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Hardware "breakthrough" pricing

dentalben

By dentalben
in Control4 Hardware

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dentalben Collaborator

dentalben

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So the new InfinityEdge touchscreens are $599 ($799 for a 7", I'm guessing). I'm wondering when the last time the guys over at C4 spent some time at a BestBuy store to see what the "competition" has out there. I've been holding off replacing my 3.5" touch screens, mainly due to the cost ($1000 ea). Making a comparison (ok, not truly apples-to-apples, but it gets my point across), here's what I can get for $770 at BB:

A 20" touch screen all-in-one computer

DL DVD+RW drive

500 GB HD

4 GB RAM

Wireless keyboard and mouse

Built-in webcam

Media card reader

USB ports

Windows 7

Wired/Wireless NIC

And more!!!

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't see how $599 for a 5" touch screen ($799 for a 7"???) is really "breakthrough" pricing. Any thoughts???

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RyanE Veteran

RyanE

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Maybe I'm missing something, too.

Does that all-in-one computer come with Control4's UI, have the ability to be powered over PoE, do Intercom functionality with other touchscreens, and have in-wall mounting?

Seriously, there are many reasons why a custom-built touchpanel would be more expensive than an off-the-shelf PC. Some of it comes down to volume discount (all the items in that computer are commodity parts, very few in the touchscreen are) and applicability for use. Some of it is engineering time for Control4's custom flash UI. Some of it is the market (where you really have to compare against *other* market touchscreens).

It's certainly breakthrough pricing when you consider past offerings (from Control4, and even more so from the competition).

RyanE

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dentalben Collaborator

dentalben

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No, but you can get a 10" Crestron touch panel for under $900. Where's the breakthrough of C4's pricing? The parts to make one of these are pretty inexpensive; my guess is most of the cost comes from licensing the technology...everyone wants a piece of the pie I guess.

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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^You can? Where?

The most price competitive marketplace in the world (eBay) doesn't even have any that cheap.

Here's a 2.8 inch for $900: http://cgi.ebay.com/Crestron-MTX-3-2-8-Handheld-Wireless-Touchpanel-/160468722779?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's an MT1000 for $1,200: http://cgi.ebay.com/Crestron-MT-1000-wireless-touchpanel-/320576968057?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's a touchpanel memory card for $799: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CRESTRON-TPS-MEM128MB-Memory-Card-touchpanel-/120607967784?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's a 5.7 inch for $2k: http://cgi.ebay.com/CRESTRON-TPS-6X-Isys-5-7-Wireless-TOUCHPANEL-/120606470857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's another 5.7 inch for $2,200: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CRESTRON-TPS-6X-Isys-5-7-Wireless-TOUCHPANEL-/110570862621?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's an old, used 6 inch for $1,000: http://cgi.ebay.com/CRESTRON-TPS-3000-6-TOUCHPANEL-INTERFACE-CABLE-MOUNT-/120600124501?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Here's a 15 inch for $4k: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CRESTRON-V-Panel-TouchPANEL-Screen-V15B-V-15-V15-B-/120607611355?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Crestron is a lot of things, but price competitive isn't one of them.

I am happy with the pricing on C4's new touchpanels, and am excited to get mine installed.

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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My neighbor has a bad ass ~20" wireless touchpanel in his Crestron system...I was just over there about 30 minutes ago eating dinner. I took him aside and asked him about it - he paid $25k for it.

It was everything I could do to not burst out in laughter. It is crazy cool, but not $25k cool.

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GoGo Delicious Enthusiast

GoGo Delicious

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My neighbor has a bad ass ~20" wireless touchpanel in his Crestron system...I was just over there about 30 minutes ago eating dinner. I took him aside and asked him about it - he paid $25k for it.

It was everything I could do to not burst out in laughter.

I would have burst out laughing . . First off Crestron does not currently have a wireless 20" TP nor have they ever. Second, none of Crestron's TP's are anywhere near $25,000K.

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henniae Explorer

henniae

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My neighbor has a bad ass ~20" wireless touchpanel in his Crestron system...I was just over there about 30 minutes ago eating dinner. I took him aside and asked him about it - he paid $25k for it.

