Cockpit Colin wrote:

..... Bose will use more expensive parts and put more
into R & D - but it probably still doesn't cost them more than $50 per
unit
(not counting R & D). Yes, they make a high margin, but that will be
offset
by the fact that they don't sell as many of them.

I have no clue whatsoever what it costs Lightspeed to manufacture their
headsets. However, having worked on the Bose X as a mechanical engineer
as they were being designed and released to manufacturing, I've got a
VERY good idea what the manufacturing costs of the Bose X are, and it's
nowhere NEAR $50. When they were released in early 1999, the
manufacturing cost (including amortization of tooling, which was to run
three years), was about $320/unit. Amortization of tooling was about
$30/unit. I would have to assume that in the intervening 5 years
there's been some cost reduction effort, but I'd be VERY surprised,
given how little the design has changes, if the manufacturing cost is
below $250/unit at this point.

And no, I no longer work there and get headsets cheap :-).

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://marc.zeitlin.home.comcast.net/
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2004