MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The cost of building a kindle 2 (without the whispernet)

Kali Yuga · 04-23-2009, 09:36 PM

Sounds fairly accurate to me. Obviously there are lots of costs not included, though:
• Whispernet
• Marketing
• Sales and shipping
• Support (including hosting & moderating their own forums)
• Software & royalties (as mentioned in the article)
• Taxes

I'm not sure what the Whispernet costs are, but obviously that's not a typical charge for a portable electronic device. Might be a tough one to calculate as well, since you might want to include the total charges for the life of the unit.

So, it seems like the gross margin per unit is going to be a tad lower than $175.

04-23-2009, 09:36 PM	#23
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Sounds fairly accurate to me. Obviously there are lots of costs not included, though: • Whispernet • Marketing • Sales and shipping • Support (including hosting & moderating their own forums) • Software & royalties (as mentioned in the article) • Taxes I'm not sure what the Whispernet costs are, but obviously that's not a typical charge for a portable electronic device. Might be a tough one to calculate as well, since you might want to include the total charges for the life of the unit. So, it seems like the gross margin per unit is going to be a tad lower than $175.