I have started a new business, https://openmobile.us, to sell phones with iodéOS preinstalled to USA customers. This initiative largely came about after noticing a gap in being able to purchase phones with iodéOS preinstalled in the USA, and iodé themselves don‘t have immediate plans to enter the market here.
Of course something like the Brax3 phone will be available as a new device with iodéOS preinstalled, so if you are looking for a new ~$300 device that is a great option, and your purchase supports iodé.
But for others that may prefer a more premium, albeit refurbished, device, open[mobile] may have what you are looking for. Currently I am only selling newer Google Pixel devices, but I can work with you if you prefer another hardware option. I also offer a “BYOD” (bring your own device) option to flash iodéOS on your existing phone if it meets the necessary requirements.
As a disclaimer, open[mobile] is not affiliated in any way with iodé, it is strictly my own personal business. I have, however, worked openly with the iodé team to make sure my initiative is in collaboration with them, rather than in competition with them. If they expand capacity to begin offering their own products to USA customers in the future we will look to coordinate our efforts.
The goal is to make phones with iodéOS pre-installed available to those that prefer to not flash the system themselves and to grow the ecosystem. To that end, I am planning to donate 10% of profits of phones sold with iodéOS to iodé, but this is strictly as a personal donation back to the team to continue to support their efforts, it is not a legal profit sharing arrangement.
Thanks to iodé for listing Open Mobilein their FAQ as an option for those in the USA looking to purchase a phone with iodéOS preinstalled. I do hope that my involvement with iodé will help possible customers have a bit of confidence in purchasing from me.
As part of my business, I keep track of other 3rd party refurbished phone shops selling iodéOS pre-installed, and make sure my prices are decently below their offerings. So I think I am selling the right product with the right system at the right price. But the challenge of how to raise awareness for my store remains. As you may guess, I don’t have Google Analytics embedded, etc. ranking me too high but I have attempted to make sure the site is optimized and responsive.
I do already have a fledgling social media presence on Mastodon and Bluesky maybe I need to get a bit more active there? (I hope to not have to deal with Instagram / FB / etc )
Interesting to hear your views on this as I have been promoting iode as a viable degoogled alternative by offering Sony’s with iode pre-installed over here in Britain. More hobby than business it has to be said as the objective is more about making sure I don’t make a loss rather than looking toward a second income from it. I have been at it for about a year now and so far I’ve shifted 35 phones. Mostly iode supported devices at the same kind of prices you would expect to pay for a similar Gandroid phone in well cared for condition.
Targeting your marketing has to be the way to go I’m thinking if you are trying to sell at the higher end of the 2nd user market. People seem happy to risk a small amount of money just to see if they can adjust to a degoogled lifestyle whereas investing large sums in newer models does seem to put a lot of people off. So my advice (for what it’s worth), is to maybe keep some lower cost ‘entry level’ models under your ‘virtual counter’ that you can offer if necessary rather than lose a sale over price.
I have seen your other posts alluding to these numbers, but how do people find you? It really is remarkable, way to go!
About my available devices and prices: Yes I am trying to make a bit of money to make this worth my time, and that is where I think the challenge with older devices comes in: my time and overhead (purchasing the devices, hardware testing, installing, shipping, followup, etc.) is the same for a “premium” newer device as it is for an older device (so effectively the % markup is less for more expensive devices).
Add to this that in the USA we can no longer use devices that don’t have LTE and in fact they are making announcements about dropping 4G in a few years… I personally wouldn’t worry about that just yet… but if I were buying a new to me device today I would take pause to consider if it would support 5G, and it certainly is better if it has a Lineage 22.x build available to at least keep current with iodéOS 6.x.
Then you also add in that older devices mean they may not be “official builds” so wouldn’t have the bootloader relocked, etc. Then finding older devices that don’t need an immediate battery replacement and are still in good condition gets harder meaning the cost I need to pay is not much cheaper than the Pixel 6a (cheapest one I offer) with the chance for other downsides. Probably the cheapest phone I could make available would still have a $250 end cost (I include free shipping and just “eat” the taxes), but as I offer $299 Pixel 6a devices I think that is going to be much better value than a $250 Pixel 4a 5G, etc.
Here is a simplified table of my prices vs. a few other “3rd party de-googled ROM” phone resellers in the USA. Mostly these other sites just have iodéOS as an option alongside Graphene and maybe Lineage: my take is they aren’t that well versed with iodé but just have it as a “we can install this for you but then you are on your own” approach. I won’t post their names but you can PM me if you would like a bit more info.
I wish you good luck and hope your business will thrive. Given your efforts for IodeOS I think you are entitled to some money compensations.
It’s quite ironic to de-google Google phones
I’ve sold a few /e/ OS phones along the years, but that was/is in no way a business. I bought good phones at good prices, put /e/ OS on them mostly for personal use and then sold them after some time for just a bit more. Had I kept the original OS on them I could have obtained more money.
I’ll try to sell the almost mint Pixel 3 XL with Iode OS I have in the near future; hopefully I’ll get 78 Euros for it. It has the original box and all accessories.
