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Hardware is dead

venturebeat.com

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Re: Hardware is dead

#61

Post by drivebyacct2 »

patdennis wrote: post #23

Here's a link for anyone who feels like exploring the wonderful world of cheap generic Chinese tablets: http://www.dealextreme.com/c/tablets-1409 Or cheap generic Chinese anything, for that matter.

Someone ought to try the Allwinner tablets before trashing them. There's nothing wrong with them. At all. That SoC is also powering an enormous number of jumpdrive-sized Android sticks that turn your TV into a big XBMC-capable screen.

It's mesmerizing to take one of these sticks, plug it into a TV and then Airplay/uPnP-play content on it from my mother's phone, or my Dad's desktop/server PC, or my phone/tablet/laptop, and have everyone's phone instantly be a remote for it.

Re: Hardware is dead

#62

Post by dholowiski »

A $45 knock off tablet, bought in China miles from the manufacturer doesn't equate to a $45 price tag in the USA. Put a brand name on it (and some quality control), put in the 8 or 16gb the market requires (this tablet was 4gb) and shipping and import fees, and you're easily up to the $200 we're paying today.

This is a non-story.

Re: Hardware is dead

#63

Post by jiggy2011 »

polyfractal wrote: post #49
jiggy2011 wrote: post #38

I guess the key will become content. Tablet makers will want to be "the only tablet that can do X" where X won't necessarily be a technical hardware feature but rather a deal made with a content producer to be the only platform for their content to be distributed on. That way you can sell devices at a huge markup despite the hardware being identical to lower end models.

This is what Amazon seems to believe, although they are marking down prices, not marking up. They appear to be fine with producing cheap, commodity tablets as a means to enable more content distribution from their services. Classic razor blade model. It's worked well for Kindle (ereader version) so far, and I imagine it will work pretty well for their tablets. When you have good content, you want to practically give…

It would be possible to come at it from the other direction though.

Let's say Apple decided to buy up some big content producer or network. Let's say HBO because that's the one everybody seems to talk about.

They could now make that content exclusive to their devices, or perhaps even models of their devices. Say you want to watch "game of thrones" you have to buy the 16GB instead of the 8GB one of whatever. Despite the fact that there is no technical reason for this to be required, you can then charge much more money for the 16GB one, an order of magnitude more than the extra flash storage is worth.

Re: Hardware is dead

#64

Post by brador »

2 cents: After the hardware break even point how does a hardware manufacturer gain an advantage in such a market? Add malware to the build.

The manufacturers are faceless, nameless and blameless. There's no way for a bad sale to really hurt them. Hence, no market incentive to keep it clean.

Expect these to go lower still, but personally I would stick to branded tablets for anything requiring a secure login.

Re: Hardware is dead

#65

Post by cfinger »

I think he has it backwards. Hardware is getting cheaper, making it easier to sell products that used to be too expensive. The cheap labor in China is fairly accessible to everyone.

This is an opportunity, not a death blow.

$0.99 Apps didn't 'Kill' software for the same reason.

Re: Hardware is dead

#66

Post by spiralpolitik »

cs702 wrote: post #59

The first question that popped in my mind as I read this was: how will this affect Apple over time? If tablets with decent specs are available in China at relatively low volumes for $35 each, it's a matter of time before we start seeing free and nearly-free tablets in developed countries like the US. (Not just Amazon; companies like Verizon and Comcast could throw in a free 7" Android tablet just for signing up with…

If the market follows the iPod model then consumers on a whole will prefer the Apple models over the "cheap" alternatives. This will continue until the market is superseded by another market.

If the market follows the PC model then Apple's share will collapse to a modest percentage, but will still control the profit share.

In either case Apple wins.

Re: Hardware is dead

#67

Post by freshhawk »

mef wrote: post #47
freshhawk wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... then we are entering a golden age of hardware ... It can also herald an era of 'mom and pop' hardware companies." Exactly! I never understand bloggers and pundits who analyze these things from the perspective of the stockholders or owners of the large players instead of the consumers/small players. Why the hell would you cheer about the high margins charged on the products you are paying for? Is marketing gettin…

Not sure if you were referring to the article author, but Jay Goldberg is a financial analyst with an investment bank.

More referring to the general trend, even among commenters.

This is not a perfect example, since you can make the argument that the audience is other investors who want to some trend forecasting and have a generally conservative mindset.

But it does bring up another possible reason for this behaviour: for those with a stake in maintaining the status quo it now makes sense to attempt to fight commoditization through marketing/lobbying disguised as journalism now that ethics in journalism is ebbing and the cost to publish a blog is low.

I personally think it's a result of the success so many brands have had in tying brand choice to personal identity and tribal affiliation, but that doesn't apply to the writer of this piece obviously.

Re: Hardware is dead

#68

Post by noonespecial »

pyre wrote: post #53
noonespecial wrote: post #8

I've already started sticking them to the walls of my house to control lights, the thermostat, the garage door etc. This didn't make sense at $400/device but as soon as they hit $100 or so the game was afoot. Now they're so cheap, its literally cheaper to grab one from "the pile" and whip up a nice html5 interface for the task than to buy a dedicated Insteon controller or Nest thermostat. Hell, it was cheaper to auto…

I'm curious how much time / hardware hacking was necessary to implement your own thermostat or garage door controller. The garage door controller seems like the simpler of the two to reverse engineer, but a thermostat has a number of inputs to reverse engineer unless there is a documented/standard api of sorts. Also, where are you sourcing cheap touch screens 'from the pile?'

Tablets : http://www.dealextreme.com/c/tablets-1409

Thermostats. Most houses have "3 wire" or "5 wire" layouts with standard colors. http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat3.htm. Its pretty easy to call for heat or cool. Get a temperature sensor for your beaglebone from sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=temperature+sen...

I replied further down on how the garage door worked out.

Re: Hardware is dead

#69

Post by bigdubs »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #7

Hardware is dead; long live hardware. The free-fall in PC prices in the 90s "killed" the PC, except that every major PC manufacturer still sells high-end models, and retailers still make money on them. The free-fall in automotive prices in the 20s "killed" the automobile, except that people kept buying faster, sleeker, newer models anyway. Like so many other electronics and everyday devices, the commoditization of ta…

So not to be that dude, but ...

"The King is dead, long live the King." refers to the accession of a new monarch. It implies in the language an immediate, uninterrupted rule of the line.

It should not be used when something has died, and it's just dead and there is no implied line of succession.

A terrible but relevant example would be "the iPhone is dead, long live the iPhone.", implying that the 4s is dead and 5 now reigns.

Re: Hardware is dead

#70

Post by natrius »

bigdubs wrote: post #69
thaumaturgy wrote: post #7

Hardware is dead; long live hardware. The free-fall in PC prices in the 90s "killed" the PC, except that every major PC manufacturer still sells high-end models, and retailers still make money on them. The free-fall in automotive prices in the 20s "killed" the automobile, except that people kept buying faster, sleeker, newer models anyway. Like so many other electronics and everyday devices, the commoditization of ta…

So not to be that dude, but ... "The King is dead, long live the King." refers to the accession of a new monarch. It implies in the language an immediate, uninterrupted rule of the line. It should not be used when something has died, and it's just dead and there is no implied line of succession. A terrible but relevant example would be "the iPhone is dead, long live the iPhone.", implying that the 4s is dead and 5 no…

In my reading, his usage fits your description.
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