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Manufacturers got to lengths to squeeze pennies out of the Bill of Materials (BOM) in products like these. I remember listening to some conversations and being
by gleenn 11y ago
Manufacturers got to lengths to squeeze pennies out of the Bill of Materials (BOM) in products like these. I remember listening to some conversations and being blown away at the tiny savings here and there, and our product was over $100.
- x0x0 11y agoBut so what? Why is google selling phones -- to promote android and google as a brand, or to make money? If it's to make money, fine, then eek every penny out of that BOM. But they claim it's the former, and cheap cables are apparently a brand image problem, so they should solve it by not cheaping out on the large investment they've already made.
- AnthonyMouse 11y agoGoogle promotes Android by selling the device near cost. Even if they're not making money, they aren't going to sell devices at a loss (-$5 times a hundred million devices is real money), which means the only way to increase the manufacturing cost is to increase the sale price. When it's only a dollar or so you might expect the customer to want to pay the extra dollar in exchange for the benefit, but in practice the device is going to be priced at a threshold like $499 and the psychological difference between $499 and $500 would measurably drive down sales. But the bigger problem is that this is hardly the only facet of a device you could improve by making it cost a tiny bit more. Add them up and it would add $100 or more to the price of the device. So you can't have them all, but decide against any one in particular and everyone wants to know why you're cheaping out over a buck.