I have some issues with this whole affair at the moment:
Firstly, in the linked article we can read: "even cheaper computer [...] and it's being sold in China for $7." Uhm? On the original Rhombus Tech page, it seems that the Allwinner A10 is just the CPU which is going to be used in the computer, and it's the CPU which they claim is sold at $7. So, the computer's sure gonna be more expensive than that. Also, this sentence suggests, that the computer is already built and being sold. Which is not the case, and this brings us to the next point...
Secondly, from the original Rhombus Tech page, all I can read now (please, show me that I'm wrong) is that the computer is only being designed now. On 15 Dec 2011 all they had (at least according to what is reported publicly on their page) was apparently a rough concept .png collage of overall layout of elements, and contact to some Factory in Shenzen, China. And they immediately started taking preorders! As of Jan 2012, they seem to be only selecting components they maybe could place on the PCB, and designing parts of the circuit in KiCAD.
Now, to contrast with Rhombus Tech, Raspberry Pi didn't ever take preorders (they specifically rejected such requests), and already had working and demoable prototypes (with loads of hardware and software concerns solved) several months ago. And they still needed corrections, polishing of the design etc. As much as I'd love to see a computer close to $15, RasPi's process sounds much more trustworthy to me than Rhombus Tech's. Ok, I understand Rhombus may need preorders, as they are probably not so solidly money-backed as RasPi's owner, but for me they're clearly in a much higher risk group.
The pre-orders seem to just be commitments, like a less streamlined Kickstarter, rather than an attempt to get money up front.
As for "computer" both projects seem to be using that term for a credit card sized board without even a case. The core parts of both however are already in use in mass-manufacture products. The article seems to talk about the core chip and the Rhombus package containing it interchangeably.
The Rhombus idea seems to be putting the the chip into a modular package with a standard interface from which you can build upgradeable tablets or computers, as well as just use it standalone.
Firstly, in the linked article we can read: "even cheaper computer [...] and it's being sold in China for $7." Uhm? On the original Rhombus Tech page, it seems that the Allwinner A10 is just the CPU which is going to be used in the computer, and it's the CPU which they claim is sold at $7. So, the computer's sure gonna be more expensive than that. Also, this sentence suggests, that the computer is already built and being sold. Which is not the case, and this brings us to the next point...
Secondly, from the original Rhombus Tech page, all I can read now (please, show me that I'm wrong) is that the computer is only being designed now. On 15 Dec 2011 all they had (at least according to what is reported publicly on their page) was apparently a rough concept .png collage of overall layout of elements, and contact to some Factory in Shenzen, China. And they immediately started taking preorders! As of Jan 2012, they seem to be only selecting components they maybe could place on the PCB, and designing parts of the circuit in KiCAD.
Now, to contrast with Rhombus Tech, Raspberry Pi didn't ever take preorders (they specifically rejected such requests), and already had working and demoable prototypes (with loads of hardware and software concerns solved) several months ago. And they still needed corrections, polishing of the design etc. As much as I'd love to see a computer close to $15, RasPi's process sounds much more trustworthy to me than Rhombus Tech's. Ok, I understand Rhombus may need preorders, as they are probably not so solidly money-backed as RasPi's owner, but for me they're clearly in a much higher risk group.