Quote:
Originally Posted by Dulin's Books
6-8 months ago I thought 6" displays were still @ $60? I could be wrong- its been known to happen  Ill see if I can get someone to get mean actual current volume price on a 5" display. |
Thanks...in case someone didn't find the old iSuppli K2 teardown price here is a link:
http://www.isuppli.com/News/Pages/Am...n-Reveals.aspx
The costs were from April 2009, so slightly over a year ago, I thought it had been in 2008. Anyway, they did have the cost of the 6" panel used in the K2 at $60...so even your estimate of $45-$50ish sounds high for the current market, especially given the number of devices being produced today compared to about the same time last year.
Plus like Amazon has done with their combining the $100 credit toward any device or device accessory associated with playing Audible ebooks. Also Sony's $100ish price drop to clear out inventory combined with the Amazon option show it's very possible to get very close to the $100 price point and that is for a device with all the bells & whistles. A plain Jane reader w/o wifi or MBB access should cost even less....of course that is unless the mfg's apply a different cost to a component when defending their current prices and the inability to lower prices to that magic sub-$100 point. CPU are pretty much free these days, the display controller should be dropping in price just like the screens themselves...assuming PVI as well as Epson and whoever Epson is sub-contracting the controllers out to have increased line efficiency.
It just does not seem to make sense to me by this point in time with e-ink brand panels as well as the newer competing brands that are coming to the market Real Soon Now (to quote Jerry Pournelle...one of my fav quotes of his always used sarcastically of course...
).
And really thanks for double checking on the prices...