On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:14 PM, Ray Sills <[email protected]> wrote:
> I don't think the intent for not adding improvements that can't be done > for -any- K3 is there to hold back.... > =========== Well, the idea of continuing hardware changes has not generally been embraced by any ham manufacturers, for reasons that ought to be obvious. No manufacturer could stay in business long if their products had versions A, B, C, D etc., varying only by the addition of an RF choke in the audio or similar minor tweaks. Sometimes after a production run of several years, a staple product is upgraded (usually with a price increase!); think of the FT897D, for example, which introduced new circuitry and features and was a (somewhat) different radio packaged in basically the same way as its predecessor. This of course clobbers the resale value of the earlier model. Whether or not it leaves a bad taste with the customer depends on the significance of the changes, the product life of the original version, pricing, and other marketing-related issues. Positioning a product, or a line of products, in the minds of consumers is a delicate art that even marketing masters like Apple or Procter & Gamble struggle with. In the ham market, the current answer -- which I think is a very good one -- is to put as much flexibility as possible in upgradeable firmware, which can be supplied as a free download. This allows the manufacturer to constantly upgrade the product, and create customer loyalty and happiness at the same time: the exact opposite of what happens when a new hardware version is introduced that causes the previous hardware to seem outmoded. Tony KT0NY -- http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
