Re: $99 Linux box?
- Posted by David Cuny <dcuny at LANSET.COM> Mar 14, 2000
- 526 views
Irv Mullins wrote: > Take a look at this, please: I've seen the box, it's pretty cool. I'm suprised that they haven't changed their price already; from what I've been reading, there are NO distributors in the US that have any left, and the backorders are filled as well. When it initially hit the trade papers a while back, the suggested price was $400(US), but the price was lowered to $200. Their IPO notes that even this price is a loss, although they won't reveal what the actual manufacturing cost is. It's a very nicely designed product, and I'd like to see the company succeed in the market. The $99 must be a huge loss-leader price; they're supposed to be recouping the cost over time by collecting ISP fees, as well as selling advertising. I think it's the LCD panel that's driving sales; the average user isn't interested in a 180Mhz box, and you can't even hang a floppy off one of these. I suspect that it'll only be a matter of days before they change their policy to mandating an ISP signup, start leasing the boxes, or simply mangle the motherboard so it no longer has a usable IDE port. -- David Cuny