Prices, Supply, Demand
I don't understand how prices are developed for electronic equipment. Why is it you can buy a cell phone which is a transmitter and receiver that comes with tiny full color video displays and a camera that shoots stills and movies. It usually comes with some cool computing capability with a calculator and an address database. Phones can be tracked by GPS. This sort of device can be easily found for around a hundred dollars. Yet you'll be hard pressed to find a good hand-held GPS unit that does some simple proprietorial calculations with a color display for under $200.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
6 Comments:
did you get lost again recently?
Why is that? I don't get it either!
The difference is that the cell phone companies keep you locked in to their service. Gives you an idea how much they are ripping us off with their monthly fees. Check out the price of a phone if you buy it unlocked vs getting it as an upgrade from your cell provider.
Also, there is the demand for the thing to consider. The more of them they can make and sell, the cheaper they are. I'm sure there are at least tens of millions of cell phones being sold annually, but probably much less than that in GPS units.
It's part volume of sales and part that the phone companies are eating part of the true price of the all in one device as part of your service contract. You actually pay way more for your phone than you think, it's just that you don't pay for it all up front. It's imputed. It's also dependent on competition driving down prices and what resources the company has available for development.
Auntie, no, I just love gizmos.
Tango, you already have one in Evil Twin.
Darev, if the price went down more people would buy them.
Rich and Zoe, you are probably right. My cell provider must hate it when I get a new phone because we have had the same plan since cell phones first came out. We pay, get this, $30 a month for two phones.
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