Quote:
Originally Posted by Feher
It cannot be too costly because the primary consumers would be students. It will have some premium till other manufacturers enter the fray
|
I suspect that Sony is thinking that their main customers will be institutions and companies. These could significantly reduce the costs associated to paper, printing and form-filling by giving this device to their staff (and possibly, in the case of universities, to students). The fact that Sony is doing tests at Japanese universities is coherent with such a scenario.
If this is the business model, the bulk price to these customers may be much lower than the street price to consumers, these being a niche market with negligible impact on overall sales. Unless consumers show that this is not the case, which I don't think can happen. Honestly, I can't see this type of device as having much appeal to the average consumer.
In this scenario, if and when competitors will emerge they will tend to target the "big" market (institutions/companies) and not the "small" one (consumers).