Pandora Pricing - What Price Would You Pay?

[Prophet]

I read a quote from MWeston recently, where he explained that various parts keep going up in price, yet they're trying to keep the final unit's price down to around $320 or so.

Coming from the Zodiac and PDA's, maybe I see the Pandora a little differently. To me, $300 is "cheap" for something like the Pandora. But I totally understand how it would seem very expensive to people who are used to spending $100 - $200 for a handheld game system.

The Zodiac 2 (the model with more RAM) was $400. And it was worth it IMO.

So there's a part of me that would like to see the Pandora cost maybe $350 - an extra $20 or $30 to cover all the dev costs and parts issues, and keep this new company motivated.

How many people would be OK with a slight rise in price like that? How many would not? How many would like to burn me at the stake for even thinking of a higher price!? How many would pay almost anything just to have a Pandora ASAP?

Well, answer the poll and let's see what people think of the pricing.

 

[squeakypants]

Well, to be honest, I'm going to have trouble spending that much on the Pandora in the first place. I'm also going to need 1 or 2 SDHC cards, so it will really be a total of about $400. Especially since I need a new PC.

I'd rather it go down than up, but I don't think $20-$30 will be a big difference. That's less than a 10% increase, which I guess is acceptable. The question is: is that money going towards the production or profit? Of course the team has to make money, but if the increase was purely about profit I wouldn't be as fine with it.

 

[Tobriand]

I could stretch an extra £5 over the estimate. But I'll have to do that anyway to pay for shipping.

Given that the estimate for the UK is ~$400 anyway, though, I'm not keen to push it further. And raising the US price without the UK one is asking for trouble from prosepctive buyers who feel slighted...

EDIT: Actually, do you mind if I add another option to the poll of "I'm in the UK, so will already be paying $400"? I think it applies to a large proportion of the market.

 

[Flaming_Trashcan]

I picked up to $350 but that really depends on what is included. Only $350 if literally everything is thrown in and basically no extra accessories are for sale (save higher-capacity battery, if that idea comes to fruition).

I'm young and cheap and I haven't made any large purchases like this before except for my computer, so I'm definitely not comfortable paying much more than what the devs are aiming for-- however! It's gonna be awesome

 

[Vimacs]

I wouldn't pay any $, i would use a real currency.
And ~220€ sounds pretty good. Thou 199 would sound way sweater.

Also, with the state of the us economy its probably going to be a few million usd in a year or so.

 

[kuehnau]

Well the GP2X for me, was a entire gaming thing. And I refused to buy one when they first came out because of the price. I still wouldn't even have one today if it wasn't for the fact that the price has dropped.

I mean, someone could always go out and buy a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. Hell, I'd rather go and spend $400 on a PS3 before I spent money on the Pandora like that.

I am sure the Pandora is going to be a fantastic portable once it has been tested and polished. But like every other new hardware release, it is going to have it's own fair share of bugs and problems for awhile. And there isn't going to even be a reason for me to pick one up until there is some decent homebrew going on with it, which could take time.

I hope by the time I decide I want to buy one, the price will have dropped a little bit, because I was willing to pay $300 for one, and even that price I was unhappy with. Not everyone is going to be able to drop $300 on the Pandora.

Sony made a mistake when they made the Sony PSP, because they made it over powered, over priced and the battery life sucked on it. And a lot of people admitted they would have been happy with a system as powerful as a PS1, that the PSP didn't have to be as powerful as it was when it came out.

For the Pandora to be a huge success, the developers are going to need to seriously re-evaluate the power of the hardware, the price of the hardware and the power needs of the hardware. No one is going to want to pay $300 for the Pandora if it is expensive, lacks software, has crummy design or has terrible battery life, when you could go pick up a PSP for $150.00, mod it and play PS1 titles on it so easily.

Hell with $300, there are a ton of things I'd rather use the money for then the Pandora right now. I could build a new rig under $300, and I could really use that. So for me $320.00 is already pushing it, to a extreme. I'd rather go buy a Asus Eee Laptop before buying the Pandora.

 

[Prophet]

Well the GP2X for me, was a entire gaming thing. And I refused to buy one when they first came out because of the price. I still wouldn't even have one today if it wasn't for the fact that the price has dropped.

I mean, someone could always go out and buy a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. Hell, I'd rather go and spend $400 on a PS3 before I spent money on the Pandora like that.

I am sure the Pandora is going to be a fantastic portable once it has been tested and polished. But like every other new hardware release, it is going to have it's own fair share of bugs and problems for awhile. And there isn't going to even be a reason for me to pick one up until there is some decent homebrew going on with it, which could take time.

