🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990May24.170411.17281@phri.nyu.edu> roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
>	I was at a film recorder sales-talk/seminar this morning and saw a
>box from AGFA which sits on an AppleTalk net and looks like a LaserWriter
> I think it was called a CompuScript.  It seems like an idea

>I could gather) a 68020, 8 Meg of ram, and a hard disk with all the Adobe
>fonts on it.  The price is a whopping $18k, which really blew my socks off.
>	Why does this thing cost so darn much?  

>driving the cost up?  Is it just lack of competition in the marketplace
>and/or amortizing the development costs, or does it really cost that much
>to produce one of these beasts?
>--

Exactly right on all counts.  Yes it costs this much because of amortizing
development costs over many fewer units then Apple or SUN.  I'm sure
the latter two companies sell more boxes in a month than we do in a year.
(Also, they didn't mention that it's not all standard hardware inside).
But of course the competition is the biggest issue.  How many PostScript
RIPs are there that drive a color film recorder like the Matrix?  Even
if it was cheap to produce the price might still be high to take advantage
of the infamous "market window".  If and when the competition comes out
with something  (AND makes it cheaper) then I'm sure you'd see the 
price drop.













Just my opinion.












-- 
Rob Bradlee  w:(508)-658-5600 X5153  h:(617)-944-5595
AGFA Compugraphic Division.    ...!{decvax,samsung}!cg-atla!bradlee
200 Ballardvale St.                        bradlee@cg-atla.agfa.com
Wilmington, Mass. 01887           The Nordic Way: Ski till it hurts!