Celio REDFLY drops to $400, still not useful
We just don't see the Celio REDFLY Windows Mobile "companion" appealing to a lot of people as full-featured netbooks continue to flood onto the market, and it looks like the ol' invisible hand agrees with us: the REDFLY's price just dropped 20% to $400. That's a solid $100 lower than when it went on sale just a few days ago, but we're not convinced it's enough to sway people from an Eee or Wind -- anyone planning on buying one of these now?



















i might get one if i see it at goodwill
Why did they even come out with this after seeing what happened to the palm foleo?
The {alm Foleo that was never released?
Excellent comparison
@chuck
Precisely
The failure of the Palm Foleo had nothing to do with sales because it was never released. It being canceled had nothing to do with demand.
It was simply a financial issue for Palm. So comparing the failure of the REDFLY to the cancellation of the Foleo because Celio jacked the price up way to high is, well, wrong.
Yeah, if your going to drop the price by 20% when its been on sale for only a few days, NOT a good sign. See you in hell Redfly. : )
omg this post is biased towards teh iphone
AHAHAHAHA iPhone FTW!!!!!
I want my $100 early-adopter refund!!
this is engadget, what did you expect?
Theyre like 2-3 years late on this, nobody with common sense will purchase this
Then it has a pretty large market to cater too.
2-3 three years too late!... Try about 30 years... That is design is sooooo 1980
30 years ago it was the 70s.
It is not behind its time, it is before its time, and too expensive. This type of product will hit its stride once they can get the cost down to around a hundred dollars and cell phones sport processors faster than the atom.
naah still not worth it.....BIll Gates would agree....and so would those who come after and low-rank me.
MICROSOFT FOREVERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i gave you a + if only kuz linux is confusing
Use grammar right and you will look like you have credibility.
"use grammar CORRECTLY"
Something tells me that demand curve should be much, much lower than it's depicted as.
Im confused as to why there is a demand curve at all?
Because indicating an inwards d1-d2 shift wouldn't let me use egregious motion blur down the slope? :)
Love the motion blur as the RedFly plummets to the ground!
Funny.
General thought: No scales = no way to tell how low or high the supply, demand, or quantity is.
I'd also say that price elasticity of demand should be higher. Much higher.
The product is very cool, but it's just too limited in its use. I think having one less device to sync is infinitely valuable so if you can use your phone where your laptop would normally be needed then fantastic.
Problem is SOTI pocket controller allows you to do 'almost' exactly the same thing as the redfly with your existing laptop / netbook. I like the redfly, but I can get most of the same functionality with any notebook and when I DO want to edit a full word document syncing the file up to a $400 netbook makes a lot more sense then trying to edit it with pocket word.
But with the Foleo out of the picture these guys have the whole market!!!
100% of 0, is... 0.
LOL engadget has some funny people around!!!!!!
Putting the Tyne II next to it is a good representation. Everything this device could give you is available in a smaller and still efficient to use WinMo package.
And the Touch Pro will just take it much further!
It's TyTN II, not Tyne II.
Whuh? The whole point of this device is to connect *with* said smaller device, when you want a larger screen/keyboard. This is not a stand-alone computer.
I was very excited when I first read about these, but I was killed when I found out how much they cost. I would not pay over $150 for one of these. Its just a screen, keyboard, touchpad, and bluetooth adapter along with software. Maybe if you build a powerfull smart phone inside it as well it would be worth the cost almost....almost. But then it would be competing with the HTC advantage and it would not have the entire market...heh.
Looks like an 'total drag' graph to me.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/Drag_Curve_2.jpg
Wake me up when it hits $200, also please make sure you got XP loaded.
"That's an solid $100 lower"
Can we please, please, please have at least TWO people read a post before it goes live, Engadget? I like the site, but this lack of proofing is just unprofessional.
To err is human, to moo.....bovine!
