Pinecroft
Not long ago, I wrote an how I felt that maybe it was time for Mycroft to get into the mobile space, and how Pine64 was the best partner to take them there. I went so far as to say it was a match made in heaven.
Since I wrote that post at the end of October, I’ve had a significant amount of time to think about this. I don’t think I was even close to wrong in my previous post, but I do think that I didn’t look at it closely enough.
I love Mycroft. I really do. I think they very much could be the Linux of the smart assistant market.
But they have a problem with hardware. In their recent November Update, they said something that was music to my ears. “Our expectation is that this will be the final revision before we start shipping the Mark II Dev Kits.”
I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to read this!
The problem is, as much as I love Mycroft, the Mark II was expected to ship in December of 2018. At least that’s what they predicted during their Kickstarter. It’s great that it’s finally going to ship, but Mycroft needs to be able to ship a product more than once every four years.
I realize that they’ve got deals going in the background that are paying the bills that has nothing to do with a consumer assistant, but this still seems like an area where they could use some significant improvement.
It’s also an area where Pine64 has some significant expertise. Pine64 makes their own SBCs, and devices like laptops, tablets, phones, watches, IP cameras, and even soldering irons. It seems like it wouldn’t be a huge jump for them to optimize one of their SBCs with a seven inch screen and a flashy case to make their own version of the Mark II.
Pine64 prefers to stick to hardware. Mycroft seems to have some issues with hardware. Not only is this a match made in heaven, it begs the question what is stopping this from happening?
Honestly, I feel like Pine64 could put out a device similar to the Mark II in short order. Mycroft has been struggling to do so for three years now, and there are people who are waiting to get their hands on a Mark II and can no longer get their hands on a Mark I. Me being one of them.
Maybe Pine64 is reading this and they’ll see an opportunity? Yea, I realize that’s highly doubtful, but a guy can hope can’t he? Christmas is coming up, and I know what I want under my tree this year.
Day 99 of the #100DaysToOffload Series.
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