[Boatanchors] Re: Speech synthesized meter economics

[Steve Uhrig]

On 6 Mar 2004 at 4:03, Duane W8DBF wrote:

> The one sold by Omega for $400 is a bad joke. There is absolutely no
> reason with the speech technology necessary to make a digital display
> meter, or device, speak costing a few dollars, that any meter should
> cost more than a hundred dollars.

snip

> it is surprising, at least to me, that with the cost of the technology
> so cheap to make these things nowadays, that nobody bothers. But
> perhaps it is the low cost and small profit that is preventing the
> products from being made and sold. Who knows.	 

Duane, you hit it on the head.

As a manufacturer of electronic systems for 32 years, I can tell you 
it's sales volume which speaks pretty loudly.

If volume isn't high, profit per unit must be correspondingly higher. 
You don't want to hear that either.

If market research indicated 100,000 pieces would be sold, the 
product would appear, and at a reasonable price. Get some chain to 
commit in writing to 100,000 pieces and many manufacturers would be 
interested. But the chain won't commit until they see a working 
prototype, which means the development already has to be completed 
and financed by someone.

At 10,000 pieces, prices would be higher because economies of scale 
start to come into play.

At 1000 pieces, the price would be too high for nearly everyone.

A manufacturer would invest perhaps $50,000 to $100,000 in developing 
and bringing to market a piece such as we are discussing. 

He's have to be very sure of receiving a return on that amount 
suitable to justify the investment. Most manufacturers have an 
endless list of projects they'd like to pursue, and the ability to 
chase only a few.

Regards ... Steve WA3SWS


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Steve Uhrig, SWS Security, Maryland (USA)
Mfrs of electronic surveillance equip
mailto:Steve@swssec.com  website http://www.swssec.com
tel +1+410-879-4035, fax +1+410-836-1190
"In God we trust, all others we monitor"
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