[ProFingerSk8er]

lol....is there a reason the price is droping like crazy?

$299 > $119?!?

 

[sygyzy]

I really am amazed at how everyone here could be so confused at why the price is dropping "so much".

At the $300 price point, it was very obvious they would not sale. This is not a case of prices just dropping over time due to better production technologies or competition. The fact that they were overpriced to begin with. What Rio did was what I like to call the Sucker Campaign. It's to see how many people, aka early adopters, would be willing to pay the high price they debuted at. Look at Apple and the iPOD. After about a year or two of sales, they decide to drop the price $100. Just like that. One Hundred Dollars. Are you kidding me? What did they do different? Move their production to Cambodia? What they did different was finish their market study, aka Sucker Campaign, and now they were ready to sell to the masses.

I am going to probably pick this up. But at about $100 per gigabyte, it doesn't come near any qualification for the word "deal"

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

But at about $100 per gigabyte, it doesn't come near any qualification for the word "deal"

I tend to agree. Although, when compared to those positively overpriced 64-256M flash players, the Nitrus is a better deal. They should sell out at that price point.

 

[blessingx]

There's no doubt there are marketing decisions being made for maximizing profits. Remember though backlogs, stocking, taxes, etc. can affect profit margins and creation of rebates. Although rumor has it Apple is making a healthy profit on each iPod, their price drop did correspond with Toshibas drives (and a second producer) going into larger production. I didn't agree with the original iPod having such a high price resulting in using the smaller (1.8-inch) drives, but keep in mind the retail of the 5 GB drives from Toshiba were the same price as the iPod itself. Assuming Apple got a deal, it may have covered the rest of the components, stocking, etc. The iPod sold, Toshiba increased production, dropped prices on drives...

I'd still like to see iPod prices drop further, but at least there's a back production reason for the changes.

And keep in mind memory isn't the same price in all forms. The above is an example. A couple years ago I paid $200 for a 340 MB Microdrive. Right now 1 GB is running about $150 retail from IBM. I don't know if Rio uses an off brand and likely they're getting a very good deal on them, but figure they're still paying in orders about 10,000 from off brand Cornice at ~$75 for 1.5 GB. Other components, packaging, advertising, support staff, development, maybe even some profit comes out of everything else. $299 is too high, but $119 seems to be cutting it close. One of those rebates is technically from Buy.com, but who knows if that's entirely coming from them or not.

 

[stevesolo]

I placed an order today with buy.com for the Nitrus $189.99-$50-$20 rebates. After placing the order I realized that the $50 rebate form that they provide to be downloaded indicates the valid dates of purchase are 10/21/03-11/30/03 not the 10/21/01-12/31/03 dates as advertised. I will be calling tomorrow to get clear on this or cancel the order.

Although I have what I think might be a good 800# to call them, it seems that they make it very difficult to locate a customer service telephone contact # online.
Anyone have their 800# or any thoughts on this issue?

 

[sygyzy]

stevesolo - Merry Christmas

 

[stevesolo]

Sygyzy- Dont know where you found that but thank you!!

 

[Rizumu]

SOLD OUT.

Well fudge. The deal is dead.

 

[IpaqMan]

This is a great deal for those who listen to audio books or speeches/sermons because the Nitrus is very portable/pocketable and has a good bookmarking mechanism.

 

[blessingx]

Well original thread price of $130 is there at least. Still a good deal. http://www.buy.com//retail/product.a...815&dcaid=1688