>>The manufacturer absolutely cannot afford to bear the cost of the CLIK! drive, when a much cheaper, less power hungry solution is vailable with the FLASH slot. One cannot argue with the fact that a digital cam with a CLIK! slot built in has a higher factory cost than one with a CF slot, thus the manufacturer is giving away product margins for a feature that helps the customer ONLY if they are in the niche market of requiring a bunch of offline storage, NOT on a PC.
If you think the above logic is false, look at the ZIP model. Why hasn't the ZIP replaced the floppy in PCs? ZIP disks have a much lower cost per Mbyte than floppies, so all PCs should have ZIPS by now, right?<<
Ken -
Beware of thinking in absolutes.
Your logic is not false, and you do raise a good point. But you are ignoring a certain factor which does drive the market, and which does help to determine what features a manufacture will choose to build into a product.
Consider this question, if cost is the only thing that matters, then why is the Zip drive included in ANY computers? Why don't all the manufacturers just leave it out, since that's the cheaper thing to do?
Answer: Because some consumers LIKE the idea of the Zip drive, and see the added value of a computer that has one built in. Thus, some consumers are more likely to buy a computer with a Zip in it than one without, even if it costs a bit more.
Manufacturers need to differentiate their products. One way they can do that is to add features other manufacturers don't include.
Now if you don't believe THAT logic, then ask yourself why Sony produces the Mavica. It surely costs them more to include a floppy drive in that camera than it would a CF slot, or even their own MemoryStick interface.
When or if Agfa or any other manufacturer takes the risk of introducing a camera with a Clik! drive built in, then we will see. The added cost of the Clik! drive will not be so great that the camera can't be priced competitively. And then Agfa can say, "Check this out. With our camera you can add storage for much less than with their camera." Perhaps consumers will buy that camera more often than they do its competitors. If that happens, then other manufacturers will follow Agfa.
Does this mean that Clik! will eventually supplant CompactFlash in the marketplace? I very much doubt it. CompactFlash is too entrenched already. But it might get enough market share to become profitable for Iomega.
The feature sets of products are also determined by what sells, not just by what's the cheapest thing to build.
- Allen
A side note: You didn't have to say that my original point was a spin to suck in the uniformed or a rationalization for myself. You could have just made your counter point without the putdown. Especially since you're wrong about that. ;-) It's neither a rationalization or some kind of propaganda trick. It's just an opinion that differs from yours. |
