Andrew Cowan wrote:
>
> </lurk>
>
> So how much do cell phones cost to manufacture?
>
> <lurk>
That, my firend, depends on how many they make... which in turn,
depends on how many are actually sold to consumers... which, of
course, depends on how much they cost (which is slightly related
to how much the carriers can make from the average subscriber).
That disconnect or preception gap, between how much carriers can
make and how much the consumer *thinks* the cell phone will cost
them, is part of the sales grift used by the industry.
The folks who can give you the closest "answer" to your question are
the carriers, who know, from usage statistics, handset activation
rates, pre-pay card registration, handset age/model, feature usage
matrix and contract duration of their subscribers.
Beyond economy of scale, economy of evolution is another significant
factor. Handset manufactures that have the most experience constantly
bringing new handsets through the development cycle will win due to
decreased development cycle costs. The trend of outsourcing handset
development/manufacturing is a clear consequence of this economy.
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Sat Jul 28 09:33:15 2001