Misplaced Mage said:I can't say I blame Apple for trying to reduce the cost of the clickwheel and increase profits (I own Apple stock, BTW). Do the math for the iPod nano alone using the forecast numbers and estimated teardown costs:
Apple/Cypress clickwheel: 8,000,000 x $0.45 = $3,600,000
Synaptics clickwheel: 8,000,000 x $1.00 = $8,000,000
Difference = $4,400,000
At these production scales, shaving even a tenth of a cent off the price of a part adds up to serious money over the life of a product. Of course you can wind up throwing all that money away in warranty costs if you compromise the quality in the process and end up with a lot of returns, but that's what your quality assurance people are paid to be checking.
i would rather see Synaptics keep the deal, rather than settle for a company that made a promise and couldn't deliver on quantity or quality.
There comes a time for corporate responsibility where Apple and other companies need to quit screwing the little guy so they can make more $$$.
