Hardware Is Dead — At Least Most Expensive Hardware Is 342
First time accepted submitter ze_jua writes "In this article, Jay Goldberg, a financial analyst who travels to Shenzhen several times a year, analyses the potential consequences of the very low cost of hardware he found there on the consumer electronic industry worldwide.
He wrote this piece of text after he found a very nice $45 Android 4 tablet. Are we so close to given-away tablets?"
No. (Score:3, Insightful)
This is retarded. Just like 99.99% of all the "news" on this site.
Absolutely. (Score:5, Insightful)
Expensive hardware has been dead for a while. That's why Apple had such disappointing preorders of the new iPhone and has been lagging behind Samsung in tablet sell-through.
Or, maybe not.
Nope (Score:2, Insightful)
Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
There will always be lemmings willing to pay for shiny bragging rights.
Not cheaper really, (Score:4, Insightful)
because somewhere, some poor bastard always pays the difference in terms of lowered wages, slavelike labour, oh and of course there are dollars to save by screwing up the environment by improper mining and waste disposal.
Gourmet food dead (Score:5, Insightful)
Gourmet food must also be dead because you can feed yourself off of cheap multivitamins and cheap microwaveable burritos and tap water.
Re:Absolutely. (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple is definitely not the cheapest option, but neither are the high-end and competing Android devices. The point is not that the top of the line items don't sell, it is that the budget options have become insanely cheap in the Big Mac index.
Re:Not cheaper really, (Score:2, Insightful)
because somewhere, some poor bastard always pays the difference in terms of lowered wages, slavelike labour, oh and of course there are dollars to save by screwing up the environment by improper mining and waste disposal.
As we have seen even Apple use Foxconn
Re:Absolutely. (Score:5, Insightful)
iPhones hit that "stupid spot" in the American consumer - no money down, affordable monthly payments, visible bling to flash around with your friends, and it has grown into a hip-cool brand too.
Doesn't matter what it does or doesn't do, with those components you've got a winner.
Re:Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not quite the same. A car is a giant cost, $10-50k. That's a big difference from a $50-500 tablet computer. So it's absolutely rational to try to make a safe purchase decision, even if it costs more. Honda and Toyota have built up excellent reputations for reliability over several decades now; cheaper brands haven't. The American brands have built themselves terrible reputations for reliability, by contrast.
The problem is, the real quality factors have been changing over time. The American brands have gotten a lot better. The Korean brands have improved to an amazing degree since the early 90s Hyundai Excel. And Honda and Toyota have been having problems (like the Prius pedal problem a few years ago), and have fallen behind in other places too. The Honda Civic, which has been on Consumer Reports' top choice list for decades, has actually fallen off of it now, mainly because there's so many other choices that have surpassed it in value.
But it takes time for reputations to change. For cheaper items, people are much more willing to take a chance, since if a $50 tablet computer turns out to be a POS, they're only out $50 and they can buy another one. But if a $35000 car turns out to be a POS, then not only is that a huge financial loss (even if you turn around and re-sell it on the used market, you'll lose thousands), but there's a potential to lose time too, in missing work because your car broke down in the morning commute, having to deal with repairs and loaner or rental cars, etc. Reliable transportation has huge benefits aside from the purchase price.
Re:Absolutely. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, because Google knowing that you're looking at IMAG1423.jpg or SL732581.jpg is going to spill the beans on all the secrets in your life.
Re:Absolutely. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wrong, the expensive part is Apple's monstrous profit margin.
Re:No. (Score:5, Insightful)
The hardware is never 'free'. You pay the subsidy.
The difference here is that whern they get this cheap, and Fry's sells them for $79, and there is no real quality problem (though I can replace this every 18 months and not feel bad except for recycling it - not), then they arre so commoditized that the 'serious' tablet makers are screwed.
The way out is to virtually and literally give them away, and start making money on the service. So if Amazon is NOT getting these, they are failing, and if they are, they are SCREWING us even more.
Someone will offer a subscription service for eBooks based on vanilla Android tablets. Someone will offer a music subscription also, based on ubiquitous tablets everywhere.
Win.
ps - I propose that Android is the reason. When the OS AND the apps are all so cheap to deliver, the hardware follows. And we all really just want our books, music, magazines, blogs, candy web sites, and not so much a powerful machine to do it. Because now, evern impossibly cheap tablets are more than enough.
I'll buy one, the wife wants to try one, and she's just dropped her iPhone, so cheap is very attractive to her. These tablets are cheaper than FIXING her iPhone.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nope (Score:4, Insightful)
There will always be a market for premium hardware. This is just abjectly idiotic.
Always is a long time. Try visiting your local hardware store and aking about the "premium" brand of nails, or copper wire.
My grandfather's blacksmith swore by Glasgow Metalworks nails, and would never buy that cheaper generic made-in-America crap.