Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 3

Mo Money, Mo Modules; No Money, No Modules

These prices for springboard modules seem very expensive. How many of us who spend $1000 for a desktop computer would pay over $250 for a basic game pack? Yet for the owner of a basic $150 Visor, that amount is proportional to the $40 it would cost to by the new 6 game entertainment module. Furthermore, judging by the Visorcentral review, the games on the module aren't all that great. We're not talking Zap 2016 here, people!

Now I don't count myself as a "no money" person, and I own a $250 Visor Deluxe, not a Visor Solo-- but I don't own any modules. I got my Visor before any but the basic modules had been announced and I expected prices to fall quickly as more competitors entered the market. No such luck. When will we see *truly* "infinite expansion" potential with the arrival of the $20 module?

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Midwest
Posts: 232

Expansion via modules is not an original idea, and many who have tried it have failed. I'm still a proud owner of two TI-99/4A computers. The first I paid $300ish for. The second I paid $49 for. The second one was so cheap because the product was failing. The product was failing because it needed TI software modules to do anything productive with it. TI kept tight reins on module licensing, and most were $80 to over $100 each. At that time (1980ish), this was simply too much for most home owners to want to pay.

I think the Palm industry perceives it's customer base as business users who are used to paying high prices for their gadgets, since most charge them to their expense accounts. The fact that Handspring is letting Walmart sell their Visors suggests to me that the want the common man to own a Visor. I predict the same thing will happen to the Visor product line as happened to the TI-99/4A if module prices are kept artificially high: They'll die. Of course, it's an open platform, and Handspring strongly encourages other companies to create springboard modules. That's a good step in the right direction.

Of course, If I created a popular module, I'd try and make as much money off of it as I could. It's human nature. What many clever marketers have discovered, though, is that a lower profit margine can increase the volume of sales, often meaning MORE profit in the long run. As more people owned them and showed them to their friends, those friends would go out and buy one. I don't know how many Eyemodules have been sold, but I'd bet that they could quadruple or ten-fold that number if they cut the price in half. I don't know what one costs to manufacture, and it may be more than half the current selling price, but I doubt it.

I suggest anyone that thinks a module is priced more than it is worth, simply NOT buy it. The pricing pattern of most electronic products suggest that either the price will come down, or the product will be improved at the same price. I can wait for either.

Dave

__________________
There is nothing yet made by man that cannot be improved upon.

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 35

i think that the makers of moduals are gearing their products to the techno gadget freaks and enthuiasts. They KNOW people will pay to get the coolest new thing out there, so there is no need to gear thier products (and prices) towards less gadget crazy people.

I am gadget crazy- but im cheap. i got the solo, and i dont have any moduals yet. The moduals dont have the same potential as just a visor solo does for the price it has.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Posts: 406

quote:

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Originally posted by DBrown
Expansion via modules is not an original idea, and many who have tried it have failed.

[snipped for brievity]

I suggest anyone that thinks a module is priced more than it is worth, simply NOT buy it. The pricing pattern of most electronic products suggest that either the price will come down, or the product will be improved at the same price. I can wait for either.

Dave

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 28

I think the wireless springboad modules would sell like hotcakes if they offered free internet access. Is this a crazy idea? If M$ has taught us one thing, it is it's marketshare that matters!

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

Yeah, 24/7 access would kill.
Even on cell phones - but I believe they've already sold 1 billion, so they're not really hurting.
Palm OS, etc. is only up to 10M.
That's nothing on world pop.
So I suggest they go 24/7 quick, before they lose all their customers.
Most people can probably get by w/the simple PIM some cell phones now give ... and if it keeps improving ...

Lots of good ideas in this thread, I'd affirm every one of them.
Good to review the subj. every now and again, prob.
I only own 1 module myself.

And as Billy Crystal might say: "Don't get me started on that SixPack" ...