why are sams so expensive?

[zylesea]

Indeed MorphOS license is a bit expensive for a low end computer like the Efika. Anyway, I don't regret to have bought a license though, but I am kind of addicted anyway ;-)

A viable solution to get a taste of it while spending as less as possible may be this: Get an Efika for 99, add the other necessary parts from #? (dumpster/attic/ebay) you end up at about 99 -250 total cost for the hardware. Then toy around with the MorphOS Demo, with Aros, with Linux and see what the Efika can and cannot do. If you feel you actually like MorphOS, but don't want to register for the Efika, you will soon have the chance to run it on a way more powerful Mac Mini (I expect 5 - 10 times the speed). After trying out on the Efika you will know if a Mini w/ MorphOS is worthwile for you or not.
99-250 for toying around - it's worth a thought. If you feel you don't like it at all, you can sell it off again with an expected loss of no more than 50.

[lsmart]

I never said "Amigas have always cost more than PCs", I said they've always been expensive.  My 512k A500 with external floppy cost well over a thousand dollars (US) in 1989.

Well they were cheaper here (equiv. 600$ US in 1989 (no 2nd floppy) IIRC), but then maybe the avg. income was less here. New computers in general have been expensive until 2005, I´d say.

[kolla]

The Sam is not that much more powerful than Efika is

Nonsense - look, you cannot just look at the CPU alone to quantify "power". To me the efika is and always was useless, and it was never the CPU that was the problem. Too little RAM, borken IDE, dead slow USB and only one PCI slot (which can only be used for gfx card if you want to run MorphOS) - that's what kept me away. The SAM flex board fixes all that, at reasonable price - compared to anything else, the efika is still way overpriced with what little it offers.

I would say the SAM is perfectly priced, high enough to keep many people from buying it, so that the production can be kept in managably low numbers. If the price was lower, they would not be able to keep up with the demand, this is already a problem enough as it is. Also, more sold units means more annoying users etc. it makes perfect sense to grow the production and evolve the products slowly for a company like acube.

Anyways, if we want to stay on PowerPC, SoC is probably the only affordable way forward, the days of "pure" PowerPC CPUs are very much over.... I'll go as far as to say we're _lucky_ that we have PowerPC systems available at all, it's not something that's obvious to keep alive.

[Tension]

Market forces

[persia]

Amigas in the late '80s, early '90s were state of the art, big buck for current technology is fine.  But let's face it Sam would barely make state of the art 10 years ago...

Well they were cheaper here (equiv. 600$ US in 1989 (no 2nd floppy) IIRC), but then maybe the avg. income was less here. New computers in general have been expensive until 2005, I´d say.

[recidivist]

I would say the SAM is perfectly priced, high enough to keep many people from buying it,

Now that is a startling comment for someone who supposedly wants AmigaOS to succeed!
 Out here in the real world,businesses dream of selling MILLIONS of widgets ,TVs,and yes,even computers!

[stefcep2]

I would say the SAM is perfectly priced, high enough to keep many people from buying it, so that the production can be kept in managably low numbers. .

so thats where successful businesses have been going wrong-they've been selling too much.

[the_leander]

so thats where successful businesses have been going wrong-they've been selling too much.

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

[bloodline]

Thinking about it, SAMs aren't actually expensive... I saw on another forum someone moaning about the cost of Macs and iPhones... And I thought, as long as people are prepared to pay the price, the product isn't expensive...

[the_leander]

It's been said that nothing is expensive if you can afford it.

However, it doesn't change the fact that in terms of value for money, especially in comparison to the rest of the consumer computing world, it does seem to offer quite a lot less then the competition.

On that basis I do consider it expensive given the actual product's capabilities.

[bloodline]

It's been said that nothing is expensive if you can afford it.

However, it doesn't change the fact that in terms of value for money, especially in comparison to the rest of the consumer computing world, it does seem to offer quite a lot less then the competition.

On that basis I do consider it expensive given the actual product's capabilities.

Yeah, I agree... If it were £50 and came with an OS... Then I think it would be worth a look...

But my point is, as long as there are people prepared to spend that sort of money on that board... Acube would be stupid to sell it for less...

[tone007]

Acube would be stupid to sell it for less...

Unless of course they could make up for the lower profit per unit by selling greater quantity.

[the_leander]

Yeah, I agree... If it were £50 and came with an OS... Then I think it would be worth a look...

But my point is, as long as there are people prepared to spend that sort of money on that board... Acube would be stupid to sell it for less...

Yes and no.

Whilst selling at a high price will still garner some sales, reducing the price will sell a lot more as more people begin to perceive it as being value for money. The cost of manufacture goes down as batch sizes increase and so on and so on.

Short term they'll make a bit of cash. Long term there won't be nearly enough return on their product to justify a followup. They have to reduce not only the cost to the consumer, but also the costs involved in manufacture by buying in larger quantities if they hope to make a dent.

Selling more units also makes the customer base more attractive to potential developers. Who in their right mind would sit down and write a complex program when your customer base consists of around 600 or so remaining A1's, and maybe half as many Sams?

--edit--

Damn you tone007! :p

[bloodline]

Acube aren't stupid, they have quite an expensive board on their hands... And they know they can shift it to a set market, for a price that gives them a healthy profit. I don't think Acube could afford to sell that board for a price that would attract peope like you and me... So they don't.

[the_leander]

Acube aren't stupid, they have quite an expensive board on their hands... And they know they can shift it to a set market, for a price that gives them a healthy profit. I don't think Acube could afford to sell that board for a price that would attract peope like you and me... So they don't.

Actually I'd say more short sighted then anything else.

By getting bigger batches they reduce unit cost, some of that reduction then goes to the customer base. Which, due to the reduced cost will be larger (for instance more people willing to blow £200 then £600). Whilst their profit per unit overall will be reduced, this will be made up for and then some by the increased volume.

Which again brings us back to the devs, without whom the Amiga market (such as it is) is completely unsustainable.

Yes, they can sell it at £600, but to how many people? If there are a thousand Sams put into the wild before the production ceases I would be surprised. Not many people are going to be willing to spend their time/money on developing software for 1500 (tops) users.

[bloodline]

The thing is that there isn't an Amiga Market anymore, it's dead and gone. Acube are selling a product that will never be comercially viable from a developer point of view. Due to piracy alone, one needs to be sure that you can pay the bills even if only 10% of all users of your software actually pay for it... In the Amiga world 10% of all users is only about 10 to 50 people... That's not going to pay the rent []