Couple of Questions

Marco Barreno barreno at cs.berkeley.edu
Tue Jul 24 00:44:48 CEST 2007


On Mon, Jul 23, 2007 at 06:10:25PM -0400, thus spake Donald Organ:
> > No upgrade discount, they decided against that. Instead they made the  
> > GTA01 cheaper.
> > 
> > I think you may be able to keep the existing case, battery etc and  
> > get the GTA02 in board only form.
> > 
> 	Has this been confirmed?? I dont want to buy it right now if I am not
> gonna be able to upgrade to the version with 802.11 wireless  for
> anything more than $200.

Unfortunately, it seems unrealistic to me to think that they could
sell the board for less than $200.  The board is going to be by far
the most expensive component, with the screen in second place and the
battery coming third, most likely.  Almost all of the development
effort and hardware production costs go into the board; it must be at
*least* 50% of the cost of the unit, and I'd guess more like 75-90%.
Since the phone will be sold for $450, I would expect the board alone
to sell for somewhere between $250 and $400, depending on how accurate
my estimates are and how much FIC is willing to take a loss on
board-only sales.

FIC has already decided how they are giving discounts to people who
want to get GTA01 now and GTA02 when it's ready: they're selling GTA01
at a $150 discount.  It would be really cool for us if they decided to
give further discounts, but given the costs that surely go into the
development, it doesn't seem likely.

I'm in the same position as you, by the way.  If I thought they would
sell the board for less than $200 I'd buy GTA01 right now.  But I
think it's unlikely, so I'm waiting until GTA02 comes out.

Marco


-- 
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success."
    - Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, 
      Nobel laureate (1875-1965)




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