[ICOM] FW: Icom Prices

[Lee Mairs (SAG)]

Good economics!

73 de Lee
KM4YY/8



Kelly Taylor wrote:
> What would happen? They'd stop producing amateur radios.
>
> In any product-driven endeavour, you need buyers of all buying habits 
> to support the product-creation costs.
>
> You need the early adopters to start flowing cash into the company and 
> to help work out any residual "bugs".
> You need the mid-cycle joiners to keep the revenue going and lastly,
> You need the 'closeout' buyers to pump the last little bit of cash and 
> provide, in part, seed money for the next generation of product.
>
> The cost of the parts in a radio is only part of the equation. There's 
> development costs, which run to the value of several, if not hundreds 
> or thousands of products. Which means you need to sell, maybe 5,000 
> IC-756PRO III to earn your way back to break-even. There's salary for 
> the workers. There's overhead for the plants. There are  marketing 
> costs. There are distribution costs. And lastly, and most importantly, 
> profit for the shareholders.
>
> A boycott won't help amateur radio pricing. It will only cause more 
> manufacturers to close down their amateur operations and concentrate 
> on the more profitable commercial radios.
>
> Another point to make is that expensiveness is relative. I haven't 
> done the analysis, but I'll bet that whatever Drake was charging for 
> the twins, or later for the TR-7, R-7 combination, was exponentially 
> more expensive, relative to average income, than the IC-756 PRO III is 
> today.
>
> 73, kelly
> ve4xt
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <n5wv at eastex.net>
> To: <icom at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 3:04 AM
> Subject: [ICOM] FW: Icom Prices
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------- Original Message -------
>>> From    : n5wv at eastex.net[mailto:n5wv at eastex.net]
>> Sent    : 5/23/2007 3:03:14 AM
>> To      : ico at mailman.qth.net
>> Cc      :
>> Subject : FW: Icom Prices
>>
>> Group ,  I only buy radios , amps and other pieces of gear when its 
>> at closeout. I could buy them just
>> after listed on the market but I like knowing that the product is at 
>> its full design potential with no
>> bugs or rev levs waiting around the corner. And as a collector I like 
>> having the high serial numbers that
>> buying late gives me. With that said Im wondering what would happen 
>> if we would hold off buying these
>> brand new radios for six months to a year after marketing them ? 
>> Manufacturers use to make a product and
>> figure the selling price at getting everything back that they have 
>> put into it plus a good profit. But
>> nowdays it seems that they are looking at how much would someone pay 
>> the most for a radio. Its like they
>> are testing the waters to just see how much one will pay for these 
>> radios. Just compare the jump in price
>> from the 781 , 775DSP and others to where they are now with this new 
>> 7700 , 7800 and 9500 receiver. I
>> believe that the replacement for the 756PIII will cost $5-$6K. Its 
>> like there seeing how much other
>> hobbies cost like bass boats and rv's so why cant we charge that much 
>> for our radios. I looked at a 2007
>> Honda Element for my daughter and it was around $15,000.00usd. I just 
>> cant see these radios costing almost
>> as much as a car. Someone mentioned that they are going to buy a 
>> Yaesu because they are cheaper and have
>> dual receive where the 7700 does not. They better buy it now because 
>> I bet Yaesu will up there prices
>> right up there with Icom if sales allow. If everyone would hold off 
>> buying these new radios for six
>> months or so they may drop the prices because I can assure you that 
>> even with all of there r&d and
>> production cost theres lots of room to come down off of the price. 73 
>> , de Randy N5WV
>>
>> ----
>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>>
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>