The Nashville Tech Story (July 17, 2009)
You pay X amount of dollars for the latest gadget. Yes, this may seem like a high price, but it is new, fun, convenient, and helpful. Have you ever stopped to think how much is the company, that sold you this new device, making? Are they selling you something that may only cost them $100.00 to produce and then selling it to consumers for $450.00?
A company known as iSuppli breaks down how much devices from cell phones to gaming consoles cost to manufacture and how much we as consumers pay for them.
A new phone that was released June of 2009 was the Apple iPhone 3GS. It is retailed at $199.00. This phone costs $179.16 to produce. Another phone that was released this year was the Palm Pre retailing at $199.00 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Projected cost for the phone is $137.83.
Gaming consoles were a shock to see. The Microsoft Xbox 360 was released in Nov. of 2005. It is retailed at $399.00. However the cost to manufacture it runs closer to $470.00. The same results can be seen in regards to the Sony PlayStation 3 released in Nov of 2006. The council is retailed at $599.00 (60 GB) and $499.00 (20)GB. The cost for Sony is $840.00 (60 GB) and $805.00 (20)GB.
You may wonder, after looking at these numbers, why Microsoft and Sony would essentially lose money by producing these consoles. They hope to gain sales in other areas such as gaming equipment, games, and so on.
We as consumers are not being “cheated” when it comes to technology. The companies we buy from are working hard to create gadgets to make life simple and easy. At the same time they are working to make the new devices affordable.
Want to read more into this subject? Click Here
Shane
February 15, 2010