[33] in bcs-newton
Re: Pricing of the Newton
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Rinaldo)
Tue Oct 27 18:51:36 1992
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 18:43:40 EST
From: bcs_jim@MIT.EDU (Jim Rinaldo)
To: bcs-newton@world.std.com
Re:
>>>
I vote for list price $799, street price $650.
<<<
Sam, at that street price, you are approaching the price of Powerbook
100s.
That is WAY WAY too high. At that street, plus the add-on pcmia boards
to communicate with, you are at the same price of a PB 100 w/qmail and
meeting maker clients, some fax software and a send/receive/fax modem.
From the preliminary looks at the Newt, it isn't going to come with that
much stuff; most of it is basic.
If someone else can supply 70% of the functionality (including
handwriting rec) at 1/3 the cost via a pen-windows route, NO ONE is
going to buy Newton.
Yes, Apple has a revolutionary idea; Yes, they will implement the
slickest interface. But, regardless of how Mr. Sculley spins this, it
still is competing with consumer products by Sharp and Casio.
Again, the $397 is for a basic Newt; with add ons and such, it would get
up to around $550-700. But, YOU choose the add-ons and the 3rd parties.
It seems that Newt is going to ship without any wireless communications,
at least in the first version. That is a big add-on price factor.
Albert W. seems to think that they need to recover all the R & D costs
for the Newt in Version 1 which necessitates a higher price. I do not
agree.
>>>
And Apple is here today, whereas Altair is but a memory.
<<<<
Sam, what was the price of a 80 meg hard drive when ALtair introduced
their first computer? RAM price? Multi-layer circuit board fab?
One of the reasions Appple is STILL here is because they finally
realized that thier prices where prohibiting market share. Yes, they
still have a 40% margin, but they also have extremely advanced
manufacturing, injection mold and ASIC production capability.
If the Cost of Goods (COGs) for a Newt is higher than $90, then they are
doing something wrong. (Note: COG does not usually price in R & D or
software).
JTR
