Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Recap: The computer

It seems like there still are some people that thinks that nothing is strange about Medison, or at least that there actually will be computers shipped. There are still news and blog posts about this incredible bargain, with no references to any of the strange circumstances that there actually are.
So I thought, why not recap the most annoying fact that has to do with the actual delivery: The computer itself!

  • The computer Medison is selling as Medison Celebrity is manufactured by the Taiwanese ODM Clevo Computer Company. Clevo's name for the specific model is MobiNote M540V.
  • The above information was not revealed by Medison, because they refuse to say who the manufacturer are because it "could damage the manufacturers relations with other partners". Instead, this was found because the specifications on Medison's site are copied directly from Clevo, including misspellings like "2.2Kg with 6 cells Lithium-lion battery".
  • Clevo is one of the lagest ODM's of laptop computers in the world, and their computers are sold by everything from small local resellers to OEM's like Alienware and other large resellers.
  • Clevo's computers are generally considered to be high quality products in the more expensive segment, and not low priced budget computers.

Now, you would think that Clevo either would say that they were the manufacturer or not saying anything because they would be under a NDA. Now, here comes the interesting part, Clevo's answers has been things like: "Hi, We believe this customer is trying to mislead the customers in Sweden. None of people in Clevo is able to provide USD 150 for that machine. We have passed this to our legal team. They will take action for this. Thanks Best Regards, Constance Lin Sales Department. CLEVO CO., ". It's not the only time they have answered it this way. To the Danish website comon.dk, they said that they believe that Medison is a scam. Another interesting quote from Clevo was "they got one pcs sample from our customer and not paid" that a poster on Sweclockers got as a reply.
Would a manufacturer really say those things about a partner, even if they were under a NDA?

Some other things that people have speculated about is that Medison could get the computers from one of Clevo's partners, or that they are from the spot market or likewise. On those theories I would just like to remind you that Valdi has said that they have orders of over 300 000 computers. That's nothing that you can get on the spot market or from a third party partner without the manufacturer knowing about it...

Some other details:

  • Medison claims that they do have margins on each sold computer.
  • Medison claims that they pay the same price for parts as everyone else.
  • Despite that it says "Specifiactions [SIC] on the laptop can change without notice" on the website, Valdi claimed on the press conference that everyone would get the exact same model as specified on their site.
  • The laptop that they showed at the press conference was the same unit specified on their website. It had the serial number scratched off, and had a Czech keyboard. This is the only demonstration unit they have.

So, if the manufacturer of the actual product say that they don't manufacture the computer for Medison, how does it all work out? And why won't they say who the manufacturer is, if the computers was supposed to be delivered today (as they were planned too) the buyers could figure that out anyway...

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because Valdi Ivanic is a liar and a scam artist, and a complete Bo-Tard.

He cannot be trusted. Do not buy ANYTHING from this man, or any of his "partners".

Anonymous said...

I Wonder what Valdi's going to say in 2 weeks...?

Anonymous said...

Well. I wouldn't wonder if Valdi takes the two week to find a partner that is willing to sell another laptop for, say, €300 (which is possible) and just buys all the consumer data medison collected to spam them with their own offer. Medison could probably make some refferal revenue by some jerks that are willing to pay the double price at the end to somebody different...

Anonymous said...

"I Wonder what Valdi's going to say in 2 weeks...?"

He will say exactly the same thing. In the middle of September another unforeseen events will further delay the laptop delivery.

In the end announcing that the blogs ruined it for him.

And I'm right since it's the only thing he can do.

Anonymous said...

Tommy, when people select to ignore facts for the sake of supporting their shinier theory of "those who believe shall receive", no amount of recaps will do it for them.

At this point Medison is a religious cult.

Religion thrives on ignorance and impossible promises.

Anonymous said...

Valdi has absolutely zero experience in the laptop industry and with all the lies he is already behind, what is it that makes the company 2CO (2checkout.com) continue their business with Medison???
Do they know anything real about Medison we don't know?
Could 2CO be part of the scam? It seems to be, 2CO will have to take some responsibility for representing Medison and taking money for obvious fraud. Does 2CO make money from the interest of 300,000 orders? If the number is real, we are talking US$ 45 million. What could be the legal implications if 1000s of customers file a class action lawsuit against 2CO? Surely 2CO should if anybody know all the lies about this product.
And in any case, if this is what it seems to be, 2CO should file a lawsuit against Valdi and his company. But Valdi seems to have no money.

