Benefits of Librem 5 crowdfunders?

Hardware Librem 5
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Given that the Librem 5 campaign passed its funding goal (yay!), I am wondering what are the benefits to contribute now rather than waiting until the phone becomes generally available. Specifically, I am wondering whether…

  1. the retail price will be the same and
  2. when the phone will be available through the Purism shop.

Are there other benefits (besides being able to suggest features etc.) for crowdfunders?

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Could be nice to have some “treat”, like for example the order number engraved inside the phone (like Fairphone did if I am not wrong, at least with the first version), or other similar things. But the important thing is that the phone will be developed!! Yuppieeeee!

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i think the idea of crowdfunding is to fund, not to wait. if everyone would wait there would be no funding… :wink:

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Well, as I said above, the funding goal has been reached, so I am not making a significant difference to the project going ahead. I am also currently not in the need for a new mobile, but may be by Jan 2019, so I was wondering if there are any other benefits for me to contribute now rather than later.

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Hi cgelinek,

As I see it, the price of smartphones only goes up, & by Jan 2019, the price for one, being a secure one, where privacy is paramount by default, could be dearer by then?

In backing them now, you would also know, that you have given a group of enthusiastic good people, the good overhead of funds, to do their development really well; & to maybe reach their 1st stretch goal.

Often there are other benefits later on, with crowdfunding, that backers are given, that other people aren’t; like to option to buy another one at a reduced price, when they do reach retail sales etc., or in years to come?

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Yes, I am aware of the “good karma” I’d get by backing the project now. But please do note that my question is quite specific.

Therefore I was hoping for an official response from the Purism team. Or is there another channel where such questions should be asked instead?

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I can see now, some of the specific answers you would like.

Could be they might have some sort of timeline, on when they would hope to have it in their Shop?

To one of my questions, about the “Librem 5”, I got a good response, after about 2 or 3 days, by emailing this email address of theirs below (which is an area in their Support section).

ops@puri.sm

Hope this helps

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Thanks @HD-OZ, I emailed the team on the address you provided and got the following response, which I’ll re-post here for the benefit of others who are wondering the same:

We don’t know what the price will be in 2019. We hope it will stay the same, but that will depend on our suppliers as well.

Once we start shipping, we’ll be shipping by order date, so those who ordered it earlier, we’ll get the phone sooner. We’ll probably produce enough to cover all pre-orders in the first batch.

Campaign ends in two days, but it will be possible to pre-order the phone even after that.

So it sounds like it’s a “first come, first served” model and it is possible to pre-order even after the end of the crowdfunding campaign. And the price is at least not meant to go up significantly.

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