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I'm sure selling something for 1/3 the cost to make it is attractive to buyers... But of course, HP can't afford such a thing indefinitely. It was merely an a

I'm sure selling something for 1/3 the cost to make it is attractive to buyers... But of course, HP can't afford such a thing indefinitely. It was merely an attempt to get rid of this embarrassment as quickly as possible. And it worked, too... I couldn't get my hands on one.

masklinn 15y ago
> I'm sure selling something for 1/3 the cost to make it is attractive to buyers... Not 1/3 the cost, 1/3 the BOM. It does not include software, shipping, building and packaging costs, just buying the hardware parts.
pheaduch 15y ago
Why not? This is traditionally the video game hardware model where you sell the hardware at a lost and make up for it on video game sales. Some smart company out there, if done right can easily undermine the Apple dominance by lowering the cost of hardware and trying to make up for it in app sales. You would have to own the entire vertical system like Apple, which now there are two -- RIM and Google with their Motorola acquisition. Google has the best chance, they are sitting on a pile cash and can easily subsidized the losses for their hardware partners like Samsung and HTC. However, I think RIM is the most ideal as they are dealing with a chicken-and-egg type scenario with developers and lack of apps. They are desperate to stay relevant in the market, so why not do something crazy.
- wccrawford 15y ago
  That requires an exclusive system where only licensed developers can create games/apps for the device, and the device creator gets money from the game/app developers. Without that, there's no way to recoup the money lost on the equipment sale. And none of those involve losing 2/3 of the cost of the device.
sili 15y ago
And yet, now they have this sizable user base waiting to be monetized. It's like selling razors for cheap and making real profit in selling the blades. If only HP had "blades" to sell on top of the touch pad.
- abuzzooz 15y ago
  With their "cheap printers + expensive ink" model, one would assume they have enough experience to monetize WebOS.
- hellweaver666 15y ago
  They do... they have an official stand thingy that incorporates wireless charging (I think it's called the touchstone). It's a nice accessory and one that I wish was available for my iPad.

masklinn 15y ago

> I'm sure selling something for 1/3 the cost to make it is attractive to buyers... Not 1/3 the cost, 1/3 the BOM. It does not include software, shipping, building and packaging costs, just buying the hardware parts.

pheaduch 15y ago

Why not? This is traditionally the video game hardware model where you sell the hardware at a lost and make up for it on video game sales. Some smart company out there, if done right can easily undermine the Apple dominance by lowering the cost of hardware and trying to make up for it in app sales. You would have to own the entire vertical system like Apple, which now there are two -- RIM and Google with their Motorola acquisition. Google has the best chance, they are sitting on a pile cash and can easily subsidized the losses for their hardware partners like Samsung and HTC. However, I think RIM is the most ideal as they are dealing with a chicken-and-egg type scenario with developers and lack of apps. They are desperate to stay relevant in the market, so why not do something crazy.

wccrawford 15y ago
That requires an exclusive system where only licensed developers can create games/apps for the device, and the device creator gets money from the game/app developers. Without that, there's no way to recoup the money lost on the equipment sale. And none of those involve losing 2/3 of the cost of the device.

sili 15y ago

And yet, now they have this sizable user base waiting to be monetized. It's like selling razors for cheap and making real profit in selling the blades. If only HP had "blades" to sell on top of the touch pad.

abuzzooz 15y ago
With their "cheap printers + expensive ink" model, one would assume they have enough experience to monetize WebOS.
hellweaver666 15y ago
They do... they have an official stand thingy that incorporates wireless charging (I think it's called the touchstone). It's a nice accessory and one that I wish was available for my iPad.