4 ms·

Initially, but if they can get enough volume to start differentiating price based on features, a substantial market will show up for people who like the idea of

by sprout 16y ago

Initially, but if they can get enough volume to start differentiating price based on features, a substantial market will show up for people who like the idea of not paying for things they don't want.

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
Generally though economies of scale make it cheaper to buy something with extra features which has been mass produced, than a closer to custom made model without them. I've learned this trying to buy a simple mobile phone for my technophobe father and a VCR that just played stuff (no recording) for my aging grandmother.
- Alexx 16y ago
  Couldn't have said it better myself. The main theme of the reddit topic on this seemed to be people excited about 'only paying for what they want', yet by doing so you remove the main advantage of mass production; lower per unit price.
  - tekrand 16y ago
    I guess part of the consideration should be that while the final product may be custom all the components are mass produced. As such you're going to have to pay for the custom assembly but the cost for the components will be more reasonable.
    - Alexx 16y ago
      While this is undoubtably true, it's important to consider the absolute razor thin margins that fierce competition and huge volume production creates. This interesting article on the manufacture of microSD gives a small glimpse; http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918 The second to last paragraph is particularly interesting. Once you remove standardization all kinds of hidden costs creep in, from not being able to order such large volumes of components right down to hardware testing.
- sandGorgon 16y ago
  then why does Dell work ?
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    Fair point. My guess would be because in the PC world it's expected - people demand a certain level of choice and configuration. Beyond a very basic level (capacity, colour), I'm not sure that demand exists for mobile devices. But looking at the site in more detail, it does seem price competitive (I made a phone spec-ed to the HTC Desire and it's pretty much bang on the same price), though obviously you can't get it on a contract. We'll see. One thing that does occur is that their phones will presumably ship with vanilla Android rather than a network / manufacturer modified version. I know people who'd pay extra for that. UPDATE: Just realised that the HTC price included tax, the custom build didn't. Wouldn't be huge but would make it maybe 10% more than the Desire,
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

by sprout 16y ago

Initially, but if they can get enough volume to start differentiating price based on features, a substantial market will show up for people who like the idea of not paying for things they don't want.

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago

Generally though economies of scale make it cheaper to buy something with extra features which has been mass produced, than a closer to custom made model without them. I've learned this trying to buy a simple mobile phone for my technophobe father and a VCR that just played stuff (no recording) for my aging grandmother.

Alexx 16y ago
Couldn't have said it better myself. The main theme of the reddit topic on this seemed to be people excited about 'only paying for what they want', yet by doing so you remove the main advantage of mass production; lower per unit price.
- tekrand 16y ago
  I guess part of the consideration should be that while the final product may be custom all the components are mass produced. As such you're going to have to pay for the custom assembly but the cost for the components will be more reasonable.
  - Alexx 16y ago
    While this is undoubtably true, it's important to consider the absolute razor thin margins that fierce competition and huge volume production creates. This interesting article on the manufacture of microSD gives a small glimpse; http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918 The second to last paragraph is particularly interesting. Once you remove standardization all kinds of hidden costs creep in, from not being able to order such large volumes of components right down to hardware testing.
sandGorgon 16y ago
then why does Dell work ?
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  Fair point. My guess would be because in the PC world it's expected - people demand a certain level of choice and configuration. Beyond a very basic level (capacity, colour), I'm not sure that demand exists for mobile devices. But looking at the site in more detail, it does seem price competitive (I made a phone spec-ed to the HTC Desire and it's pretty much bang on the same price), though obviously you can't get it on a contract. We'll see. One thing that does occur is that their phones will presumably ship with vanilla Android rather than a network / manufacturer modified version. I know people who'd pay extra for that. UPDATE: Just realised that the HTC price included tax, the custom build didn't. Wouldn't be huge but would make it maybe 10% more than the Desire,
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]