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Freebie marketing, a.k.a. razor and blades business model? [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebie_marketing

No, because clearly the CHIP is usable without adapters, and provides the main functionality.

Yes,

because on every image on main page (row with three possible use scenarios) it's shown as connected to a display.

This IS freebie marketing.

The bare board has a composite video output.

This is surprisingly common. Mechanical parts (HDMI's tiny pins in a high-precision injection moulded body) are expensive, while it's now very cheap to just stick some chips on a board.

> Mechanical parts (HDMI's tiny pins in a high-precision injection moulded body) are expensive

Not at all. Complete brand-name HDMI connector assembly costs 29 cents in 10K quantity. [1]

[1] http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Amphenol-FCI/10029449-11...

Yeah. But I wonder if this includes the 15 cent royalty for HDMI (http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/terms.aspx) or the royalty for HDCP?

No it doesn't

That almost reminds me of Apple.