Anonymous said...

The thing is, is I don't think this guy is that great of a scam artist. First, he obviously knows little to nothing about PCs. I bet you could sell him Pentium I CPUs under the pitch that b/c they are number 'I', they are therefore the best.

Second, any descent con-artist would have never gone and talked to the press. It's obvious he can't spin well, I mean, look. He's been completely busted. And on top of that, the media as well as this blog are following his every move so he's backed himself into a corner that he won't be able to get out (unless he manages to deliver on his promises). He's not only ruined this venture, but more damaging, any future ventures he wants to try (including a run for PM).

We can at least be thankful for Sweden's cradle to grave health care so he can get top notch psychiatric help...

Anonymous said...

New Job for Valdi,
http://www.blt.se/article/961337_102-151-0-0

In a local newspaper it is reported today that Valdi has applied for the job as the head of tourism in Karlskrona. This could be the first step to his way to become our next prime minister

Anonymous said...

I dunno, things just don't seem to add up here.

Say if this is a scam:
1. 2CO seems like would the party that will take the hit, not the end customers - If that's the case, why would they accept the offer in the first place? 2 exceptions thou, 1) they may be part of it; 2) they were forced into such deal (blackmailing, whatever).
2. Why would the con artist come out and meet the press? May be he's only a pawn for the scammer behind all these?
3. If it's a serious scam (upto the point of meeting the press), I am pretty sure that they would be quite careful on avoiding contradictions with what they've said online before - unless they are actually two differently parties.

Say if it's not a scam:
1. The things that Medison are doing does not add up to a legit deal to me.
2. Valdi is going to bankrupt for sure - unless there are other source of fundings.
3. It seems like he had set himself up to fail - or may be it's another person who has set him up?

I don't think things are adding up for both Valdi is a scammer or the deal is a legit deal. I believe the actual answers lie not at Valdi but 2CO. Afterall, 2CO is the one and only apparent risk taker in the entire process (or at least they pse thenselves as), think about it:

1. 2co is the ONLY party who was able to maintain close contact with Valdi and they are very - I mean very - tight-lipped in anything about Medison;
2. 2co seemed like the only party that would take the damage should this deal gone south;
3. 2co seemed like is the ONLY party who have the authority to request Valdi to clarify the doubts as well as bugs (in the checkout cart regarding shipping and VAT) but they DID NOT exercise their power;
4. 2co is the ONLY party who would deal with the customers regarding the arrival condition of the units;
5. 2co is the ONLY party that has and is able to debit from your credit cards.

OK, this is just a speculation, call it conspiracy if you will. The only party who has the ability pull off this deal as a scam is not Valdi but 2OC. Coupling with all the contradictions in Valdi's speech and the Medison corporate website, I believe that it is possible that the actual scam artist is either still behind the curtain or it is 2OC themselves. Afterall, 2OC is the only party that does the transaction. All in all, I smell something fishy going on down here.

Here are 2 things that I think would help to understand if the deal is a scam or not.

1) current financial condition of 2oc - important as they may pull such a scam and swim away if the company is in a bad enough shape.
2) what kind of relationship they have with Medison - how come they seemed to be the only party who are able to contact medison? is medison actually one of their $1 subsidary registered in europe (to execute the scam?)?

Anyways, my 2cents.

Anonymous said...

Tommy, early on there was suspected connection with Ken Eric, famous wanna-be scam artist, who's into weird business models that profit not exactly in an obvious way.

In time this connection was lost and left unexplored. Was it just a rumor? Does Valdi know, or work with, Ken Eric?

Anonymous said...

Valdi is perfect as politician. They usually promise a lot to get elected and don't deliver less than half of what they promise.

If it's true he is applying for a job as head of tourism in Karlskrona it is totally obvious that this guy is seriously desparate. He might be good in promising a lot during a job interview...and get a job...

