Stage of GTA03 development?

[Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman)]

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:50:33 +0000 "Justyn Butler" <justynbutler
+openmoko at googlemail.com> babbled:

thanks for the good numeric example. as you see - it's pretty much the ballpark
i was talking about - and yes - u'd get a discount, but you may find the $200
goes to $100 - at best if u order > 1k most likeley - more likely $120 or so.
to get below that as best i know, you need to do your own module yourself - not
buy a pre-made one, and thats when you make a leap into needing 100's of
thousands of units at a minimum - if not a million to 10 million or so. only
then can you begin to really compete.

i know it sucks :( but as of right now - it's a reality of the game. not to
mention companies like nokia own a raft of 3g patents (one of the reasons its
so expensive is the patent nightmare surrounding it). now think of it this way
- imagine 80% of the cost of a 3g module is patent fees (i imagine it is) or
profit on patent fees if resold. hardware isnt that incredible - but the IP
on top of it it is the costly thing. now if you are nokia and own lets say...
30% of the patents in 3g... you may pay $20 per unit in "royalites" but really
- $6 of the $20 just goes right back into your pocket - so your money goes from
pocket A to pocket B - now that $30 part just went down to $24. not bad eh? :)

> This is all very interesting (and sad, of course).
> 
> 2008/12/22 The Rasterman Carsten Haitzler <raster at rasterman.com>:
> > less than 1/3 the cost. as best i know anyone selling pre-made "3g modules"
> > so you dont have to set up your own production is charging in the range of
> > $100-$300 per module (depending who you go to and the volume you buy). this
> > is where someone developed the module (did what nokia/apple etc. do) and now
> > re-sell their work. 1-offs i have seen for sale for $250 or so for a 3g
> > module. buy in bulk and you get a discount of course (thus the $100-$300
> > range). and the fewer suppliers in between the better.
> 
> The Telit UC864-G mentioned on the MokoForesight page is a global 3.5G
> module with built-in GPS. I don't know of it's actual suitability for
> OM.
> http://www.telit.com/en/products/umts-hsdpa.php?p_id=14&p_ac=show&p=14
> 
> This company, Round Solutions, sells it:
> http://www.roundsolutions.com/uc864.htm
> 
> And they have a price list:
> http://www.roundsolutions.com/pdf/Price-Modules-GSM.pdf
> 
> Which lists it at €145 for 100-500 quantity. That is around US $200.
> 
> Clearly very expensive. But the quantity we are talking about Openmoko
> buying is at least an order of magnitude larger, so I wonder how much
> below $200 the module could be bought. And it does integrate the GPS
> chip (a small saving there though).
> 
> Anyway, I thought some people might be interested in a solid example
> with pricing. It is costly, that is for sure.
> 
> I'd still be interested to see how much the UC864-G costs when buying
> in bulk of 10K. Can anyone else find figures for this?
> 
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-- 
------------- Codito, ergo sum - "I code, therefore I am" --------------
The Rasterman (Carsten Haitzler)    raster at rasterman.com