> The phone originally sold for $400. Is that really not enough money to fund software development for 4 years or more? No, not really. First comes the realit

> The phone originally sold for $400. Is that really not enough money to fund software development for 4 years or more? No, not really. First comes the reality of retail pricing. The "leaving the factory door with everything amortized in" unit price of a $400 phone is likely around $250 or less. The rest of that is markup for the store, shipping, warranty returns, marketing, and a bunch else. A good chuck of that $250 (if it is even that high), pays for the actual hardware, patent licenses, carrier testing, and a bunch of other stuff. That doesn't leave much left to actually pay for development. And since most consumers aren't thinking about operating system updates a couple years down the road, the lower selling price will generate more profits than long-term support will.