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Comment by metatronscube | Hacker News Reader

Google and amazon have started a race to the bottom and no one will win that way. It has to be profitable for all concerned otherwise there is no point.

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Consumers win. If competitors can't differentiate on anything other than price, why do they deserve to exist?

I didn't when I got a cheap device that was faulty and fell apart more than once. I have since decided it is a false economy. 159 quid plastic tablet vs 259 quid aluminium one is what it comes down to for me. The extra 100 quid gives me as the consumer a much more pleasurable device that's much more durable and lasts longer. It pays for itself because I can actually use it before it breaks. That's just my experience so far.

Last time that I decided to shell out more money investing in the "aluminium factory" I bought an mp3 player and found out rather quickly that they break as any other cheap player.

I also found out that the sustainable model of the "aluminium factory" is to make me pay almost the same price of a new player to replace a shattered display.

In the end I was lucky enough to find on ebay some companies madly working against the sustainability of the free market that sold me a replacement display for 20£.

I ever since bought only cheap, plastic players. They still even let you change batteries...

And some of is can actually use the plastic ones. To each their own.

Google and Amazon don't make money from hardware/software. And if Android OEM's refuse to lower prices then Google can still continue with Motorola. Android OEM's who are just in the game for hardware are in danger.

Amazon sells content at relatively high margin. Google has a new content store they want to push. The profit from selling the hardware is only part of a consumer's financial relationship with these companies. I'd be far more worried for Samsung/Asus, which are entirely hardware based.

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