Where did all the Freerunners go?
When the OpenMoko Freerunner phone was first announced to be released for shipping, I waited for the release date (forgot now already what date it was), and first thing in the morning, I went to the OpenMoko store so that I could order one unit. This is first thing in the morning in GMT+8 timezone, and the store said: SOLD OUT. Quite a surprising result. Must have been a popular phone?
Since that time there was a notification that more were being prepared, and would be made available on a specified date, I decided to wait. Then when the date came, the site still continued to say “SOLD OUT”. The date was not revised either. At some point in time, then, the OpenMoko webstore was hidden and effectively taken out of service.
The distributors are only available in selected countries, and none in the ones where I go. Therefore, it really seems like no Freerunner is available for me. Is it really like this? All manufactured units are sold, and no more are being made? Or is there a hidden secret to this that is not available for mere mortals like myself?
Most distributors are selling across borders. There aren’t any distributors in my country either, but I still a have a Freerunner
Try looking at the nearest distributor.
Anyway, buying directly from Openmoko wasn’t a good idea, because of very limited guaranties. It was (almost) only meant to be companies buying from them. And now they’ve even removed the option.
I just read a post in one of the FreeRunner lists that the webstore has re-opened. They apparently sold out faster than originally forcasted but are back with more inventory.