Possibly New Archos - PM700???

[01srainey]

Last monday i went into the Currys shop in Belfast, and asked an assistant whether they stock Archos 5, he replied no. But he then went on to say that they were expecting a new model called PM700, with a 80gb solid state hard-drive, wi-fi and a new 0S. He said some more specs but i stood there in shock, thinking to myself "How does this guy know this information?"

I just couldnt believe what he was saying, for the past few months i have checked PMP blogs and sites on a regular basis and i have heard nothing about a new archos.

I am not sure wethere to believe this man, but he seemed to know an awful alot about it.

So.......What do you guys think?

[billyv63]

I think if its being made my archos it should be called the PMS700

[kawiultraman]

I think if its being made my archos it should be called the PMS700

[slickbmw]

Sounds like BS to me. There would be information or rumors floating around the internet about this if it was true. Plus I'm sure at least someone in this forum would have heard about it already if it was in fact true.

[sdm197]

BS!

Sounds like he needs more training,

SDM197.

[Chengbin]

BS!

Sounds like he needs more training,

SDM197.

Do you know anything about the new product announced during CES or are you under NDA?

[sdm197]

Hi,

Yes I do, I have one.

Its rather strange, as I thought Archos were meant to announce it a few days ago. I am under NDA, but I can tell you some of the rumours on the Net are true, and its taking Archos into a different path.

It cannot be long for the announcement,

All the Best,

SDM197.

[Chengbin]

What do you mean "rumours on the Net"? Rumors on this forum?

I'm just curious, when you sign a NDA, do they tell you when the NDA is over?

[sdm197]

Hi Chengbin,

The NDA's are a pain in the Rectum, normally they tell us when they are lifted and then they announce it on the web the same day. However last time for the IMT's they gave us a date then announced on their site the day before! This time we cannot say anything till they announce, the thing is I was led to believe this would be last week.

You are correct there has been some discussion on here, and elsewhere on the net that is correct. However there have been some hoax's too.

I cannot go any further into detail, as I am sure you can understand.

SDM197.

[Chengbin]

Maybe it was the time zone difference that caused the difference of 1 day.

I think you've said too much already. Hopefully they'll release it by the end of the month.

[Archos5Fan]

It's gotta be that netbook or UMPC. I'd wager Archos is looking to jump on that bandwagon as netbooks seem to be flying off the shelves and getting all the headlines. If manufactured correctly it would free Archos from the nightmare of firmware, let the users install what they want (mostly), and probably generate a huge inflow of cash.

I just hope it uses a PVA or S-IPS screen.

Just speculation.

[gylman]

I cannot believe that Archos would be stupid enough to enter the incredibly crowded netbook market, going up against much bigger companies and established product lines, when they don't really have anything special to leverage from their PMP expertise.

It defies all logic.

It also means poorer support for the current product line. Sigh.

[Chengbin]

It's gotta be that netbook or UMPC. I'd wager Archos is looking to jump on that bandwagon as netbooks seem to be flying off the shelves and getting all the headlines. If manufactured correctly it would free Archos from the nightmare of firmware, let the users install what they want (mostly), and probably generate a huge inflow of cash.

I just hope it uses a PVA or S-IPS screen.

Just speculation.

PVA or S-IPS screens are very expensive. I think only high end laptops use PVA or S-IPS or any other high quality LCD panels. It doesn't make sense to put an expensive screen in a cheap laptop. Netbooks are supposed to be "cheap"

I don't think Archos is getting into the netbook industry. I think what sdm197 meant was Archos is finally getting rid of plugins and opening the OS up that kind of stuff.

[Archos5Fan]

Maybe, but netbooks got the attention at CES -- Sony's P-series, for example. If that's where the market is heading, Archos had better (or be prepared to) move with it. Archos is making deals with telecoms, download providers, etc. All of that smacks of netbook.

[Archos5Fan]

Think of it for Archos: no need for plugins. Use the media player of your choice (iTunes, Media Monkey, foobar2000, whatever) so Archos doesn't have to deal with the changing nature of building databases and tags. Wi-Fi issues become the problem of the driver developer (not Archos). Flash compatibility become the problem of Adobe. The OS issues are the problems of the OS manufacturer (again, your choice). Want TV? Buy a USB TV dongle. All Archos has to supply is the USB connection.

