Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today
Guys,
I work in sales in the electronic component industry.
First of all, those "iSupply" cost estimates are just that - ESTIMATES. Much of the costs are based on list prices or publicly attainable prices. Major customers like Apple buying components in the millions have prices that are not published but rather negotiated on a customer by customer basis. All of that sort of discussion is highly confidential and major manufacturers like Apple or Motorola or Lucent guard their prices aggressively. I deal every day with one of those 3 companies and no one outside the agreed on parties know the pricing.
I can guarantee you that Apple is not losing money on the AppleTV. I doubt the cost is $237. Maybe Apple is not making much money here (do they need to?) but costs of 40 Gig mobile drives have come down a lot in the last year for one. Other costs have risen but yet on the average, the costs came down. I can guarantee you that they probably got some cost concessions from their suppliers in order to lower the price. I don't think Apple makes a lot from movie/music sales so losing money on a piece of hardware doesn't make a lot of sense.
Guys,
I work in sales in the electronic component industry.
First of all, those "iSupply" cost estimates are just that - ESTIMATES. Much of the costs are based on list prices or publicly attainable prices. Major customers like Apple buying components in the millions have prices that are not published but rather negotiated on a customer by customer basis. All of that sort of discussion is highly confidential and major manufacturers like Apple or Motorola or Lucent guard their prices aggressively. I deal every day with one of those 3 companies and no one outside the agreed on parties know the pricing.
I can guarantee you that Apple is not losing money on the AppleTV. I doubt the cost is $237. Maybe Apple is not making much money here (do they need to?) but costs of 40 Gig mobile drives have come down a lot in the last year for one. Other costs have risen but yet on the average, the costs came down. I can guarantee you that they probably got some cost concessions from their suppliers in order to lower the price. I don't think Apple makes a lot from movie/music sales so losing money on a piece of hardware doesn't make a lot of sense.
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