Wayne:
If Eyetech HONESTLY cannot produce this already antiquated board -- with processor -- for under $300, then they are incompetent. I don't think they are incompetent, so $250 or more must be profit.
Interesting proposition. Have you any idea how much the IBM 750CXe costs? I can't find anything on the web, but when I look at the price of G3 accelerator cards for the Mac I get the impression they don't come that cheap. Plus the board itself, plus fitting, plus carriage from the Far East to the UK, plus AInc's licence fee, plus a bit to pay for company overheads...
Also, it's a fairly high risk article - unlike cheap x86 boards which can generally be expected to sell steadily and reliably - so, yes, I
would expect the markup for both manufacturer and distributor to be a little higher than for mass-produced stuff (my definition of mass-produced does include runs of 1000 articles... but runs
plural i.e. several, not just one or two with no guarantee of any more at present).
I'm not convinced the situation is as extreme as you think.
