FreeRunner Pricing and PVT update

[Hugo Mills]

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 10:07:18AM -0700, steve wrote:
> One goal of freeing the CAD , freeing the flesh of the phone, was to enable
> others to seize these opportunities.
>  
> So, the CAD files for the FreeRunner are out there, before it has even
> shipped. I think this decision is
> underappreciated.

   From reading this thread, I think you're right.

> The per piece cost of plastic is small.  Go price a pound of plastic. The
> risk is tooling. We reduced that
> by making CAD data open.
> 
> Long LONG ago, you had to pay big set up fees to Print a document. That has
> come down over time.
>  
>  I want to enable a world were you can print parts. Trust me, I am not happy
> when I tell people
> that they cant get pink. If you want pink, you should get pink.  

   I thought exactly the same thing. All these people whinging (sorry
if anyone takes offence, but that's how it came across to me) about
not having different colours, but not realising that *they* could do
their own colours.

   I have no experience at all in manufacturing -- my closest moment
came when I did some work on production scheduling in a flour mill --
but I still thought it was worth finding out what it would cost to do
it. I doubt that I'll have the capital, drive or time to bring this
idea to fruition, but I might as well see what's involved...

> That doesnt entail that I should build pink. I enable people to make it pink
> by publishing CAD files.

   It's much appreciated. Even if I don't know what to do with
it. Yet. :)

> If you think pink, then I'll sell you the electronics that go under those
> pink platistics

   I like either green, or funky patterns. Pink may be a way down the
list if you're buying from carfax.org.uk. :)

>   _____  
> 
> From: community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org
> [mailto:community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org] On Behalf Of Neil Davey
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:18 AM
> To: List for Openmoko community discussion
> Subject: Re: FreeRunner Pricing and PVT update
> 
> 
> >From the involvement I've had with injection molding the costs of material
> (ie the plastic) per piece it not very expensive, it's the mold tool that is
> the expensive part.. For one project I'm involved in I think the mold tool
> was something like $10KUSD.. This is a production quality (read high
> quality) tool... I have heard of cheaper tools out of china I think (like a
> few $K), but don't think the quality is as good..

   This is the kind of thing I was expecting -- for even an optimistic
(say) 1000 pieces on that kind of pricing, it'd be, say, $12 apiece
plus P&P (or $22 if it's $10k per mould -- front and back). That's
going to be UKP 6-11, or E 8-14. How much do other phone covers go
for? (I'm not really familiar with this sort of thing).

   Hugo.

-- 
=== Hugo Mills: hugo at ... carfax.org.uk | darksatanic.net | lug.org.uk ===
  PGP key: 515C238D from wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net or http://www.carfax.org.uk
             --- No names... I want to remain anomalous. ---             
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