Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
I'm always flabbergasted why manufacturers include so little hardware in anything from e-readers to digital piano's.
|
I have a background in one of the many embedded systems industry. The systems you are probably referring to are generic volume systems, which are too expensive. That's because you need quite some software beyond a standard operating system. And that costs a lot of money to develop. So, the hardware needs to be cheap. Also, system energy consumption needs is an important part here, and most generic mass platforms are not suitabe. Yes, I can build a 7" rbook reader from a Raspberry Pi and the official 7" touch display. But it won't be a usable product, and its hardware costs are insane when compared to what I suspect the Kobo HW prices to be.
In short, don't apply what you see for mobiles, tablets, PCs, Raspberrys, etc. Don't even apply car electronic control unit economics, all are a different scale.
Also, these are SoC systems, so you don't get your flash and RAM for nothing. Au contraire. The full picture is much more complex than what you describe.