I hope by the time I decide I want to buy one, the price will have dropped a little bit, because I was willing to pay $300 for one, and even that price I was unhappy with. Not everyone is going to be able to drop $300 on the Pandora.

Sony made a mistake when they made the Sony PSP, because they made it over powered, over priced and the battery life sucked on it. And a lot of people admitted they would have been happy with a system as powerful as a PS1, that the PSP didn't have to be as powerful as it was when it came out.

For the Pandora to be a huge success, the developers are going to need to seriously re-evaluate the power of the hardware, the price of the hardware and the power needs of the hardware. No one is going to want to pay $300 for the Pandora if it is expensive, lacks software, has crummy design or has terrible battery life, when you could go pick up a PSP for $150.00, mod it and play PS1 titles on it so easily.

Hell with $300, there are a ton of things I'd rather use the money for then the Pandora right now. I could build a new rig under $300, and I could really use that. So for me $320.00 is already pushing it, to a extreme. I'd rather go buy a Asus Eee Laptop before buying the Pandora.

I find your post interesting on several levels.

I see the Pandora has attracted quite a few newcomers to this forum, and many of them are comparing Pandora to mainstream handhelds. Nothing wrong about that, but it does represent a different mindset than many of the hobbysists who've been in this "scene" for a long time. The Pandora team have a tough time, because they have to decide what audiences to go after. They have the hobbyist audience already, but it's the slightly more mainstream audience that's coming from PSP and DS, that they have to consider. Do they lower prices for them? Or just cater to the old hobbyists and keep prices "high"? It's a hard decision I'm sure.

And the eeePC mention is interesting, because that is the other gadget I have my eye on. The upcoming 900 model in particular. I wonder how many people see the Pandora and eeePC as competitors in some respects, at least in terms of where to spend their money?

 

[squeakypants]

I could stretch an extra £5 over the estimate. But I'll have to do that anyway to pay for shipping.

Given that the estimate for the UK is ~$400 anyway, though, I'm not keen to push it further. And raising the US price without the UK one is asking for trouble from prosepctive buyers who feel slighted...

The 320$US is just an estimate. As far as I know, the business will be based in the UK, so the only real price we have right now is:
QUOTE
Around £199 (inc VAT)

The 330$US (which I now know is a 3, not a 2) is just an estimate, and the price to all countries that aren't the UK will be based on the exchange rate when it's released. And I suppose the retailer

 

[quote]

I would not go much higher than the £199 mark (maybe a tenner or so ) and I don't think it needs to be any cheaper.

 

[javaJake]

Wow, people are voting it as too expensive. :blink:

 

[Mr B]

You would have to be really persuasive to get me to buy a PSP for 55euro, which i in 5 mins with a razorblade, a soldering iron, and 7mm of wire can make play copies of retail games, and a wide array of emulators. This, thing, is overpriced already.
B!

 

[Prophet]

QUOTE
You would have to be really persuasive to get me to buy a PSP for 55euro, which i in 5 mins with a razorblade, a soldering iron, and 7mm of wire can make play copies of retail games, and a wide array of emulators. This, thing, is overpriced already. B!


Another very interesting point.

With PSP's being so easy to hack (well, for anyone who can read directions... heh) it's inevitable that some will see that as the better alternative. Custom firmware nets you emulation (lots of it), homebrew (again, lots) and even the ability to play any PSP game for free if you choose (albeit illegally).

While I'm coming from a different angle, I can understand why people see $320 as "high" - they can get a PSP for half that amount, and have both homebrew and a commercial game library at hand (illegally). Although Pandora will do the homebrew angle way better, and have better emulators, and also much more flexibility (keyboard, touch screen etc.), not everyone will feel that's worth twice the price.

Pandora is going to be a very interesting experiment in creating a niche product.

 

[Squidge]

QUOTE

You would have to be really persuasive to get me to buy a PSP for 55euro, which i in 5 mins with a razorblade, a soldering iron, and 7mm of wire can make play copies of retail games, and a wide array of emulators. This, thing, is overpriced already.



Or, with a Pandora Battery, you could play all those games and emulators without needing a soldering iron.

The Pandora Handheld is going to be interesting to see how well it sells, considering the alternatives.

 

[_VWV_]

Is this thread kind of a preparation for an official statement "ups, it's gona cost more"? Ups, we won't make it in March/April, ups, you'll see it in June/July, ups it's gona cost a fortune.. When you open a Pandora box, first things that come out are troubles.. hope some really good things will follow them!
Speaking on the topic: no more than 320$! Firstly, because I'm an idealist, secondly, because there are some competitors on the horizon. I do see that devs are doing their best, but on the other hand my wallet says NO.. and he is quite serious.

