Price Drop?

[chad78]

The GP2X has been out over two and a half years, and the price has never gone down. And, except for adding a touchscreen, there hasn't been much of an upgrade to the hardware. Is there any chance of this thing dropping in price at all? During the same 3 years, the DS and the PSP have both dropped in price significantly while at the same upgrading the hardware.

I know the Pandora is coming out - but it's not from the same company, and it's leaps and bounds ahead of the GP2X. It also costs almost twice as much. But do you think the Pandora will somehow scare GPH into lower the insane price? (Both the DS Lite and the PSP Slim cost *LESS* than the GP2X.)

 

[Alex.]

The GP2X started at $189 (the F-100 model), and now the F-200 costs $169!

Also note that the two other handhelds you mentioned are produced by mammoth companies that make large profits from the sale of commercial games, and thus can afford to cut (even entirely) their profits on hardware sales. Not to mention that they likely get heavy discounts on all the components due to the millions of units produced, and thus can afford to further lower their prices.

 

[sol_hsa]

Additionally, the big boys work actively on making new revisions of the hardware, improving integration and figuring ways of simply making them cheaper. How many versions of ps2 are out there, for example? =)

 

[jbrodack]

as alex said the price of the gp2x actually did go down with the f200. I highly doubt there will be any universal price drop of the gp2x. maybe if some stores have extra stock they want to get rid of they will offer it cheaper but otherwise its going to stay as is. It would make no sense to lower the price and sell the gp2x at a loss when that is their main source of money.

keep in mind when complaining about the price of the gp2x or pandora that the price is not "insane" just the price needed for a small company to make a profit.

 

[chad78]

The GP2X started at $189 (the F-100 model), and now the F-200 costs $169!

Then there are vendors who are price gouging. Because about half the sites that I find the GP2X in have it listed as $199 - not $169 or even $189.

• http://store.gameasylum.us/gp2x.html
• http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1203382

<EDIT> I had two other sites listed - but they were from the UK, and I think the reason they were over $200 was because of the weak dollar - not price gouging. And, yes, I used the non VAT price.</EDIT>

Even still - a $20 price drop over 3 years is not much. And I feel the same way about the DS Lite only dropping $20 from the DS - but, it was low to begin with.

I understand it is a small company - but the thing about technology is, the price drops - like all the time - by huge amounts. I'm talking about the price the small company is paying for parts. A ARM920T processor does not cost any where near the same amount today that it did 3 years ago. Neither do any of the other parts.

Another thing that makes it where it should be cheaper is bulk pricing. The more you buy of something, the less it costs you to get. I work for a very small company (less than 10 employees), and we buy supplies for the stuff [I'm stupid spammer]. Since we buy from the same company over and over again, the longer we keep buying something, the less it costs - even if the standard price never goes down. Even if we order the same amount each time, our supplier (we do too) keeps up with how many widgets we bought, and after X number of widgets, the widgets cost less - even if it took us a number of orders to get to X. I'm sure we're not some how unique or magical in this arrangement. So even if GPH doesn't "buy in bulk" if they are buying from the same company over and over again - I'm sure they could have worked out a similar deal.

Back when the GP2X came out, one of the reasons I was so inclined to buy one was because it was cheaper than the PSP ($249), and it was close to the DS ($149). But the fact that the DS was cheaper always kept me from buying it. I had assumed that, like all tech products in the world, the price would drop after a while. It never did. And the only reason I'm looking at it again is because of the Pandora.

I might end up getting a Pandora - because it's more powerful than any other handheld gaming system - and it has other uses (PMP, UMPC, MID, VoIP, etc.). But, I tell you, if I could get the GP2X F200 for the price of a DS Lite - I might have gotten that instead.

Even if they just lowered the price to $149.99 - another $20 - that would make it less than the PSP, and under the $150 mark. That's one of those psychologically important numbers. Getting beneath that would be good.

 

[nubie]

The average price for a used one is around $100-$130 with a lot of kit, like batts, chargers, 2GB SD cards, carrying case, power adapter, cradle.

It is amazing the depreciation on something with poor build quality, questionable logic to the accessories (the base is technically a stand with a USB 1.1 hub, so you would think it should cost $20-30 and come with the, mandatory, power supply; oh yeah, it should also work with USB devices), and very poor customer service (not you distributors, you are great. GPH on the other hand, well why do you think the distributors built their own console??).

But to answer your question seriously. If they could fix the problems with it, then it would be worth what they charge, as it is the market is set by the used ones, it finds its own price.

Still no D-Pad, speaking as a pre-orderer of the unit almost 2 years ago, and having owned 4-5, why the hell can't they get a simple thing like a common pad with 4 switches correct, this isn't rocket science, it has been the standard for decades.

 

[chad78]

why does it keep putting "I'm stupid spammer" in my comment? I'm *not* a spammer - I'm not talking about selling anything - I'm not linking to anything to buy. I'm just saying that we buy supplies for the stuff that we -- s e l l . Obviously, as a company, we se ll stuff - I'm not saying what it is - I'm not saying the name of the company - I'm not asking anyone to buy anything. Just explaining that the process our company goes through. That's really annoying and offensive to be called a spammer - and a stupid one at that!

 

[craigix]

I asked them if they would reduce the price a few weeks ago and they said no.

Ho hum.

 

[chad78]

I asked them if they would reduce the price a few weeks ago and they said no.

Ho hum.

They might after your Pandora starts selling like hot cakes! You know - when it's too late for them. Mwauahhahahahahahaa!

 

[andyB911]

I asked them if they would reduce the price a few weeks ago and they said no.

Ho hum.

Slightly (as in very) off topic Craig, but I presume that GPH know that you are building the Pandora... Do / did they have any comment, given it will to some degree be a direct competitor? Other than not willing to drop the cost of the gp2x

Do you think they will fight back in the international open source markets with a new machine (only other way would be to drop cost and doesn't look they are keen on that) or concentrate on the home market? Or as a result of your venture, are you no longer privee to their thougths?

 

[craigix]

They were supposed to be working on an F300 which will have 'mini games' for download, they didn't tell me about this, they just emailed a few devs asking for source code to puzzle games. Sounds like a repackaged GP2X again but you never know - it could have a later magic eyes soc in it.

Either way it isn't going to be in the next gen league like the Pandora.

I tried to get GPH to reduce the price of the GP2X so we could sell it for £99, I even offered to include Vektar as a free SD game but they are not interested.

I don't know why they are just letting the GP2X die out, probably more internal issues that we don't know about.

 

[Jarska333]

Hah, maybe a splinter group will split from GPH, with it's own handheld. They shall be called GPI...

 

[quartercast]

why does it keep putting "I'm stupid spammer" in my comment? I'm *not* a spammer - I'm not talking about selling anything - I'm not linking to anything to buy. I'm just saying that we buy supplies for the stuff that we -- s e l l . Obviously, as a company, we se ll stuff - I'm not saying what it is - I'm not saying the name of the company - I'm not asking anyone to buy anything. Just explaining that the process our company goes through. That's really annoying and offensive to be called a spammer - and a stupid one at that!

Oh, is it picking up phrases that you typed and censoring them? That's pretty interesting. I thought most BBs only censored competing products and swear words.