But...perhaps he will try to sell Karlskrona as some sort of a tropical paradise with palm trees and blue crystal water? (of course assuming that something drastic will happen with the green house effect)

Anonymous said...

"In a local newspaper it is reported today that Valdi has applied for the job as the head of tourism in Karlskrona."

You gotta be shittin' me, we thought he's working his ass off on the Celebrity project.

Looks like he silently wrote it off already.

Anonymous said...

Some people try to seek the optimistic, positive and unexplored sides of life and will do everything they can in not being limited by hard facts and will often ignore reality.
Some of these people are innovators and Valdi is one of them. He even is into patents.

Valdi has lived in Brazil as expat and read in the news that the next big thing is low cost laptops and Brazil is a potential manufacturing country.

While not having sufficient income from the other attempts he has done including trying to sell clothes and Apple products through his web site, he came up with the idea that now is the time to create the big brand of low cost laptops.

Valdi didn't carefully read the terms and conditions well for the use of 2CO's services and thought they would pay him before laptops were shipped to enable him to establish an actual business while customers would be waiting.

But, as careless he has been with other partners in making Medison Celebrity a reality, he also carelessly decided to use 2CO without realizing this problem of actually getting the money.

Like everything else this guy is doing, he didn't carefully investigate it

It's hard to say if this is scam, but Valdi was sincere with this idea and with his lacking experiences in the industry he didn't understand the complexity in developing and manufacturing a new product like a laptop. Likewise he also didn't understand the total costs involved in running a business.

Now he has no money and even he sold the one Clevo he has, the money wont last long, thus he needs to find a REAL paid job and feels he will be a good match as head of tourism in Karlskrona considering his English skills and travel background.

Unfortunately that means he is letting us all down on the US$ 150 laptop illusion.

The above is just speculation...but any better explanation of this mystery???

Anonymous said...

Do we know _when_ he applied for the job?

Anonymous said...

"While not having sufficient income from the other attempts he has done including trying to sell clothes and Apple products through his web site, he came up with the idea that now is the time to create the big brand of low cost laptops."

That's a very romantic point of view, but his Apple store was simply a single page with links to the real Apple store. He couldn't profit from this page even if all iPods sales went through it.

There's something stranger in the entire story, if I will to take it further, it may create a nice psycho drama, sort of like Beautiful Mind.

Except the genius part, and the Noble Prize part.

Anonymous said...

Nobel, damn.. fair typo :P

Anonymous said...

For your perusal, here is Valdi's application for the head of tourism position:

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

Anonymous said...

His application for a job with a Swedish county is in English...

Philip said...

oh man, Valdi's resume is a joke! He's got a new job as CEO every 6months for some company he starts. Ridiculous!

BTW if you are looking for executive leadership, I have been the CEO of several companies... that I formed... in the last five minutes.... In fact I've become CEO of six more companies in since I wrote this sentence.

Anonymous said...

Poor Valdi's family

I feel sad for the guy ... i think this will end with a suicide ...

This time there will be no hiding, 1000 of people on the internet can "pull his pants down" and prove that he is full of sh**. I don't think there is a possibility that he can come back after this ... maybe with a book called "My life as a pathological lier".

After seeing Valdis CV NOONE can actually belive a word he says about delivering any computers what so ever.

Anonymous said...

Well he is projecting sales of 200 000 computers per month according to the CV, not bad, not bad at all :-)

Wouldnt be surprised if he gets the job.

Anonymous said...

And he want to give up being the second coming of Michael Dell for a job in a Swedish province? :)

Anonymous said...

Snälla. Sluta hacka på Valdi, kan alla som inte tror på honom inte bara vänta och se ??

Herregud, jag tycker synd om honom..

Anonymous said...

It is obvious he needs another job beeing CEO for a company that sells 200.000 laptops/month is only a part-time job:D He need a job with more challange:P

Anonymous said...

"It is obvious he needs another job beeing CEO for a company that sells 200.000 laptops/month is only a part-time job:D He need a job with more challange :P"

For the same reason I guess he still drives trucks in the summer. Office work is so boring, he just needs to get out more.

