Re: USB input devices-- Second Sight

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Mike Kent writes ...
> 
> Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
> 
> >> While I'm not asking to be gouged, it only makes sense that specialty
> >> cards with very low production volumes will cost more than even more
> >> capable cards with production lots in the hundreds of thousands.
> 
> >      In the case of the Apple II market, a small manufacturer-- say an
> > individual or users group-- has the advantages of low labor costs, low
> > capital costs, and very little competition.
> 
> I'll agree that user/hobby groups can underprice a retail manufacturer,
> but right now the Second Sight card isn't made that way.  It's made as a
> for-profit product by a for-profit business entity.  That's where sales
> volume kills us II owners.
>

     Yes; the Apple II market is not a billon user horde in which you
can sell 5-10 thousand units of almost anything. On the other hand, IF
you have something to sell which is of interest to II users, your sales
volume might be well above 10k.

     When you say that "the Second Sight card isn't made that way", you
are really just observing that someone paid out too much to get the
thing produced. High production costs have left us with a high retail
price (approx. $160).

     Jeff Blakeney suggested that SS should be priced around $50-$60.
This is about my number when considering the price at which I might buy
such a card. To be more specific, it would need to below $50 because, at
that point, you probably attract enough buyers to create the beginnings
of an SS owner base.

     Of course, it is easy to suggest that someone, the SS seller,
discount _their_ property. They are the ones absorbing a loss, not us.
Whatever may happen with SS, the board remains a useful example for
discussing the Apple II market.


 
> Perhaps when Sequential ends their production of the card someone like Joe
> Kohn or Tony Diaz could be convinced to secure the rights to the card.
> I'm not sure who else would be capable of ensuring production.
> 
> I'm afraid that when Sequential ends production of the Second Sight and
> the RAMfast those cards will join the ranks of the Apple II historical
> file.

LOL! Not exactly a positive outlook.

     Sequential may decide to bail out. Such moves usually win a measure
of sympathy mixed with praise for 'making the hard decision'. My
inclination would be to regard 'leaving town' as a mistake.

     For one thing, Sequential has already taken the big up-front cost
hits for the boards. For another, SS will immediately become more
attractive should the 'Face Lift' project succeed.

     The potential for good sales of both cards exists, though at lower
prices. So, the challenge for Sequential is to find a way to cut
manufacturing costs. The idea of selling card 'kits' sounds promising.


> 
> >      Still, if the idea is to create a significant base of SS owners
> > ready to buy for-SS games and other products, then, practically
> > speaking, the board is over-priced. A card which offers new display
> > formats on a new monitor is not the sort of thing one buys in the hope
> > of being among a few elite owners.
> 
> Perhaps it's a chicken-and-egg scenario, but I just don't think there ever
> was enough software waiting in the wings where Sequential could subsidize
> its hardware with software sales.
 ....

     Agree; but, then, if Sequential were interested in selling
software, the first item should have been a patch for GS/OS. And, it
would have been good marketing to have, say, IIgs ports of some good
for-PC games ready to go on the Second Sight board. A booth at Kansas
Fest showing a IIgs running Ultima VI, Wing Commander II, Might & Magic
III, Eye of the Beholder II, and Wizardry VI could have had the SS (plus
whatever hard disk and accelerator cards were used) 'selling like
hotcakes'.

     Sequential's decision was to spring the board on us and expect
users to come up with games and other applications which would make
'everyone' want to own one.

     This approach used to work fine back in the pre-GS days.
Unfortunately for SS, the mass of users had long ago been cut out of
'serious' programming. Had the new GS BASIC been available, things may
have turned out better; but, it wasn't. Few users were willing to spring
for an expensive video board which did not seem to do much more than let
you hook up a VGA monitor.

     All of which is water under the bridge. Sequential has hung on to
SS during the rough times; they might as well stick with it now that the
situation seems to be improving.



Rubywand