Hi, Taking point 4, the low volume of sales, the costs are in the development and research, the end product is not thetotal expense. Soooo by expanding outputs, gives the resources for research, but profits will suffer per item, but still could be good if there is volume.
As we were saying in the thread, if the costing could belowered, it would open a wider market of equipment.... I for one would like more equipment to assist me with my needs, but cannot afford it, or justify the price of getting it.
It's not banging a drum, just not sticking our heads in the sand and taking everything we are given at face value.
Mike----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry Clasper" <terry.clasper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 11:52 AM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Fw: [vicsireland] Digit-Eyes Audio Labeling System Advances Independence For Visually Impaired
Tris. An excellent message which in my humble view accurately removes the normal drumb rhetoric from the thread and accurately presents the truth! Briliant! -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tristram Llewellyn Sent: 24 June 2010 11:49 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Fw: [vicsireland] Digit-Eyes Audio Labeling System Advances Independence For Visually Impaired I cannot comment on the product named in the subject line but wished to respond to the issues of price and development. The rest of this will have me down as some kid of industry apologist but there you go. The context in which iPhone applications are being developed is very different from that in which Windows screen readers were/are being produced like JAWS never mind across other product sectors AT related products. People may have their issues with JAWS/FS or any other facet of access technology but one must not confuse what may be happening and why with respect specifically the iPHone and its apps. When comparing screen readers like JAWS or System Access with iPhone apps one should bear in mind the following: 1 This software deals with an entire operating system that at least initially and is still in some cases difficult to make accessible because it was never designed to be. 2 JAWS and other screen readers on Windows deal with a sometimes uncertain and very diverse application landscape with differing standards and compliances across applications that are used. 3 There is far greater complexity in the desktop environment than a smartphone. 4 Finally most AT companies I can think of sell in volumes of hundreds of thousands at their very best and sometimes for hardware items in the tens of thousands worldwide. Apple for its hardware deals in the millions of units. The same is true of Microsoft and many of the larger software houses. Selling software into the iPhone market is a completely different proposition: 1 Apple have already written in the access technology. 2 They fully control the platform end to end and provide SDK for it and therefore have been able to establish the rules by which applications that go on it play by. In just those two points a lot has been built upon that maybe did not work out. Had it not been for the work done for Symbian it is doubtful that an iPhone could have ever been made or thought of at all. On the wider point about prices is that since Apple control the platform and the standards it has the effect of making the development process far more predictable and therefore its cost can be managed and assessed in a way that means a product could cost less to develop. Development cycles are measured in a short number of months usually for all but the most ambitious apps. Apple further incentivise this by taking care of all the costly distribution, accounting and give the developer a certain 70 percent cut in the sale which they can more or less guarantee from sales. Effectively by following down the app store route developers have practically outsourced everything except writing code and product development tasks. As for artificially high prices in AT industry as a whole, I wouldn't buy it because somebody new or existing suppliers would do everything to try and undercut to gain sales and expand their business. For the most part in the past this has not happened, occasionally there are smaller revolutions though in technology. However, the idea or even the sentiment that everyone in the AT industry is going to be up against the wall when the revolution comes I think it is misguided. What will happen is things will gradually change where it is possible through the technology. The economics of the things are generally much harder and longer term projects. Regards. Tristram Llewellyn Sight and Sound Technology Technical Support www.sightandsound.co.uk Mail: Tristram: tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Technical: Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx General - info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: Support line: 0845 634 7979 Sight and Sound Technology Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, with company number 1408275. Sight and Sound Technology Welton House North Wing Summerhouse Road Moulton Park Northampton NN3 6WD VAT Number - GB 860 2121 66. ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. 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