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Yes, mass consumer devices have economies of scale that exceed VieVU's capabilities. No doubt about that. But that might account for 20% of the cost and at fa

Yes, mass consumer devices have economies of scale that exceed VieVU's capabilities. No doubt about that. But that might account for 20% of the cost and at face value given what the article stated, the product seemingly costs many multiples of any reasonable fee. Also, there should be some sort of economies of scale involved when VieVU is providing tens of thousands of cameras across the country. It's not just the NYPD. I did some additional research and posted a follow up comment that sheds some light on the breakdown of the cost. It makes it more tolerable but still too expensive in my opinion.

akiselev 10y ago
20% isnt even close. Where did you get this number? In my time working in hardware (across consumer devices like smartphones and specialized devices for industry) I have never seen a product with only a 20% difference between low volume and mass manufacturing costs. The difference is in the range of 200-1000% when talking about going from 10,000 to a million units, depending on manufacturing setup cost. The lower range is only achievable if your manufacturing line is uninterrupted which I doubt is possible for such small orders and it's impractical for a small government contractor to make many units all at once due to inventory costs and risk. $200 at 10,000 units for a device that sells for $50 or $25 at a million units is par for the course for any hardware product.