtcqzA

[chewie1890 @ Jan 16th 2008 6:44PM]

Osborne 2.0?

[Jeremy K. @ Jan 16th 2008 6:45PM]

lol You've gotta love the video on their site of someone playing Doom on it.

[Jack @ Jan 16th 2008 8:02PM]

well, that answers all my questions...

[Ipaq3115 @ Jan 16th 2008 7:01PM]

Thats awesome!

[Baba Booey @ Jan 16th 2008 7:02PM]

As much as I want to like this...look where the touchpad is!

[Marco @ Jan 16th 2008 7:53PM]

Why would you want to like this?

[Anthony @ Jan 16th 2008 7:55PM]

Yes- & basically they're saying to 20% of the population (left handers): F*** off.

-Anthony

[thethirdmoose @ Jan 16th 2008 8:01PM]

Actually, that's basically what they're telling 100% of the population

[Jesse S @ Jan 16th 2008 7:03PM]

Why would anyone want this again?

[dennis @ Jan 16th 2008 7:36PM]

Because it was featured in Superman Returns.

[Anthony @ Jan 16th 2008 7:21PM]

This looks like one of those old flip pagers. Plus adding a camera makes it even uglier than it already is. Eee PC all the way.

[Toadlet @ Jan 16th 2008 7:25PM]

FlipStart had a flop start.

[john @ Jan 16th 2008 7:33PM]

maybe they noticed now much their competition is selling for, and realized they had to radically adjust their expectations. I mean.. there's just about NO compelling reason to buy it at $1500. It'd be hard enough to come up with a compelling reason to buy it at $700.

[Mark @ Jan 16th 2008 7:36PM]

Reminds me of my old Nokia Communicator 9000: http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/C/F/HBCFAJrayYE_Pxgen_r_380xA.jpg

[james long @ Jan 16th 2008 7:54PM]

they already price dropped from 2000$ when they dropped from 1500, a drop from 2000$ to 700$ is alot, but it's still fugly.

[m @ Jan 16th 2008 8:08PM]

great aesthetic. just remember to put the lid down when you're done-- you don't want the girlfriend to complain.

[Reader @ Jan 16th 2008 8:30PM]

Hmm, cut it down by half erhm... 2 or 3 more times and I'll buy.

[Rob Conway @ Jan 16th 2008 8:56PM]

haha, it looks like a toilet!

[nh @ Jan 16th 2008 11:25PM]

Where did you get that computer? At the toilet store?

[jason @ Jan 16th 2008 8:33PM]

Why the hell would anyone want this piece of crap?

[Chad @ Jan 16th 2008 9:09PM]

I didn't even know they were on the market yet. Not very good marketing if your target audience didn't even know they were out. Of course at that price I wouldn't have given it a second thought anyway. NEXT!

[Joshua Walters @ Jan 16th 2008 9:10PM]

What do you expect? Its a fat, over priced, only slightly more powerful Eee!

Oh, did I mention it runs Vista? Ya, thats kinda deal breaker as well.

Although, it could be worse, it could run some sort of crazy OSX version.

[ethana2 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:59AM]

If they had the guts to spoof the Apple TPM, I'd buy it.

..it needs to be done.

[ethana2 @ Jan 17th 2008 2:05AM]

...but yes, Ubuntu owns Vista.

[Steveorevo @ Jan 16th 2008 9:19PM]

Why get an .7" Mac Air when you can get what looks like a 7" brick?

[Backlin @ Jan 16th 2008 9:19PM]

I think I've built a house using some of these things.

[Rick Urtel @ Jan 16th 2008 9:21PM]

The company appears to be going out of business as you can ONLY go to the product page, no home or lab information. You can see accessories and contact for help with things associated with buying. I say they are out of here. Next up; Circuit City!

[mauser @ Jan 16th 2008 11:47PM]

Nah. just bad site design/missing links. The store seems to be designed separately (where the link goes to). If you type in the company URL you'll get to their normal website.

[Rick Urtel @ Jan 17th 2008 9:09AM]

mauser- Thanks, glad to hear it's just jankey web design. I hate to see anyone loose their company. However, how much time do you think Circuit City has? They got rid of a number of suits yesterday. I think the CEO has gotta go, it's his watch and he has made the bad choices.Perhaps by leaving it to others he must just eat out a lot and surf the web all day and then blame them for it all. I have seen it too many times, and have been the recipient of the CEO F*** Up Syndrome, and YOU gotta go!

[angelicbeef @ Jan 16th 2008 9:32PM]

You guys are so short-sighted, take a look at a size comparison of this thing on youtube. its a thumb-puter! like a sidekick or smartphone. You CANrun vista, but you can also order it with xp. My only complaint is that the extra batteries are so expensive. Its a fully-capable pocket machine! One more pricedrop and I'll definitley get one. The battery is 1/3rd the size of the entire device taking the entire bottom half up.

I'm sure this thing is easier to work with than an eee. I'll probably grab an eee though because of the price.

[angelicbeef @ Jan 16th 2008 9:34PM]

The links are broken from the store page, but the pages do work.

[web2.oh @ Jan 16th 2008 10:23PM]

A simple explanation for the price drop...the folks at Flipstart were scared shitless by the much prettier and less bulky UMDs and MIDs at CES (this post needs more TLAs).

[BigD @ Jan 16th 2008 11:16PM]

There is some merit to the Flipstart 2.0 argument. Remember that Vulcan is owned by Paul Allen, and is bidding on in the spectrum auction. 2.0 might just have some exclusive spectrum to play with....

[darkstar @ Jan 16th 2008 11:29PM]

the oqo is like 1000x better in my opinion!
i had a chance to play with it with evdo built in. super sweet for watching youtube :)
this thing is just plain ugly. i wouldnt be caught dead with it.

[CaliforniaKid @ Jan 16th 2008 11:37PM]

This thing is the "Osbourne" of the UMPCs.

[dvdivx @ Jan 17th 2008 12:23AM]

At least they got the screen resolution correct. I'd buy an EEEPC if it had a 8.9" screen at 1024x600. That's the resolution on the flipstart. And it has bluetooth. The bad part is only 512mb ram. Even less when you factor in the shared memory from the built in graphics.
I personally think it's a fire sale. It has yesterday's components and the original price was way to high. HTC made better cellphones with a clam design and Asus got the price and market needs right.

[c.Lake @ Jan 17th 2008 12:57AM]

Please, did they really thing this ridiculous thing was going to sell at that price? $1,500 -- what were they thinking? Duh. Try $299, and then they would have walked out the door. Now it's too late, the EEE PC is the hottest thing going. Cute, light weight, and $400 or less -- with no crappy Windows on it.

So, sorry flip book, that ship has sailed, maybe next time when people ask for a CHEAP - PORTABLE PC, you'll f__king listen.

[mikec65 @ Feb 10th 2008 9:20PM]

Ummmm, some of us want that crappy windows so we can run our software. And the Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee is in no way comparable to the flipstart -- the former is much bigger and much slower.