On Tuesday 5. May 2015 12.00.54 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
bearing in mind that the unit cost of assembly for the EOMA68-A20 board is to be around $60 (in qty 250) and the micro-engineering board around $30 (in qty 250), those NREs above (total $6500) divided by 250 comes to an extra $26, the unit *COST* comes to an amazingly high $USD 116.
.... nothing like the $35 for a wandboard or whatever it's called, is it?
but that's just how it is.
That's why it is so worthwhile pitching this for the freedom-related benefits rather than the cost-related benefits at this point in time. After all, the unit cost of the Neo900 is probably going to end up being 700 EUR, but there wasn't a shortage of people willing to pay that amount for something that prioritises things like Free Software capabilities, openness and privacy.
Sure, there is also the stream of people comparing the Neo900 to the latest locked-down Android device that supposedly costs half as much on a subsidy but which actually costs more if those people had bothered to look at the total outlay, which of course they don't. And those people will happily whine about not getting updates to the software or that Google are mining their data, as they check their GMail and otherwise make full use of Google services. (One could remark similarly about disdain from Apple users and from both of the Windows Phone users.)
If Bunnie can sell "heirloom" Novena laptops for $5000 or so apiece, there has to be some scope for headroom on the price amongst people who appreciate the nature of the effort, even amongst those of more modest means. :-)
Paul