> On 4 Oct 2009, at 16:14, tom wrote:
>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 06:04:30PM -0400, tom wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> actually i think they should already be built in...they are so
>>>>> cheap...
>>>>>
>>>> Depends on what you mean when you say cheap. I see it listed at
>>>>
>>> just
>>>
>>>> under USD 10 for one sensor or the price of a 1.3 mpix camera
>>>> module. It's
>>>> also not as small as you would like for something you throw in
>>>> mostly for
>>>> fun.
>>>>
>>> Is the 1.3 mpix camera module also for a single unit? That seems
>>> remarkably good value.
>>>
>>> One would expect a pressure sensor to be much cheaper on the 1000, of
>>> course.
>>>
>> well, my thought was just: marketshare. more features out of the box
>>
>>> more customers > more competition.
>>>
>> and i dont think 10$ make adifference, not yet talking about
>> largeqty-volumes. eg rfid: nokia announces it since years, but FR
>> could be fo fast...im sorry, maybe im just to optimistic...
>>
>
> 1) Please don't top-post in reply to a bottom-post. It makes the flow
> of the conversation difficult to read.
>
> 2) Please don't post to the list in HTML. Plain-text is preferable.
>
>
>
> 3) The costs of production were discussed a LOT on this list in the
> past, when the Openmoko team was still active. To be honest, even if
> the component is only then it may be too expensive, as many more
> design and testing costs are added to the total production cost by the
> addition of the component.
>
> Customers will be dissatisfied if it doesn't work as expected. A large
> increase in market share is needed to make the addition worthwhile.
> Therefore the addition of a camera may be worthwhile, whereas the
> addition of a barometric sensor is not.
>
> However a camera requires retooling of the Freerunner's case, a
> surprisingly cost-prohibitive change. I think the cost of creating a
> new case for the Freerunner is considerably more than ,000. I would
> imagine that a camera requires other components to make it work and is
> more complex from the design point of view. There have historically
> been two major complaints about the Freerunner - lack of a camera and
> of 3G. Either might enlarge its market share considerably, but both
> were rejected on cost grounds.
>
> This barometer is self-contained and connected to the i2c bus, a
> _relatively_ simple addition. If there is demand for the barometer -
> although I'm inclined to agree with Rask that there wouldn't be - then
> it might it be justified to add it were Brazil ever to go into
> Freerunner production.
>
> A 1.3mp camera would produce complaints that it's a poor specification
> compared to the iPhone. Hardly anyone would be grateful for the
> addition of the barometric sensor.
>
> TBH, if the Freerunner were in reliable, long-term production, I might
> be able to imagine a market for Freerunners amongst hang-glider
> pilots. I think a person might be able to make a living adding
> Christoph's sensor and selling Freerunners with varioaltimeter
> software installed. The software would have to be closed-source,
> however, to make a livelihood out of it and realistically it might
> take a year to get the software to an acceptable quality for
> commercial sales (and still longer to build-up market share). The
> author might need to write anti-piracy measures into the code, and
> what is to prevent a determined attacker from patching the kernel to
> report a different IMEA number to the altimeter software?
>
> Stroller.
>
>
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