"How many actually are Google Glass?» Bashny.Net

Resource Teardown.com disassembled Google Glass glasses and appreciated in an amount slightly less than $ 100, at least as many are its components.

With the expansion of the program Google Glass Explorer last month, the number of buyers techno score increased as the number of closer study of this device. After purchasing a second wave got my glasses, some financial and thrifty comrades began to safeguard their 1500 dollar Soup from each other.

We have nothing to blame now friends. For over a year, Google consistently keeps the price tag - $ 1,500 - that incites especially curious users to "borrow" from other points and find out what part of the price tag is its tiny components. Intangible costs, as the development and study of naturally incorporated in the value of points, but what percentage this represents of the total value of points?

According to the latest estimates from the resource Teardown.com - a subsidiary of the consulting group TechInsights, who herself was surprised last week from an cost components for Google Points : $ 79.98. This 94.7 percent underpricing was enough to make the press secretary Google make a short statement report Wall Street Journal :« absolutely wrong ».

Glass has received several requests to make out on the shelves components unit prices, after the launch of sales in the past year, but no one did not get any answers, except for отчета China Post , particularly stands out prisms Projector - $ 30.

Resource Estimation Teardown.com looks quite adequate, at least based on the wholesale price components: a 5 megapixel camera - $ 5.56, the processor - $ 13.96, 16 GB NAND flash memory - $ 8.18, and so on. But compared to the cost of the components China Post from 2013 resource estimate Teardown.com for High-PPI «display / touchscreen and glass" seems too cheap to be true: $ 3.

«25000 vs million» h4> «Our [approximate price] for a display device, flies into penny for those manufactures these displays," said the expert resource Teardown.com from the Chicago office of Al-bank. Adding a simple projector with a prism to a display device (display), for a total of about $ 5, but even with that in mind, "we heard the view that the display device can cost even cheaper.»

Although Minkowski largely confident of its overall assessment, it is easy to recognize that the report will soon undergo some changes. On the one hand, he and his team have made the mistake of assuming that Glass used conventional TFT display, actually used in Glass LCOS equipment. "We thought, and decided that it just TFT display that uses a prism to project the picture," says Minkowski. "Apparently it is not»

Since Teardown.com posted a report-bank immediately began to recheck the figures from equipment manufacturers and IT experts. "Now 1,000 LCOS projectors will cost you $ 30," says Minkowski, and he is confident that the price will be much lower for large buyers such as Google. "In what amounts procurement manufacturers reduce [price], I do not know. If Google buys 25,000 million instead, it is quite another matter. »

Other components, on the other hand, were found in other portable devices, and these devices are already on the market, a specific example of the chip Texas Instruments OMAP4430. The price of these components may vary from the total volume of the order, but Minkowski, more than confident that the prices for processors, memory, cameras, and other components will always be stable.

Components vs R & D h4> «If I had to guess, I would say that the final price will be somewhere between 90-95 dollars," concluded Minkowski, given the price of production Dispel and other mechanical components. "The final price can of course be a little lower." He could not confirm when Teardown.com lay out an updated valuation points Google Glass, «but it is definitely on our list of priorities" - said Minkowski.

Fortunately for otsenshikov with Teardown.com, they were only interested in wholesale prices koponentov points "when it comes to development costs and the like, we have not attempted to evaluate them" - says Minkowski. "There are too many unknowns»

It would be fair to assume that the "price bridge" between the cost of "raw" components and component housing plastmas Glass, as well as R & D and customer support cost Glass, Glass doing useful device can be quite high. Limited sale possible as either could affect the price of, well, or if you want to: glasses something new and rare, so that the newly minted pay henchmen.

Nevertheless, such a range of prices is irrelevant if Google calculates that users will massively use (wear) glasses, while avoiding some of the restaurants and politseskih during use. Meanwhile, Google sleduyuet for their "spenders-explorer", and the cost of components koleblyaschayasya around $ 100, bodes well for the start of mass points at a reasonable price, especially since comparable products, such as Android Wear , trying to convince users that they must plunge into the world of wearable.

P / S / Dear Habravchane, translate articles, I realized that the article is the author's reflections on the data resource Laid Teardown.com. If this is not the format Habra minus pleasure - will be a lesson for me.

Source: habrahabr.ru/post/221555/