Tech: Google Glass: $1,500 to buy, $80 to make?

Jberg

Google (GOOG) has garnered a lot of attention for its Google Glass product: Wireless glasses that project online information and can video record the world around the wearer. Now there's a new minor furor. The $1,500 product reportedly contains only $80 in parts.

Website Teardown.com took a Google Glass unit apart and estimated the prices. With the most expensive component running $13.96, the device had a total cost of $79.78, including a charge for assembly and testing. That would appear to make Google Glass a highly profitable product.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-g...uy-80-to-make/

I Am Music

Not surprised. A lot of things cost much less to make compared to their retail prices.

2014

Why would anyone spend this much money on it?

$250 would be a reasonable price for first time.

VyktorJonas

Google already answered to that
everything is underpriced, not counting manufacturing nor researches and investments
plus, it's a brand new thing, of course it would be overpriced

Thaye

That's a nice headline, and I'm sure Google is going to loot this product for all its worth...

But just to play devil's advocate here: what this calculation obviously doesn't factor in is the years of time and investments that definitely went into developing it. I mean, rumors and the basic ideas and concept of Google Glass alone have been floating around for many, many years now, which is how long Google Glass has probably been tinkered on behind closed doors.

Keon

Apple does this with every new product they launch. Nobody complains.

I Am Music

Quote:

Originally posted by Keon

Apple does this with every new product they launch. Nobody complains.

Because they're so used to paying double the money the product is actually worth.

Forevermore

Ain't nobody going to buy them at that price so it doesn't really matter.

Save-Me-Oprah

As if the parts are the only cost of manufacturing. This doesn't take into account the years of development that Google put in to get something so cutting edge to market.

Google is known for taking hits on their hardware profit margins in order to benefit their software arms and market share... look at the Nexus 5, which is a high end smartphone with specs many times higher than the latest iPhone, yet sells for only $349, which is less than HALF of what the cheapest iPhone 5S sells for. Google undercuts its competitiors by at least $300.

Why buy an iPhone when you can literally buy 2 Nexus 5s for the same price, and get a better phone to boot?

eddy223

You don't just pay for the parts, you pay for the research, the engineering, the trial and errors, the advertising and the aesthetics.

manwhore

The Google Beats/iphone.

But Google remains conscious of all.