3dcandy
I know - I just think it was a chance to bring out a nice tiny pc/sbc that was a little easier to make into projects. I'd like something in between say raspb pi 4 with an eMMC option
I don't think thats ever been something they consider.
The compute boards were their “answer” to people “needing” something that provided a smaller or alternative layout to the standard Pi. That is, you develop your own idea and bolt the CM into it.
When the Pi first launched, there were all sorts of people “arguing” and “demanding” that they needed the Pi to be released with all sorts of additional options because “they had a business idea” and using the Pi was “necessary”, ie they didnt have the funds or technical skills to make their own hardware and wanted to piggy back off something else.
Yet, weirdly, every time I see a project that should use the CM, it has a full sized Pi in it, the Pi-Top for example. As a result you have a cheap and easy to get going, at the “cost” of it being rather thick.