Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
The screens would need to cost a fortune to recoup $2 billions.
|
Do you realize what it costs to build your local Ford/Chevy/Oldsmobuick dealership today? Not unusual for the costs to exceed $10M and creep up toward $20M for land and physical plant, etc...so $2B for a production facility designed to scale with demand is not a lot.
Also, do ya really think they expect to recoup the costs in a year or two? That is a 10-20yr ROI not counting tax credits or whatever it works out as in the country they will build in...plus in some countries politicians have become more expensive so the plant might cost $500M and the other $1.5B will cover the "overhead" and permit fees.
If they get the color right with vibrant colors, and I think they can, eink is in trouble even in plain reader markets. Especially if the Mirasol panels are priced to compete from day one and not wait for sales to drive down the per-unit overhead costs...it's a way into the mainstream w/o any sticker shock for the consumer and Qualcomm is likely well positioned to absorb the costs for a year or two. Plus I have no doubt the big players are chomping at the bit to get their hands on such low power full color panels...including tablet, laptop and desktop monitor mfg/users...these are market segments that PVI's eink panels simply cannot enter in any meaningful fashion. But ever device maker that used a display panel is going to have a HUGE interest in color panels like Mirasol, even DSLR's and pocket cameras could potentially find a way to make them work as right now, the current displays are less than useless outside.