[LINK] Technology in Retail

[Con Zymaris]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2005 at 02:29:46PM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote:
> 
> 
> Con Zymaris wrote:
> >I think we are in agreement that in general, Linux at Harvey Norman is a
> >hard sell. Selling into the corporate space is a possibility however, as
> >is the creation of new 'forms' of computing. 
> >
> >Which is one of the reasons we've developed such forms. So, in effect, you
> >end up not selling 'Linux' per se, but the safest Internet experience
> >possible for the consumer market. You end up not selling 'Linux' per se,
> >but the most powerful/flexible/lowestTCO 'thin client' style desktop
> >possible.
> >
> 
> I just don't get the economics of this.
> 
> Lets assume that production costs of retail packs are, say, $10, and 
> distribution costs are, say, $50.
> 
> That means that you could put Linux on the shelf at, say, $99 and gross 
> $39 per unit.
> 
> I cannot believe that Hardley Normals are making much more than that for 
> a M$ product that is on the shelf at 3 times the sale price.

Selling Linux in a boxed set is too hard. Don't bother trying to sell
Linux in a boxed set. 

Instead, find what the market wants and bundle it into low-cost/appliance
hardware. Make computers which are impervious to all security nasties for
Jane User. Make Smart 'thin-client' terminals which are a no-brainer from
a deployment and TCO perspective, etc etc. I can give you specifics of 
what I mean, but then I'd be 'moichendising' ;-)

-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477