Jeppeson

Judah writes:

The law of supply and demand. If it wasn't worth $760 to you, you'd live
without it or switch platforms to something cheaper...

If you're required to keep the database up to date, you don't have much
choice.

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On Apr 5, 2:24 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
So what are their actual margins? What do you get for $760, how much does it
cost them to produce it, and how many people are paying that amount?

Taking a little more time to think it over, it's true that once the
data is collected into a digital form, then in theory Jepp could just
"press a button" and come up with updates for various GPS avionics.

They'd still need engineers to keep the compression methods up to
date, come up with check software, etc. So what's the cost for
that? Well, let's see. For example, Garmin sells about $250
million / year in aviation GPS. Probably that includes handhelds.
Judging from aircraft sales, etc, let's guess that means about 2,000+
panel-installed units per year. Let's say there's now about 10,000
units that buy updates. Just a very rough estimate.

10,000 x $300 = $3 million a year. Around here, that pays for about
15 engineers. With no profit. Gotta have that, so make it five
engineers and two million profit. Not huge.

The above numbers could be really far off, of course, and ignores a
lot of things. But I don't think it's 99% profit.

Fire away, financial types.
Cheers, Kev

And looking out the east windows is runway 17R/35L at KAPA about 200 feet
away...


"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
news

"Blanche" wrote in message
...

And, Jepp handles the world. When I use the term CAA, that's the generic
for any country's aviation authority. In the US, it's the FAA. There's
also the JAA, and others.

The advantage of living in the Denver area - Jepp is located just
west of the 17-35 runway of KAPA. When you decide to visit, I'll
happily arrange a tour.


And on the other side of the street is the 5th hole at Inverness Golf
Club, a beautiful par 3 of about 175-180 yards over the water...

Ahhhh, memories!!!

"Mxsmanic" wrote
Judah writes:

The law of supply and demand. If it wasn't worth $760 to you, you'd live
without it or switch platforms to something cheaper...

If you're required to keep the database up to date, you don't have much
choice.

You can choose to fly without it. GPS is nice to have but it isn't
absolutely necessary, at least not yet anyway.

Anyone who has purchased one of these units hopefully went into it knowing
that there was a single source for the database updates and also what the
cost of the updates were. If not, well, you can hardly blame Jepps for
that.

BTW, if you choose to download your updates the service drops to something
like $350 per year plus a one-time charge of around $120 for the programmer,
IIRC.

BDS

On Apr 5, 2:24 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
So what are their actual margins? What do you get for $760, how much does
it
cost them to produce it, and how many people are paying that amount?

All that matters is whether the service that is being provided is worth what
it costs. It doesn't really matter whether the supplier makes a 10% profit
or a 99.999% profit, as long as the value is there.

If the profit margins are high enough there will eventually be competition
in some form or another.

BDS

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Ron Natalie writes:

The interface doesn't need to be open. CompanyX needs to sell
the Garmins and Honeywell/Bendix/Kings, and Chiltons of the world
to convince them that they should allow the support (or push for
a standard interface). That's all part of what a free market is.
There's no artificial obstacle from someone getting into the biz
other than the fact that Jeppesen has been doing it for a very
long time.

Just like Microsoft.


How so...skitzo?

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Aluckyguess writes:

That is for the year. I had to buy thier datacard reader also that was
150.00.

So add another $760+ to the yearly cost of flying. How many hours do you
fly
per year?


Why, it's optional. Pilots are not REQUIRED to use it.

Maxwell writes:

How so...skitzo?

Microsoft has a de facto position of dominance because of factors largely
beyond its control but favorable to it. The same applies here with Jeppesen.

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Kev writes:

Taking a little more time to think it over, it's true that once the
data is collected into a digital form, then in theory Jepp could just
"press a button" and come up with updates for various GPS avionics.

I doubt that they are furnishing their data at cost, especially given their de
facto monopoly.

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On Apr 6, 12:53 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Kev writes:
Taking a little more time to think it over, it's true that once the
data is collected into a digital form, then in theory Jepp could just
"press a button" and come up with updates for various GPS avionics.

I doubt that they are furnishing their data at cost, especially given their de
facto monopoly.

One question would be: is insurance a factor ? Unlike MSFS, where
moving all the world's bridges to one location was just a humorous
software goof, Jeppesen could probably get sued big time if you ran
into something misplaced on their GPS data.

Kev