2GB iPod Nano costs $100 to make - researcher

Register ^ | Friday 23rd September 2005 14:54 G | Tony Smith

[linkinpunk]

You don't think that union wages, manditory health insurance, workers comp, unemployment benefits, Americans with Disabilities Act, etc. would increase the labor costs on an Ipod from $8 each? Get real!

(Don't forget all the components are also made overseas.)

It seems logical that if Ipod could have mede them as cheap in the USA, they would have done it. "Buy and Ipod. It's made in the USA!") But they didn't.

[martin_fierro]

Let me see if I understand.
A basically worthless electronic trinket that cost $100 to make and sells for $200, and people are surprised?

$950 for this basically worthless trinket.

Oh well. I guess one man's trinket is another's treasure.

And you win the award for Grumpy Old Fart/Low Testosterone Post Of The Day. Wonder what that's worth.

[martin_fierro]

Unless the author estimates the total cost, R & D, parts and labor, packaging, shipping, distribution and marketing to bring a device to the consumer it really is a silly article...

Let us not read The Register. It is a silly paper.

[SolarisRocks]

I never said the cost would not increase. I simply asked why costs would DOUBLE.

[LongElegantLegs]

Because people will pay it.

[Fzob]

And you win the award for Grumpy Old Fart/Low Testosterone Post Of The Day. Wonder what that's worth.

Do I win an IPod? :)

[SamAdams76]

GASP! You mean this Apple company is selling a product for more than what it costs them to design, manufacture and distribute! Why the nerve of them!

Must be one of those "profit" scams I keep hearing about.

[linkinpunk]

Some people on this forum routinely state that Chinese workers make $8 per week. If that is even partly true, US labor (at $40 per hour) for an Ipod would be a couple hundred dollars, or even lots more.

How much extra do you think $200 Ipod shoppers would pay for the device? $100 more? $200 more? $500 more?

[SolarisRocks]

The iPod nano, like most modern consumer devices, requires very little human contact to build. I doubt that the china side of the equation requires spending 8.00 on labor per unit.

I can buy numerious items made in the USA that require a lot more labor to put together than the iPod nano and it doesn't add 100.00 to 500.00 to the cost.