Razer's modular PC project 'not entirely promising' without OEM support

Razer's Project Christine — a subscription-based modular PC project first announced at CES earlier this year — is failing to take off without support from original equipment manufacturers, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told TechRadar.

Project Christine is unlikely to be available for sale soon, according to Tan, because although Razer has been in conversation with OEMs to build equipment for the project, not many are willing to take a gamble on something new and untested.

"The challenge is that it's not something we'd like to undertake alone," Tan said. "We've had conversations with OEMs. It's not entirely promising right now because OEMs are excited about pushing products and not really innovating on that front.

"We've had good conversations," he added. "We'll have announcements through the end of the year. We're hoping to get two to three OEM partners on board."

In March, Tan expressed to Polygon the difficulties of bringing other companies on board with Project Christine, noting that this lack of support for innovating, new products could be why the industry is focused on high returns.

"We're trying to talk to some of the other PC manufacturers about it because I think the difference for us is that we are really focused on our user, right," Tan told us at the time. "We've been trying to speak to other OEMs and I think the response has been generally, 'OK, what's the forecast for this? How many units are you going to ship? What are the margins?' and stuff like that where we're being very open with them to say, 'Look, we don't know.'"

Razer wants its customizable, consumer-tailored PC to be an open platform and is not planning to lock the hardware down with any one company anytime soon, rather hoping to cut deals with a handful of companies.

Source: Polygon

Razer is looking for 500 people to test their smartband for $1

Razer's wearable smartband, Nabu, is entering an open beta, and the company is asking gamers to help test it out.

Five hundred "hardcore Razer fans" will get a chance to test the Nabu for $1 prior to launch, according to the Razer website. The beta units will start shipping on July 10.

"With your help, the Nabu aims to become everything you want in a wearable and more," according to the site. "As a Nabu Beta tester, you'll provide feedback on the device and companion software directly to the Razer Nabu engineering team — all towards readying the Nabu for launch."

Those interested are asked to sign up for the test on their page. The site warns that they're only selecting the "most hardcore fans" for the program, people who actively use hardware and software and are highly active on social media channels.

If you're selected, you're expected to provide detailed written reports and feedback to Razer.
Nabu was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show at the beginning of the year. In a March interview, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told Polygon that the idea for a smartband was spurred by the company's bigger, broader intentions as a company.

"We don't view ourselves as a gaming company," Tan said at the time. "We view ourselves as a company for gamers. What we literally are is a brand that works with gamers, that designs products for gamers. That's where things like Nabu will come from. It's an extension of a platform for gamers to really make use of and that's a real premise for us and for future product lines.

"Given that there are 1.4 billion gamers today, that's a massive customer base that we're looking at."
While the Nabu, like most smartbands, has a slew of non-gamer applications including telling time, tracking movement and sending messages from a phone, the company is also thinking about how to incorporate the device into gaming sessions and tie it to other Razer products.

Source: Polygon