On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 13:11, objectwerks inc <[email protected]> wrote: > > Arno: You did not read what I said ;-) As a WPI alum, you should recognize > the phrase "same order of magnitude". :-) $2-3 say for the cheap thumb > drive (SW distribution drives are usually a simple flat piece of plastic with > a little flash embedded, not teh fancy ones you see at retail) is in the same > order of magnitude as a $0.75 DVD or whatever the price is. It is more but > in the same magnitude.
OK, but a cost that is 2-4 times as expensive isn't something to ignore at the volumes that Apple would be working with. > The data dumping to flash device is probably a cheaper device than the > burning the DVD device. I wouldn't think so, but I also have no concrete numbers to reference. It just doesn't seem likely that DVDs are more expensive to produce and press than USB drives are to produce and load. The manufacturing isn't free for either medium. > I am also not advocating replacing all DVD distribution of SW with thumb > drives. It is however an option that is not significantly more expensive > than the DVD route and has its advantages. Even if 2-4 times as expensive isn't significant, it's still greater. Network transfer is going to be cheaper. On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 13:14, Ian Ragsdale <[email protected]> wrote: > Sure, the disk itself will be way cheaper than the thumb drive, but the much > lower packaging & distribution costs from the smaller size will go a long way > towards making up the difference. I doubt there's much difference here. Certainly not enough to outweigh the manufacturing and loading costs. But again, I don't have any numbers to back this up. > And if you're strictly looking from Apple's perspective, the cost savings of > simplifying their supply chain, and lowering their manufacturing and support > costs by removing a non-solid-state part (the most likely kind to need > repair) is probably going to WAY outweigh the extra cost of shipping thumb > drive media. Exactly. This is also why they found it better to drop the optical drive and offer an existing external. Not shipping USB drives (The Air today, the full line in the future) further lowers that cost. -- arno s hautala /-| [email protected] pgp b2c9d448 _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