 

[dsleaf67]

I agree with it being expensive, as I too am cheap and have a hard time justifying a purchase of big ticket items. I felt so guilty buying the PSP (before the price drop) that I almost took it back. I was petrified of risking that cost to downgrade it as well so I could play emulators and homebrew. Afterall, I have a Giz that I bricked with firmware update, but at least that didn't cost me as much. Once done though I loved so much, I bought a second for my wife (after the price dropped).

I will say though considering the price of UMPC it will be reasonably priced as is and maybe only slightly more. The merging of UMPC gaming part is what interests me. I would even consider an unmodded PSP now for commercial only (no ethical dilemmas) and Pandora for EVERTHING ELSE.

 

[b._.o._.b]

As long as there are enough developers interested in the Pandora and willing to pay the price, I will pay 350 or even higher.
There is nothing worse than having paid money for a gadget nobody is interested in. I've bought a Linux based Archos PMA400 a few years ago for a lot of money and expected to see a lot of nice programs for it. Unfortunately Archos never opened specs or helped developers so a lot of devs left the scene. Now I have a device with a lot of unsolved issues.
The same problem with my phone, a Linux based Motorola A780. Developers are still busy trying to hack the device so they can use the full potential.

I've learned that Linux only doesn't make a good and open device. I hope Pandora will be different, if so they will be worth every Euro.

 

[craigix]

We don't have any plans at the moment to make the price higher, note that the UK price of £199 includes taxes/VAT.

I should also point out the price won't go lower, this is high end next gen stuff in the Pandora and it's all very expensive but the results will be spectacular and well worth it when you see what it can do.

 

[Vorporeal]

We don't have any plans at the moment to make the price higher, note that the UK price of £199 includes taxes/VAT.

I should also point out the price won't go lower, this is high end next gen stuff in the Pandora and it's all very expensive but the results will be spectacular and well worth it when you see what it can do.

Hear hear!

I'm willing to pay up to $350 US for the Pandora. Another way of thinking about it is this - it is about the price of an iPod. When you think about it that way, it's much easier to justify its price (at least for me).

 

[Chip]

It is interesting to see people's responses to the price of the Pandora. Considering there is no pocketable device that does what it does for any price, the designation of "too expensive" is arbitrary. There is no frame of reference for pricing on a handheld gaming console / palmtop computer because there has never been one before.

Imagine somebody invented a flying car and said it is going to cost $75,000. Some people would complain that they could get a nice regular car for $20k, so $75k for a flying one is way too expensive. Meanwhile, the rest of us would be taking out home equity loans because some loony is practically giving away a fracking flying car for only $75k.

So maybe $330 is more than you can afford to spend on a luxury item. Maybe you really don't need all the extra functionality Pandora offers. The fact is we already know it is being designed on a shoestring budget and being sold on a margin that a large electronics company wouldn't touch with a ten foot tax writeoff. At this point, the price is what it is. You can't demand that Pandora be sold at a loss to compete with other (highly subsidized) handhelds that aren't in the same league.

 

[dsleaf67]

It is interesting to see people's responses to the price of the Pandora. Considering there is no pocketable device that does what it does for any price, the designation of "too expensive" is arbitrary. There is no frame of reference for pricing on a handheld gaming console / palmtop computer because there has never been one before.

Imagine somebody invented a flying car and said it is going to cost $75,000. Some people would complain that they could get a nice regular car for $20k, so $75k for a flying one is way too expensive. Meanwhile, the rest of us would be taking out home equity loans because some loony is practically giving away a fracking flying car for only $75k.

So maybe $330 is more than you can afford to spend on a luxury item. Maybe you really don't need all the extra functionality Pandora offers. The fact is we already know it is being designed on a shoestring budget and being sold on a margin that a large electronics company wouldn't touch with a ten foot tax writeoff. At this point, the price is what it is. You can't demand that Pandora be sold at a loss to compete with other (highly subsidized) handhelds that aren't in the same league.




Hear! Hear!

I agree totally. That was kind of the point I was making. The price is certainly more than fair, just that some are that they hope it does go out of there range. It definitely worth the price (and probably more) but as long as the target market can afford (or consider it worth saving/sacrificing for) it will do well. I've started sacrificing for it as it is exactly what I've been looking for and holding off on many other temptations in anticipation of this device. I believe the developers really want this devices be affordable to the people who they expect to want it the most so that it actually comes to reality, thats why the marginal profit margin.

You said it yourself. If its too high in the 'luxury' bracket some won't be able to touch it much like the 75k flying car.