Thoughts: I don't blame anyone for cashing in. They've worked hard and deserve to be rewarded. But only $20 million for the world's leading player in a rapidly emerging field? Where are the guys who negotioted the YouTube deal when ya need 'em?
Maybe Slim believed they would be steamrolled by the many mainstream offerings that will certainly emerge in this category. Better to *become* a mainstream offering, I guess. But I don't really think that the SB3 build quality needs improving and the current price is certainly reasonable. With Logitech's manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and the resulting economics of scale, there's no reason why the SB couldn't sell for $199 - but their SVP has already indicated that they don't want to crowd out their existing product at that price point, so I wouldn't look for any price improvement (and probably no $100 off 2 deals either)! And certainly no pony! The biggest thing this deal will accomplish is to put Squeezeboxes on the shelves of major retailers and multiply the customer base. Make room in the Beginners forum for a flood of new users. But I fear the soul of Slim Devices will be lost. This company was a huge anomaly in a world of bean counters and bottom-lines. They tirelessly worked to add value to every device, even years after it was sold. Can that continue in a large corporate environment? When less than 1% of their customers use Linux, will they be abandoned? Will Logitech cave to RIAA pressure and decide that MP3 *is* a crime? We shall see. It's not all gloom and doom, though. I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of the stuff we've been asking for - better remotes, maybe a boombox, slicker interfaces, etc. Nothing stays the same. We'll take the good with the bad. And someday when there's a SB7 in every home, that garage-built SliMP3 player will bring me $4000 on eBay. -- Pale Blue Ego ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pale Blue Ego's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=110 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28821 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
