Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card

Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by jdietrich on Monday November 28, 2016 @04:38PM (#13058661)

Good luck to them. My cigarette-packet maths says that the BoM cost is about $12 at Shenzhen prices. If they gain any traction, they're going to get killed by the Chinese clone merchants. They don't appear to have much in the way of defensible IP, so the healthy margins on that $49 retail price are going to get squeezed hard.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by andrewmb on Monday November 28, 2016 @09:34PM (#13060286)

Can you back out $12?? I would put the BOM closer to $6 if I'm going with the high estimate, and more than half of that cost will be driven by the ATMEL and OLED.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by jdietrich on Monday November 28, 2016 @10:21PM (#13060505)

You're absolutely right, I was far too generous. For a sensible size of production run, your $6 figure is much closer to the mark. I made some faulty assumptions about the amortized cost of tooling for the plastics and over-estimated the cost of both the OLED module and the li-po.

In my (pointless and lousy) defence, I'd say that I'm used to making extremely conservative estimates, because nobody ever got fired for coming in early or under budget.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by pkaye on Monday November 28, 2016 @11:27PM (#13060790)

Do these Chinese clone merchants have an email where I can send them ideas for products where there is a need so I don't have to go to the hassle of building out an idea myself and just enjoy the final product?

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by formula1 on Monday November 28, 2016 @11:37PM (#13060826)

Im assuming they way they work is supply existing demand with a cheaper product. Much less risky than attempting to entire an untested market

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by jansenv on Monday November 28, 2016 @11:35PM (#13060821)

No, but it is possible to get integrated into those communities. Normally you need an agent at first.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by thesmok on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @03:57AM (#13061784)

If you are able to CAD a product then chinese manufacturers will be happy to manufacture it. SeedStudio seems to be popular for that.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by Paul_S on Monday November 28, 2016 @07:30PM (#13059677)

It's so niche it'll fly below everyone's radar.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by RickS on Monday November 28, 2016 @05:57PM (#13059168)

if it tripped anybody else up, BoM = bill of materials

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by tyingq on Monday November 28, 2016 @11:48PM (#13060892)

Which is just the pile of unassembled parts, thousands of miles from where they eventually need to be :)

Meaning BOM != cost

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by sampullman on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @03:31AM (#13061699)

Not really, a decent BOM will include assembly fees, logistics, factory profit, and freight for parts (which is negligible with quantities over a few thousand).

Of course if the product is successful, they could be undercut by Chinese OEMs. However, if they get to that point I'd bet they would have enough branding momentum and community that it wouldn't be a major problem.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by tyingq on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @07:04AM (#13062517)

In the PCB world, a BOM is just the parts. Doesn't include, for example, the PCB itself, plastic cases, etc...nor freight, assembly.

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Re:Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card by paulddraper on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @01:24AM (#13061278)

I thought it was byte order mark.

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