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"Why aren't prices of large eink panels cheaper?" is a question that can only be answered with opinions until someone actually does it. Seems like the opinion

by eli 4y ago

"Why aren't prices of large eink panels cheaper?" is a question that can only be answered with opinions until someone actually does it. Seems like the opinion of someone actually in the business of selling large eink panels should count for a lot more than speculation by an outsider. Visionect sells some eInk signs for showing the status of meeting and conference rooms. I thought that was a clever application -- saves companies from having to run wires and mount a bunch of hardware. Color photo displays could be cool, but I suspect it'd be hard to compete with the incredibly cheap Google Home and Alexa devices with screens.

kortilla 4y ago
> Seems like the opinion of someone actually in the business of selling large eink panels should count for a lot more than speculation by an outsider. Not really. That particular person’s entire business depends on eink being a high margin business product.
- eli 4y ago
  High cost isn't the same as high margin. If patent fees were a significant expense it'd be in their interest to say so even if the margins were already high (which I very much doubt)
- robinsoh 4y ago
  > Not really. That particular person’s entire business depends on eink being a high margin business product. That claim doesn't seem to be very reasonable to me. Why would Visionect want eink to be a "high margin business product"? A Visionect panel is not a Veblen good as far as I can understand. Could you share your evidence for why you would think that?
- varenc 4y ago
  His first comment says the opposite and that they've tried hard to get the price down. Of course we have to trust him on that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25063726#25067359 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25063726#25067359 But I can’t really find any other large format e-ink displays with the driving hardware (which can be even pricier than the display), so I’m inclined to believe him.
jessriedel 4y ago
> Seems like the opinion of someone actually in the business of selling large eink panels should count for a lot more than speculation by an outsider. I agree it's certainly more authoritative than a random person (that's why I said "beyond"), but it's still just one man and we still don't know his incentives well.

by eli 4y ago

kortilla 4y ago

> Seems like the opinion of someone actually in the business of selling large eink panels should count for a lot more than speculation by an outsider. Not really. That particular person’s entire business depends on eink being a high margin business product.

eli 4y ago
High cost isn't the same as high margin. If patent fees were a significant expense it'd be in their interest to say so even if the margins were already high (which I very much doubt)
robinsoh 4y ago
> Not really. That particular person’s entire business depends on eink being a high margin business product. That claim doesn't seem to be very reasonable to me. Why would Visionect want eink to be a "high margin business product"? A Visionect panel is not a Veblen good as far as I can understand. Could you share your evidence for why you would think that?
varenc 4y ago
His first comment says the opposite and that they've tried hard to get the price down. Of course we have to trust him on that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25063726#25067359 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25063726#25067359 But I can’t really find any other large format e-ink displays with the driving hardware (which can be even pricier than the display), so I’m inclined to believe him.

jessriedel 4y ago

> Seems like the opinion of someone actually in the business of selling large eink panels should count for a lot more than speculation by an outsider. I agree it's certainly more authoritative than a random person (that's why I said "beyond"), but it's still just one man and we still don't know his incentives well.