Hi, Carl. I think you are correct that we use our braille notes or
packmates more than a sighted person might use their PDA. If not that, we
at least depend on ours more. I sighted person can jot down something on a
postit note then stick it to their monitor or whatever to remind them of
something they need to do or a place where they need to be at a given time.
We can't do postit notes or write in a day planner. We really need
everything a standard PDA for the sighted market does and more, but based
on our specific needs as blind users.
At 12/28/2004, you wrote:
Hi again Paul,
I appreciate your comments on these subjects. I like the BN product and
think PDH has done a good job on it. I do think that as blind people we
use our PDAs more heavily than sighted people and that we should come to
expect,if not more functionality,at least the same functionality sighted
people expect. Even the cheapest PDAs for the sighted now come with the
ability to record, stream, use blue tooth and more. I believe that part
of the price of the BN products is the cost of PDH having to be
responsible for developing not only the access software but the E-mail,
word processor and more. This puts tremendous pressure on their resources
as I see it.
Karl
At 04:35 PM 12/28/2004, you wrote:
Hi, Stacy. I don't know why you think the price would increase if more
functionality were added. Nor do I understand why you would think we
would have to sacrafice anything.
I think daisy might be helpful so we could just download books from
bookshare, but other items will be of interest to different people.
Making the software more robust shouldn't increase the price.
Increasing functionality with a new motherboard shouldn't increase the
price either. Do you really think it costs 6000 dollars to make a braille
note or 2000 dollars to make a voice note? Not hardly. Most of that is
profit and PDI wanting to recoop their development costs quickly.
Someone once told me it only cost 150 dollars to make a braille and
speak; yet they soldfor over 1300 dollars. Why is that?
I don't have a problem with PDI wanting to recoop their investment short
term. That's up to the investors, but this idea that adding more
functionality to the software or designing a main board with more
functionality will raise the cost significantly just isn't realistic.
If the cost goes up too much, PDI will just price themselves right out
of the market and I don't think they are going to do that.
Development costsare what we are talking about here, not hardware costs.
I can buy a computer main board for under 100 dollars these days and
under 200 for a good one. Part of this is because of how many can be sold
in the market. Bn prices are higher because of a limited market, not
hardware or software changes.
At 12/28/2004, you wrote:
Hi all,
Just my personal feeling, but recording isn't something I'd use. For
me, I would be more interested in listening to daisy books like the ones
bookshare has.
I think if too many things are added it could make the product more
difficult for people to purchase because the price would have to
increase. Personally, I am not sure I'd use usb but I could see how it
might be helpful. If more stuff was added, what would we have to
sacrifice? I like having the built in modem and all.
Just my feelings on things.
Stacey
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Axis
Karl Smith, Assistive Technology Consultant
4304 South El Camino St.
Taylorsville, Utah 84119
Phone: 801-967-5655
Toll Free: 866-824-7885
Fax: 866-824-7885
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web Site: http://www.axistech.net
- Never confuse an open mind with an empty head.
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