CHIP-Hardware

It's interesting that they distribute the "CHIP Flasher" as a Chrome app. It seems very user friendly but somewhat opaque. And it's a pity there's not much info on the hardware. Anyway, I've ordered two pieces. They're probably going to gather dust alongside my Raspberry Pis and Arduinos once the initial excitement has worn off. :) [EDIT] OK there's lots of info on the hardware, just not easy to find on their sales page: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/

>Has anyone priced out the components? Yes. The BOM is well over $9. You could reasonably debate if it's $12, or $20, or $15. But it's not less than $9. Not even with sweetheart deals all around. Here's the BOM: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/raw/master/CHIP... The R8 CPU + 4GB NAND FLASH + 512M DDR3 alone would be close to $9. The RTL8723 wifi/bt chip is at least a dollar. The rest is cheap individually, but there's a lot of connectors, resistors, caps, etc. It adds up. Also, the BOM doesn't include any of the costs for the PCB itself,assembly, the employees, engineering time, etc. >How is $9 possible? Loss leader. Make it up in shipping and accessories. Edit: Don't believe it? Enter your own prices here. I put in "sweetheart deal" prices for the 4 items mentioned above, and assumed $0.01 unit cost for everything el

>>Sell the CHIP for cheap and get people to buy the accessories This, combined with inflated shipping, is probably the key. However, even assuming some aggressive discounts, the BOM must still be higher than $9. Even with crazy discounts, the CPU + Realtek Wifi + PMU alone would have to be close to $9. There's a lot of other parts as well: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/raw/master/CHIP...