Re: $99 Linux box?
On Tue, 14 Mar 2000, you wrote:
> 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.
It can't be _too much_ of a loss leader. After all, I bought a 300mhz box,
same memory, etc. with HD and 24x CD for $229 recently at Microcenter.
> 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.
No doubt they will try to lock in the ISP fees, assuming they can legally do
so.
Irv
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