RE: Re: Optimus Keyboards ....somethings on the way.

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >I was browsing around the FAQ section of the website and it says
"It=20
> >will cost less than a good mobile phone"...
>=20
> Is that a good mobile phone without a contract price (ie 700)=20
> or one with a contract?

Myself I'm guessing at "good mobile phone without contract"
area...
=20
>=20
> >
> >...or on http://www.contractoruk.com/news/002253.html
> >
> >"Intending to be launched with an aluminium case and
polycarbonate=20
> >keys, Optimus is reportedly due for release in 2006 at around
=A3200."
>=20
> If they're releasing a 3 key version for $100 I seriously=20
> doubt they'll sell a 101 key version for 200 quid ($350) -=20

Small run first batch is going to be expensive though - I bet if you
realistically costed up Keiths first batches of KAT5's (in the days when he
was doing it as a hobby) then given his time and effort I bet you he made a
huuuuge loss on each set but nowadays his KAT5s (although not cheap) are
realistically priced for what they are - a niche market high quality
product.

I'm assuming that this first three key "keyboard" is more planned
as
something to iron out the bugs in the production processes first but I have
to say I'm intreagued as to how resilient they are to the ingress of crud -
my laptop keyboard is full of the stuff!

> especially bearing in mind the faux 1:1 exchange rate that=20
> companies tend to use... anything above 199 and imho I think=20
> they wont sell enough to make it worth while...

At any price there will be people who will buy it ... It's just at what
price point will you buy it? What of your "hot buttons" does it
press? If i=
t
presses enough then you'll kill for it and buy it no matter what cost.
Thes=
e
people are a design studio and not a manufacturer and so I suspect that
they'll price it to achieve a relatively low sales figure - I'm guessing at
=A3600 to =A3700 and if there's a mouse that matches it then I reckon
they'=
ll
sell a decent number of them to other style-lead businesses.

> I'm happy for them to prove me wrong, but I'm more than a=20
> little sceptical about it.

I very much doubt that they'll be able to do it for =A3200 - if they hit =
=A3500
with it I'll be surprised (and - sadly - I'll probably also be in the queue
for one even though I don't have a use for it because to me it presses that
"small object of desire" button quite hard).

Phil