[sdiy] OT: Cell Phones Becoming Profitless

[Glen]

At 07:01 AM 7/30/04 , Scott Gravenhorst wrote:

>Sorry for the non-DIY content, but this made me smile wryly this morning. 
>Anything to thwart the proliferation of damnable cellphones is a very good
>thing IMHO.
>
>This tidbit comes from: http://slashdot.org/
>
>I wonder...  If cellphone manufacture becomes a thing of the past, what
>then?  Will the semi mfgrs tool up for more OTAs and tranny arrays?  Or
>will we get a sh!tpile of crappy ringtone synths (without even MIDI!) until
>we vomit?

I don't consider this to be totally off-topic, because we are really
discussing the fate of those companies which will potentially provide us
with new parts in the future. I doubt that cellphones manufacture will
cease anytime in the near future, but it would seem that something has to
change. Will the semi makers eventually start raising the prices for cell
phone parts? Will they simply find another more profitable market to
concentrate on, and consider cell phones a "loss leader" of sorts? If so,
what might this other more profitable market be? I certainly hope none of
them have to stop production of the parts that a Synth-DIY person wants to
use, or worse, let themselves be ran out of the semi-making business entirely.

I thought the cell phone business was supposed to be booming? If so, then
they should start paying a decent price for their raw components. Getting
lower and lower prices, until their suppliers start filing for bankruptcy
isn't good for their business, not to mention the poor suppliers. 


later,
Glen