So you have a problem with not all files showing up in Media Monkey --- it's Media Monkey's problem! Can't receive TV? Not Archos' fault. Products are already available. DVR funcitons badly? Go to Microsoft and complain about Media Center.

I could be wrong but that seems were the market is heading and would reflect Archos' own long-term plan to move more to the telecom/internet rather than remain (quickly becomming quaint) a supplier of media players.

What Archos could do is supply a high quality screen, large capacity drives (for a netbook), 802.11n and that might set them apart from the competition.

[Charbax]

The netbooks have come from OLPC, were launched since late 2007 and have sold 15 million units the first year with an average price of $400 per unit.

It doesn't matter how crowded the netbook market is, it makes no sense for anyone not to participate in it.

I don't think it would mean a change of strategy for Archos to release a netbook. Well it would be a change in the sence that they haven't previously used an all finished Chinese or Taiwanese design and just put their brand on it, but it would I think NOT change Archos focus on in house R&D, firmware and software developments and stuff like that for releasing the promised features on the current generation and for preparing the next generation.

Branding a Taiwan or China pre-made netbook design would simply be about taking advantage of the classy brand that Archos represents for many consumers and thus simply take advantage of the potential for increasing revenue and increasing profits. Also increasing partnerships with telecom companies if the netbook that they release or if a version of it comes with built-in HSDPA modem. Using the netbook with HSDPA, that could initiate for Archos an opportunity to pitch for the telecom to also sell the Archos 5G in a bundle or separately to their customers. The bulk of Archos near future revenues probably will come from telecom companies cause Archos has said officially that starting this year most of their sold products will most likely include HSDPA.

This year the netbook market probably doubles from 15 million units to 30 million units shipped worldwide. Thus a 30% or more part of worldwide shipped laptops will be of that cheap and lower power type. So even if Archos being a relatively small and unknown brand to the total mass market, even if Archos would only sell for example 100 thousand of these, it would be completely stupid to miss out on those 30 million Euros in revenues, that would be a 30% or more jump in revenues for Archos for the year, and regarding investors on the stock market, increased revenues and increased profits are always welcomed. In fact, Archos is pretty much forced by law of being a shareholder company to maximize revenues and maximize income whenever possible. Especially it would be stupid if getting a specific netbook design branded by Archos required no specific R&D investment and not even a significant marketing or sales investment. It'd be completely stupid not to participate in this exploding market especially if there are easy ways to participate which is to sign a contract with an ODM that provides a total design, production and shipment solution for a good price and with flexible conditions (no minimum order requirements, high production quality guarantee and no geographical sales and marketing limitations). Even if your profit margins on this project would be 5% or 10% of the revenues. It doesn't matter, putting your brand on those netbooks out there also helps increase brand awareness by the consumers so more consumers are more likely to be interested to see what Internet Media Tablets the brand is making as well. That is the reason that sometimes increasing revenues is regarded as more important than increasing profits.

[Redneck]

whats an NDA? pm700? isnt that a pre x04 gen device? i thought it was along the lines of the PM400. im confused as hell now.

[Archos5Fan]

NDA=Non Disclosure Agreement. An agreement by a person not to disclose information that has been given to them. When the company believes the time is proper to make public the information the people that they have taken the time to previously inform can then simultaneously disclose the information to the general public.

It is my speculation that the new product is a netbook. If I'm incorrect, OK. I know nothing -- it's just part of the fun of speculating.

[Redneck]

thanks for clearing that up. i kinda hope its some sort of a PMP thats cheap and is very open but that wont happen, i know. a net book is a good replacement for that.

[Archos5Fan]

It's things like this that are going to shake up the future market:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1644608896

It's enough of a computer yet close enough in size to be a portable media player to make it very, very attractive to even common users. I'm sure this Sony computer is not lost on Archos who are probably very aware of its existence. Add to that the netbooks from Acer, Asus, MSI, etc. and it's pretty clear what the direction for the market will be for the next few years.

Archos will need to be part of that direction or Archos could be in danger of being forgotten.