It was everything I could do to not burst out in laughter.

I would have burst out laughing . . First off Crestron does not currently have a wireless 20" TP nor have they ever. Second' date=' none of Crestron's TP's are anywhere near $25,000K.[/quote']

Nobody said it was a Crestron manufactured panel.

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GoGo Delicious Enthusiast

GoGo Delicious

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My neighbor has a bad ass ~20" wireless touchpanel in his Crestron system...I was just over there about 30 minutes ago eating dinner. I took him aside and asked him about it - he paid $25k for it.

It was everything I could do to not burst out in laughter.

I would have burst out laughing . . First off Crestron does not currently have a wireless 20" TP nor have they ever. Second' date=' none of Crestron's TP's are anywhere near $25,000K.[/quote']

Nobody said it was a Crestron manufactured panel.

Point well taken.

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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It had a glossy black perimiter and I didn't see any branding on it. It is really cool, he can view any of his video sources on it.

He isn't much of a tech guy, but next time I talk to him I will ask him what brand it is. My guess is that he won't know, because he doesn't care. He wanted it, his A/V guy got it, and he wrote a check. That's all that matters to him.

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GoGo Delicious Enthusiast

GoGo Delicious

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It had a glossy black perimiter and I didn't see any branding on it. It is really cool, he can view any of his video sources on it.

He isn't much of a tech guy, but next time I talk to him I will ask him what brand it is. My guess is that he won't know, because he doesn't care. He wanted it, his A/V guy got it, and he wrote a check. That's all that matters to him.

Crestron has a few different hardware products that can take almost any display and turn it into a touch panel. I am thinking he is using one of those products.

that takes a 65" plasma and turns it into a TP.
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  • 2 weeks later...
nvgvup Rookie

nvgvup

Posted
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So the new InfinityEdge touchscreens are $599 ($799 for a 7", I'm guessing). I'm wondering when the last time the guys over at C4 spent some time at a BestBuy store to see what the "competition" has out there. I've been holding off replacing my 3.5" touch screens, mainly due to the cost ($1000 ea). Making a comparison (ok, not truly apples-to-apples, but it gets my point across), here's what I can get for $770 at BB:

A 20" touch screen all-in-one computer

DL DVD+RW drive

500 GB HD

4 GB RAM

Wireless keyboard and mouse

Built-in webcam

Media card reader

USB ports

Windows 7

Wired/Wireless NIC

And more!!!

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't see how $599 for a 5" touch screen ($799 for a 7"???) is really "breakthrough" pricing. Any thoughts???

hey awesome! you should buy that, build yourself a home automation system with one of the many diy alternatives and then stop complaining about control 4's prices.... or if you want the simple integration, vast functionality and a great UI at a reasonable (compared to alternatives marketed to the same user segment) price shell out that cash.

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henniae Explorer

henniae

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Posted
So the new InfinityEdge touchscreens are $599 ($799 for a 7", I'm guessing). I'm wondering when the last time the guys over at C4 spent some time at a BestBuy store to see what the "competition" has out there. I've been holding off replacing my 3.5" touch screens, mainly due to the cost ($1000 ea). Making a comparison (ok, not truly apples-to-apples, but it gets my point across), here's what I can get for $770 at BB:

A 20" touch screen all-in-one computer

DL DVD+RW drive

500 GB HD

4 GB RAM

Wireless keyboard and mouse

Built-in webcam

Media card reader

USB ports

Windows 7

Wired/Wireless NIC

And more!!!

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't see how $599 for a 5" touch screen ($799 for a 7"???) is really "breakthrough" pricing. Any thoughts???

I encourage you to shrink the system you describe above down to the size of a 7" touch screen and make it run on batteries. Making things smaller, portable and battery powered cost more.

Now don't respond that "Apple did it with the iPad" because apple will sell millions of iPads and make up the development costs based on the economies of scale as well as the cut they get on apps sold in the Apple store.

C4 will not sell nearly as many 7" and 5" touch screens so the development costs will have to be spread out over a smaller number of units sold.

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