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Curious as to how you see B&N having lower supply chain cost than Apple? Apple is making 15M+ ipads, their unit costs on chips etc are going to be lower, B&N st
by brianbreslin 16y ago
Curious as to how you see B&N having lower supply chain cost than Apple? Apple is making 15M+ ipads, their unit costs on chips etc are going to be lower, B&N still has to source and develop the hardware for NC
- kenjackson 16y agoThe OP seems to be implying that B&N has to pay very little for OS development (Google picks up most of the tab). And in terms of HW, the NC isn't a cutting edge device, so they can get 2nd/3rd gen parts. And coupled with good volume, gives them a low supply chain cost. I don't know if its lower than Apple's, but it's probably lower than anyother Android vendors except probably Samsung.
- npalli 16y agoFew things. kenjackson alluded to them 1. NC is using older generation parts (ex. their SoC is OMAP3621 which is at least two generations behind). This is off the shelf from Texas instruments who own the entire supply chain in design and foundry. Look at all the products using this technology -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP#OMAP3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP#OMAP3 -- now you are looking at pretty decent volume and per unit cost. 2. 6 million vs 15.4 is not very meaningful in per unit cost difference since both volumes are pretty huge. This is not accounting for the fact that other companies could be using this SoC. Also, Apple does custom design for thier own products so Samsung cannot sell off their chips to someone else. So Apple has to invest in design and all the associated costs in the development and obsolescense of the chips. Given the tight margins it is not surprising Apple buys gross manufacturing capacity below forecasts and let shortages occur.