Blog entry by Kam Gerken
Ever surprise how Amazon was able to bundle unlimited Whispernet (Sprint EVDO) with the Kindle 2? To start out with, eBooks are small, actually small in the context of digital media downloads (music, audio-books, motion pictures) so there's little impact to the Sprint community. Kindle 2 is also sporting a reasonably healthy markup to cover the data fees. After conducting its own teardown and analysis, iSuppli estimates that the Kindle 2 costs simply $185.Forty nine for supplies and manufacturing. The estimate does not embrace the costs associated to advertising, distribution, pcba class-actions, or the pain you feel at having discovered the true definition of free. Full press launch after the break. El Segundo, Calif., April. The direct material cost of the Kindle 2, consisting of all components used to make the product, quantities to $176.83. When adding within the conversion costs-i.e., manufacturing bills and the battery-the total rises by $8.66 to $185.49. The whole materials and manufacturing prices reported in iSuppli's teardown analysis of the Kindle 2 reflect only the prices for direct materials, manufacturing and fundamental tests. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacturing of the core gadget itself-i.e., the cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees; those not already included into the per element price-software program, software program loading and take a look at, transport, logistics advertising; and other channel prices. These costs usually are not included as a result of teardowns can not reveal this sort of data. The combined manufacturing and supplies costs symbolize fifty one p.c of the Kindle 2's $359 retail value. Suppli estimates that $60, pcb or 41.5 percent of the materials price of the Kindle 2, is accounted for by the E Ink Corp. Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst, teardown companies, for iSuppli. Rassweiler noted that the bistable show for the Kindle 2 obtained by iSuppli continues to show the warning message "Critical Battery" even after the product was fully dissembled for the teardown. With no power or digital management to refresh the image, the show might be frozen in this state forever. After the show, the following largest price driver in the Kindle 2 is the wireless broadband module, provided by Novatel Wireless Inc. Priced at $39.50, the module accounts for 27.3 percent of the supplies price of the Kindle 2. The module supports the CDMA2000 1X EV-DO Rev A air commonplace. In the primary-technology Kindle, the wireless functionality was provided by an built-in chipset that was an integral a part of the main printed circuit board. In the second-generation Kindle, the wireless performance has been divorced from the core design and as an alternative uses Novatel's turnkey module. Using a regular module like this makes the Kindle 2 easier to design. If you liked this post and you would such as to get more info pertaining to pcb assembly (www.instapaper.Com) kindly visit our page. Furthermore, since Novatel manufactures many various wireless modules, it buys components in excessive quantity, which represents leverage it will probably use to negotiate costs down with suppliers akin to Qualcomm Inc., whose device represents the integrated circuit core of the wireless module. Qualcomm Inc.'s MSM6801A single-chip baseband processor is priced at $13.18, iSuppli estimates. The wireless connection runs behind the scenes, providing an at all times-on invisible link to Amazon's library of electronic ebook content. Another key factor of the Kindle is Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s MCIMX31LVKN5C multimedia software processor, priced at $8.64. The Freescale processor is based on an ARM11 microcontroller core, which runs at a clock pace of 532MHz. Freescale additionally contributed its MC13783VK5 audio circuit and energy-management IC. All products really useful by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, unbiased of our guardian company. A few of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy one thing through one of these hyperlinks, we may earn an affiliate commission.