Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
Well, while I see your points, you guys pretty much forget that tossing it in wouldn't exactly be a "gift" from Phase It would mean to take a very very minimal slice of the pretty large margin they have on the backs and use it to pay for the software license, THEIR cost of which - let's not forget - is not quite the retail price that WE pay (there is margin on that, too). So, it would mean a VERY little reduction on profit (which is very different from an actual EXPENSE) for Phase to provide what I still consider it would be a great, classy act to customers who invested, let's not forget, 10s of K-bucks in their products (most customers do not use the back on a tech camera ONLY, so we have other 10s of K-bucks in their system as a whole, too, besides the back)
I actually think the same thing for the battery: adding a second one in all kits, which given the exceedingly short duration of one's charge (especially in 2011 battery life terms) is pretty much a minimal necessity for any shooter, would cost them what, a few bucks? Less than 10, I am pretty sure - but no, to get the back to minimal operational status they ask you for a few $ extra for a second battery - not cool :toocool:
Just little things, of course, and definitely not the end of the world - but it would make quite a different impression and make them stand out even more over the competition, if they'd take care of them, and that would come at a very very low cost for them if any at all, too. Just my .02 of course.
I see merits in your points Vieri.
The only point I would make is that - having been in both dugouts - end users often significantly underestimate the costs of components, development, etc. The view is more a guesstimate (and usually an under-guesstimate) of what it costs to buy something to resell, rather than the real costs of providing said components, in terms of the many ramifications this could have.
I once worked for a company a long time ago (back in the mid 90's). There was an internal debate about whether to include a printed manual as we had gone to providing manuals on CD. I was for having a printed manual - customers seemed to have a preference for this and after all, how much could a manual cost? In the discussion that followed, it was projected that a manual might add $1 to the cost. I looked around and said - no brainer, then! The CEO then looked up and said, ok, but that is $1 times our projection of 1 million units this year, so is it worth $1,000,000 to have a printed manual opposed to a CD?
Gave me a little different perspective. Like I said, there's no right or wrong answer, but there's a lot more that involves consideration beyond what one might guess is the price of adding this or that component for free.
Steve Hendrix