Scott,
you're dead on right with your comments although I think your scales / numbers
are even at their reduced level to high.
Realistically, how many braille devices are sold per year? 1000, maybe? Maybe
a few hundred?
With costs being fixed such as over head and payroll you have to make X
times more per sale if you only make a few hundred sales per year.
Look at how people argue and fight as it is, there's no way you'd get
the various vendors to conspire to keep prices high. I think basic economics
does this well enough already.
Remember too though just to counter you a little that more than one
accessibility provider pays their employees little enough that they can remain
on SSI and get the medical / medicade and financial coverage with out having to
pay out of their pockets. So the tax payers are funding the payrolls of some
of these vendors.
Still though I think the economies of scale are what's causing the issue.
Thanks
Scott
On Mar 7, 2011, at 12:13 PM, Scott Howell wrote:
> In reading this thread, I feel compelled to present a different argument to
> the high cost of Braille displays and thus will play devil's advocate here.
> It is possible that the high cost of Braille displays may be related to the
> fact that:
> 1. There is a small market, which means the cost will be naturally higher in
> order to offset the fact that fewer units would be purchased.
> 2. The cost of the components are produced at a much lower rate than the
> parts for other technology. FOr example, the cost of a display to be used in
> a monitor may be produced by the millions where the cells of a Braille
> display may be produced by the tens of thousands. This would mean that
> perhaps a lcd screen might cost $20 and the cells for a Braille display may
> be $20 per cell.
> 3. The cost of research and development is more do to the uniqueness of the
> product and specialized skill set.
> 4. Less competition in the market. COnsider that although several vendors
> sell Braille displays, only a few manufacturers actually produce them. In
> fact Baum makes displays they sell with their own name, but they also produce
> displays for APH, Human Ware, and perhaps others.
>
> There has been examples of how developers of adaptive technologies have
> produced products for less than hundreds and sold them for thousands.
> However, my argument stated above would justify this to some extent. COnsider
> that any company produces a product for X dollars and sells it for Y dollars.
> The X cost has to take into consideration research and development,
> marketing, distribution, and other overhead. Does this justify the cost of
> what most Braille displays? I could not answer that question because I have
> no idea what it really costs to produce such a device. I suppose you could
> make the argument that the research and development has probably been paid
> for several times over, but consider that innovation of new features and
> technology has not stopped either. I imagine if Braille displays were sold by
> the hundreds of thousands or millions the cost would be considerably less.
> So, I have not seen any evidence presented that supports the argument that
> "intrenched" providers artificially inflate prices to control the market at
> the expense of consumers. If there is some evidence to support this then
> great, but consider what you are saying would mean there is a conspiracy
> among the manufacturers and vendors. Does make for a fascinating discussion.
>
> On Mar 7, 2011, at 2:40 PM, Sarah Alawami wrote:
>
>> Yeppers. That's why.
>>
>> On 07/03/2011, at 11:05, "Cheree Heppe" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Cheree Heppe here:
>>>
>>> Is that why we don't have universal, affordable, Braille displays? Because
>>> intrenched providers are holding new development and innivation back to
>>> benefit current high priced offerings?
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Cheree Heppe
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Scott Granados" <[email protected]>
>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 10:32
>>> Subject: Re: macbook air vs ipad 2
>>>
>>>
>>> Apple isn't going to car if some nat of a company like fS brings legal
>>> action.
>>>
>>> Apple can simply use stalling tactics and let them run out of money
>>> spinning their wheels.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 6, 2011, at 7:02 AM, Jane wrote:
>>>
>>>> We're assuming they will do Braille. That'd be neat, *if* they can pull it
>>>> off and *if* Braille display makers don't push them out of the market by
>>>> constantly suing.
>>>>
>>>> Jane
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 5, 2011, at 11:07 PM, Sarah Alawami wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yeah don't forget it's thinner. When haptics comes out think of the
>>>>> screen room you wil have for braille right there.
>>>>> On Mar 5, 2011, at 7:22 PM, Cheree wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheree Heppe here:
>>>>>> I like the IPad, actually.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I went for the I-devicees first because they open a very intuitive, easy
>>>>>> entre into the Apple environment. No commands and keystroke chording
>>>>>> and what seemed to me a quick start interface.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In a bit, I'm ggoing to get an Air or Mac, but would have done so with
>>>>>> much more trepidation if not having tried the I-devices first.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As to the base measurements of a PacMate being smaller than an IPad,
>>>>>> true, but that's only a single dimension.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Cheree Heppe
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 05/03/2011, at 19:07, "David Tanner" <[email protected]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, let's see, the iPad is clunkier to carry around than an iPhone or
>>>>>>> iTouch. The iPad is almost as expensive as buying the basic MacBook
>>>>>>> Pro 13 with two gigabytes of memory, and the processor in the new iPad
>>>>>>> is only a 1.0 gigahert duel core processor. The MacBook Pro 13 has a
>>>>>>> lot faster processor than that and so does the Ayer if you want to pay
>>>>>>> the higher price for solid state memory instead of a hard drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The iPad makes me think of all the blind folks that have complained
>>>>>>> about the size of the PacMate QT. In fact, I don't think that the
>>>>>>> PacMate QT would be as large in flat area as the iPad.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ricardo Walker"
>>>>>>> <[email protected]>
>>>>>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>>>>>> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 6:46 PM
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: macbook air vs ipad 2
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Me personally,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If I need to get work done, I would go with a Macbook air. Its a full
>>>>>>> fledged computer, and besides the added size, you will find yourself
>>>>>>> bumping up against less barriers when trying to get things done.
>>>>>>> Especially if you have an iPhone or iPod touch already. What are you
>>>>>>> really missing in not getting an iPad?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> JMO
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ricardo Walker
>>>>>>> [email protected]
>>>>>>> Twitter, Skype, and AIM: rwalker296
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mar 4, 2011, at 8:48 AM, Denise Avant wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> hello all,
>>>>>>>> i am contemplating getting another apple device. i need something that
>>>>>>>> is light to take when i travel. i was thinking of the ipad 2 because
>>>>>>>> you can get pages to write with. the only problem here is that there
>>>>>>>> is no port for external media like a usb drive, is there?
>>>>>>>> my other alternative is that i can get the macbook air. but its a
>>>>>>>> little bigger. i really don't need a screen. but i would have a port
>>>>>>>> for external media. of course i would miss all of those apps you can
>>>>>>>> have on the ipad.
>>>>>>>> that can be negated by the fact that i have an iphone.
>>>>>>>> well, i would be interested in hearing from those with the air. i know
>>>>>>>> the ipad 2 is not out yet, but i'm sure there are some first
>>>>>>>> generation ipad users here.
>>>>>>>> thanks.
>>>>>>>>
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