Re: ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter 2 just launched
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 8:56 pm
Nah. Potatoes have been cancelled.vanpeebles wrote:Are we getting chips too?
RIP Sir Clive Sinclair 1940 - 2021
https://qlforum.co.uk/
Nah. Potatoes have been cancelled.vanpeebles wrote:Are we getting chips too?
From what I've read on the Speccy next forums, they won't be getting any significant economies of scale at these relatively small volumes. Where they will be gaining on the costs is that the tooling and machinery is already in place from the last run sp can be configured again more easily, although I don't know to what extent that actually is.bwinkel67 wrote:I didn't mind waiting for the item. My only curiosity with the Kickstarter campaign (and perhaps lack of understanding) was that once they passed all of their stretch goals and went way passed it by £350,000 could they have reformulated the price and knocked it down for everyone. Does Kickstarter ever work that way?
They ought to be able to claim any losses from the 1st Kickstarter (no one should lose money doing this sort of thing) but does the price reduce at scale? Of course the scale is only in the thousands so it may not matter that much. I suppose I could have gotten 2 and stuck the 2nd one on eBay and list it for ever at $1200 (one has been listed there for a long time :-/)
I would say medium, not small. And huge in QL scales. If I guessed correctly, it could be a manufaturing run of about 5000 machines, which is 200 times more than a typical QL hardware run. The discounts compared to QL hardware are enormous. And not only that. At such scales, prototyping is not required to be manually, allowing more design options.Sparrowhawk wrote:From what I've read on the Speccy next forums, they won't be getting any significant economies of scale at these relatively small volumes.
I would think that for case/keyboard the tooling costs were substantial. For the PCB less relevant if quantities already go into the thousands.Sparrowhawk wrote:Where they will be gaining on the costs is that the tooling and machinery is already in place from the last run sp can be configured again more easily, although I don't know to what extent that actually is.
The single biggest problem is that the reward for a backer is a physical Next which is produced at close to cost price- that has a cost to produce that does not change in real terms between 1000 or 10000 items, and each backer attracts that cost - what they pledge, is that cost + a margin built in at the start. That margin can be eroded as it was on KS1 until it needed private injection not just from the founders personal funds but, all contributors, we all funded our own time and energy for code and support, travel and hotels for trips to shows, even the cost of printing the banners you saw if you went!Sparrowhawk wrote:From what I've read on the Speccy next forums, they won't be getting any significant economies of scale at these relatively small volumes. Where they will be gaining on the costs is that the tooling and machinery is already in place from the last run sp can be configured again more easily, although I don't know to what extent that actually is.bwinkel67 wrote:I didn't mind waiting for the item. My only curiosity with the Kickstarter campaign (and perhaps lack of understanding) was that once they passed all of their stretch goals and went way passed it by £350,000 could they have reformulated the price and knocked it down for everyone. Does Kickstarter ever work that way?
Despite the name, the machine is not directly affiliated with Sinclair Research Ltd., Sir Clive Sinclair or the current owner of the trademarks Sky Group. Instead the license to use the "Sinclair" name and "ZX Spectrum" trademark was granted to SpecNext Ltd. by the owner of the trademarks in exchange for a charitable donation to the Royal National Institute of Blind People