Anonymous said...

"Do we know _when_ he applied for the job? "

9. july 2007

Anonymous said...

Beeing a liar is a great asset in marketing. The trouble with Valdic is that he is not able to make any credible lies.

Anonymous said...

True, his lies are transparent, but that's because he works alone. Imagine what we'd have if there was a team of Valdis working together. My my.

Anonymous said...

Stop hacking on this guy. It is pretty obvious that he had a viable business model that might have worked (and might still work) if the customer demand has been estimated correctly. Like another poster said, it seems that he has miscalculated the initial demand and was expecting to slowly bootstrap the company from a few hundred local orders over a few thousand to a large success. Now it seems as if he got pre-orders in the range of hundreds of thousands and perhaps lacks the cash and logistics to so many products in any reasonable time. He's probably busy finding someone who is willing to help him out with a few million dollars for some time. (That's just my speculation.)

FYI, such money is peanuts. A friend of mine until recently has been the CFO of a small IT company that got several million euro just for advertisements---without having any substantial amount of sales or revenues at all.

While you might blame Valdi for miscalculations if he doesn't manage to deliver the product, the idea of selling a super-cheap laptop is not bad and certainly feasible with good manufacturer connections. In fact, retailers hold prices artifically high.

Anyway, give this guy a break. He could have saved himself from a lot of troubles by selling the machine for 500$ and ripping you off, and probably none of you guys would have complained. :P

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said:

"For the same reason I guess he still drives trucks in the summer. Office work is so boring, he just needs to get out more."

This is a misconception, Valdi's English isn't as good as he believe...
He was driving a FORK LIFT at the summer job. The Swedish word for fork lift is "truck", and obviously Valdi wasn't aware that truck in English is what the limeys calls a Lorry.

Tommy TruthSeeker said...

"Stop hacking on this guy..."
Did you read the post you replied to? It's quite apparent that there never was any "good manufacturer connections" or andy "manufacturer connections" at all. And about miscalculations, if you read other posts you see that he claimed that they would sell 200 000 units per moth before this started at al. Now it actually is a couple of thousands, nothing in comparison. And also, why couldn't he just deliver the amount of units that he thought if would be from the start if it is as you said?
I'm not picking, I'm publishing information and facts. Someone doing a crazy thing like this really just have to accept it.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I've read the post I've replied to.

I can't see anything good in collecting rumors and presenting them as facts, which is what you do on this site. The result very much resembles a modern witch hunt. Interesting phenomenon.

I also can't understand why people are getting so angry about the fact that some product is being delayed or perhaps will never be delivered. This happens everyday, even big companies do this from time to time. I myself am waiting for the EEE PC, and if it doesn't arrive with the features or at the price I have expected...so what?

Why not just wait until end of August/beginning of September?

Just my 2 cents. By the way, the pseudonym "tommy truthseeker" is really lame<--ad hominem argument, but ultimately justified :P

Anonymous said...

"Stop hacking on this guy. It is pretty obvious that he had a viable business model that might have worked (and might still work) if the customer demand has been estimated correctly. Like another poster said, it seems that he has miscalculated the initial demand and was expecting to slowly bootstrap the company from a few hundred local orders over a few thousand to a large success."

It's not about miscalculating the demand and don't have a good manufacture connection. If you know anything about the PC industry, you will know that NO ONE CAN MAKE LAPTOPS FOR HIM WITH THE SPEC FOR $150. NO MATTER HE ORDERS 100 UNITS or 1,000,000 UNITS.

Those ultra cheap laptops like OLPC or Eee PC are specially designed from scratch. Their specs are very different from usual laptops.

So it's not about "someone miscalculated something and fail his business." I believe that he never calculated anything and has never talked to any real expert in PC industrial.

I guess either he has a mental problem, or himself is a victim of a scam. The real scammer might claim he owns a laptop factory and can produce laptops for as low as $100. The scammer may got a couple thousand dollars from Valdi as a deposit and fed him with lies after lies.

Tommy TruthSeeker said...

"I can't see anything good in collecting rumors and presenting them as facts, which is what you do on this site."

Please tell me what rumors there are, and where I present them as facts!