I’ve gone trough numerous phones in the search for the best one. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist for sure. There is no phone that is Dual SIM, NOT 5G, supports Volte, has audio jack and can be charged wirelessly. The not 5G is the most restrictive one. Newer flagships Sonys have everything else that I need.
On some of the early Sony 5G models you can select 4G/LTE/5G connectivity or auto connect (best signal), from a menu. Just can’t remember exactly which ones they are but I’m sure the Sony tech guys would be able to help you with it. Could have been a 5ii I’m thinking.
What I am doing isn’t much different than Cooler was doing with e/os phones in the previous post, only difference is that I’m only installing iode and only offering Sony devices. Only reason I do Sony’s is because I have little if any experience when it comes to other manufacturers although I have to admit to being a bit of a fanboy for their ‘art deco’ models. I’m building a custom frame for the droidian xperia 5 at the moment using the frame and other parts from an XA2 Ultra. How bad is that?
So far I haven’t sold any model later than an XZ3 (64Gb) but TBH iode runs very quickly compared to the Gandroid they have installed when they arrive. (no surprises there), and I have also managed to buy in some very inexpensive 64gb C10, U3, SD Cards that take them up to 128Gb in total and that has certainly made them more attractive to buyers. Especially for the XA2’s. Problem with the XA2’s is that not only is 32Gb too tight for a daily driver these days, finding them in very good condition is getting tough and as you point out you are in competition with yourself when it comes to the pricing. Some times I have to hold one back because I have something similar already on the available list that I would prefer to sell first.
One thing you could do is offer something along the lines of a Red Hat/Fedora arrangement only on a much lesser scale (obviously), where you offer continued support beyond the 28 day ebay term I am already complying with. I thought about maybe offering extra support myself but decided against in the end but only because I don’t want to turn it into anything more than it is really. Too many other interests and hobby activities as it is I guess but it would definetely be a sales booster if anybody were to try it I’m sure.
Will PM you later as I have some things I really need to get on with and I am getting some what OT here.
You can choose what signal type the phone should work on. However you can be100% sure it cannot use 5G only if it doesn’t have that capability. Sorry for this off-topic.
Selling phones google-free is somehow logical since I don’t want to use Gandroid ones and I try to get a “new” phone every few months.. I have to sold the older ones not to have too many lying around unused. It’s my very small contribution in spreading the products (rather the words) about google-free phones.
/e/ OS and iode OS are much more similar than different in the end. I prefer iode OS (unofficial) but the number of phones supported is much smaller so sometimes i have to use /e/ OS.
I also like Sony phones.. I have too many.. Best phone is XZ2 premium.. i have 4, one is like new. This phone sadly lacks Volte and an audio jack otherwise is really good. Problems with phones lacking Volte is that they fallback on 2G and the voice quality is quite bad; I often get complaints about that. Sorry about this off-topic too..
To be fair, since August I have been getting compensated for a few hours / week from iodé for help on the forum (but my unofficial builds and anything Open Mobile related are of course my own time).
Yes agreed, but in the USA at least they are the best options I could focus on (I was a Motorola user for some years but got disillusioned with their offerings). Sony just doesn’t exist here, sadly. There are some OnePlus, but basically devices with good availability on the 2nd hand market that can accept custom ROMs are Samsung, Google, Motorola.
ebay: maybe this helps me know where you are finding buyers (and finding phones for purchase). Until now I haven’t delved into that market, but if I did get lucky on some purchases for good prices I could offer them for less in return. My thought was I may get a few lemons and it would suck up a lot of time watching auctions that get snapped up at the last second by automated bid bots, etc
I think it’s great that both iodé and open Mobile are seeing each other as cooperators rather than as competitors, since really we are tapping into very little of the potential market for phones that respect people’s privacy. The stats tell the picture: around 2 million lineageOS installs, 1/4 million GOS, even fewer with other OSs… far far fewer than one percent of the billions of people with a smartphone have considered installing an alternative. Compare that with 5% of desktop users on Linux. Certainly there are many more millions who would happily ditch stock if they even knew they had options.
And folks are right to point out that trying on cheap hardware is good way to convince folks. Once you have an OS without al the bloat and ads, it’s hard to go back, and those same users will later buy newer and higher-end devices.
The Custom ROM Hardware Wiki lists 300+ devices that have official degoogled ROM support, a good place to send folks on a tight budget who want to get their hands on something to try, even if it isn’t our beloved iodéOS. You can even sort the table by second hand shop price.
Sorry rik I forgot to answer that question earlier. It was ebay that gave me the idea really as I noticed that there were several FOSS phones on at the high end of the market but very few (none iode), being offered at the kind of prices most people would be prepared to pay just to give it a go. Since then I have expanded my operation to include Vinted and Gumtree. Vinted is a very good place to buy I’ve found as the competition amongst buyers is no where near as strong as it is on ebay and the sellers are generally not as clued up on the market value either. Again Gumtree can be good as well but the lack of escrow means the purchase has to be local to me.
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How bad is that?
to include Vinted and Gumtree. Vinted is a very good place to buy I’ve found as the competition amongst buyers is no where near as strong as it is on ebay and the sellers are generally not as clued up on the market value either. Again Gumtree can be good as well but the lack of escrow means the purchase has to be local to me.