At $200-$250 I'd be sold. I mean really its just an accessory to the phone, not a PC so there is noooooo way they can fly with that price.
I warned them last year that they'd be fighting the low-cost (at the time people were stil saying OLPC class) laptops left and right.
Without an OS I wonder how much it cost to produce? Com'on Celio, lower L-o-w-e-r.
Ah, good ol' 9th grade economics.
I'll take it for $99.
So I'm looking at my Tilt, saying this might be a good idea, perhaps instead of a "carputer"...
But at its' current price-point, I would still get an eeePC, add a touch screen and then run "MyMobilier" on it.
If the RedFly was "Under $200.00" then I would consider it.
If it was $100 I'd get it. The main benefit I see is being able to surf the web/write in word on a "normal" screen and keyboard anywhere without paying more than your current data plan (tethering is so damn expensive...)
And in the end, isn't the purpose of netbooks to be able to surf the web/word processing in more places? This could do all that plus more (I think this would also be lighter than most netbooks, but I'm too lazy to check the specs...)
If only it was cheaper
I just purchased the Redfly at $400. I was going to purchase it at $500. If you just look at the price of the hardware, it is over priced. But, it you consider what have to be added to make a notebook/netbook functional, $400 is a good price.
To make a notebook/netbook functional you have to add a PAM plan or a data card and it's plan. These two options will limit your data to 5g a month.
Cost of a PAM plan over 24 months:
Cost of notebook/netbook + $360 ($15 a month for plan x 24)
Cost of data card plan over 24 months:
Cost of notebook/netbook + cost of data card (maybe free) + $1440 ($60 a month for plan x 24)
Cost of Redfly over 24 months:
$400
I like to stay legal, so I will not use PDANet.
All I need to do is access the internet, and manage my PIM data and email. When Live Mesh is fully operational, I can manage files between devices and files. With Redfly, I can do all this using my phone and I would not limited to 5g of data per month.
Proof there's a sucker born every minute.
Market horse shit right and people will flock to it!
I just purchased the Redfly at $400. I was going to purchase it at $500. If you just look at the price of the hardware, it is over priced. But, it you consider what have to be added to make a notebook/netbook functional, $400 is a good price.
To make a notebook/netbook functional you have to add a PAM plan or a data card and it's plan. These two options will limit your data to 5g a month.
Cost of a PAM plan over 24 months:
Cost of notebook/netbook + $360 ($15 a month for plan x 24)
Cost of data card plan over 24 months:
Cost of notebook/netbook + cost of data card (maybe free) + $1440 ($60 a month for plan x 24)
Cost of Redfly over 24 months:
$400
I like to stay legal, so I will not use PDANet.
All I need to do is access the internet, and manage my PIM data and email. When Live Mesh is fully operational, I can manage files between devices and files. With Redfly, I can do all this using my phone and I would not limited to 5g of data per month.
You can't help but to compare it with a netbook.
This is a problem for Celio is that peope dont get what they get.
Celio should have a marketing campaign maybe even call Palm to do it together.
Redfly is not for everyone and should not be perceived as such device by everyone, this would be an educational part that must be done by Celio.
Redfly is a specific device with productivity in mind and you do have to own a Win Mobile phone to begin with.
However the benefits of such relationship are aplenty. For work that is, for surfing the net... well get yourself a netbook.
You bought ANOTHER one?
Or a "totally sucks" graph...
I bought one. 9 hours of battery life. Instant on. Flash card support for my smart phone. I have a special discounted $30 a month unlimited data plan with Sprint but for some reason connected via bluetooth to a laptop it will disconnect on me sometimes and can cause me to have to do a reset of both devices to get working again. Using the smart phone's browser and email software to connect has never been a problem and should fully maintain the connection through this device. I also have invested in Phojo software for fast picture transmission through my phone and I should be able to better take advantage of this capability. Another point, the vendor is offering a full 30 days money back. I can try and if it still doesn't fit all my needs I can return it for a full refund. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Macroeconomics flashback.