Im here...but the car is not

 

I hope they cut your cost by the same amount... was just waiting for the Friday paycheck to place my order.

 

I'm sure they will.
I'll address the issue once I hear back from Cobb.

 

In other news, how much do you guys think it costs for Cobb to manufacture these things? As far as I know all AccessPORTs have the same hardware, regardless of what car they are for. Just software is different, big deal. So you've got that tiny circuit board, an lcd, some buttons, and some plastic.

Considering it takes Apple < $180 to make an iPad, I'd say these things cost Cobb ~$80 to make. Even with this price drop.. they still reap some good profit. Good for everyone.

 

Damn that's so cheap for the iPod. No wonder they rake in cash. That thing is retarded. It's an oversized iPod touch

 

I'd consider the cost more of the R&D end. I wouldn't know if they made that back yet - maybe they have. I don't know if a ton of R&D went into the Ipad - they might have just looked at the touch and expanded on it for all I know. I would imagine that the amount of R&D going into the AP in the beginning must have been a lot.

 

What it takes to manufacture the hardware ignores the years of labor that went into developing the application. My involvement as a beta started in 2006 and the actual product wasn't on the market until 2008. They had been developing it prior to this.

 

Yeah COBB is not a huge company like HKS, K&N, etc. I am sure the R&D expense was significant. But in the end it's all about supply and demand.

 

I started having a discussion with Cobb about the AP for the AccessPORT in the fall of 2006 when it was still version 1.0.
They had gotten the development mostly complete by the Fall of 2007 when they switched hardware suppliers and moved all of their support over to v2.0 (the current device).
Years of research went into the Mazda PCMs, not to mention all the up-front costs of bribing folks out of their NDAs.

Unfortunately, the S/D for the RX-8 is a fraction of their overall business plan.
The Nissans and Mitsus are their primary focus (and the reason why there is no support for the 2009+ models).

 

Regardless - this price drop does affect you in an adverse way, MM. Especially since your profit off the sales are based on the same percent. I hope they work it out well so dealers like you don't lose out.

 

The Custom Calibration Service is included free in a purchase of the AccessPORT from me and its profitability is tied to the profit margin on the unit itself.
Even if my margin remains the same, I am going to lose at least $50 on every unit, not to mention the folks that ordered recently that are coming out of the woodwork, demanding refunds and initiating charge-backs because of the price drop.

 

How are your sales of the Custom Calibration un-tied to the AP sales? That was my plan anyways - get a cheap Cobb (HAH. Good thing I got mine for pretty damn cheap anyways....) and buy your tuning. I have the cheap Cobb - so I guess I just want to know if your separate Calibrations are something profitable for you that you would continue doing.

 

That sucks for you man. I would be pissed if I paid $695.00 yesterday and it is $495.00 today. But this same thing happened to my boss and I, he bought an LED Samsung when they first came out and then I bought the same TV for hundreds less a couple months later.

 

MM increase your price $50 and call it the day

 

Even with the price drop u might be selling more. Cuz of ppl like me pdxhak who now want them because of the attractive price. Even if u raised the price 50 bux, ppl will still buy cuz ur tunes are a necessity. So in turn you coulD be making more by selling more.

As far as ppl demanding refunds, they're dumb becuase everything drops price. Like tvs. Cars. DVDs. Everything. So that is debatable

 

This is both good and bad news

Good for end users.

Bad for resellers.

I am about to get one. But now i guess i will wait a little

 

yea i would be more than willing to pay the $50.

 

I did the exact same thing - though I'm putting off the custom calibration service until I sort out what I want to do mod-wise.

MM, in considering what to do going forward with respect to the AP, consider that most of us recognize that the service you're providing has inherent value, even if some people get it "for free", which we all know is really paid for by the profit margin on the sale of the unit. If your profit margin is affected by this move by Cobb, I don't think you'll have any trouble recovering that amount by charging somewhat more than other dealers for a unit that includes tuning.

 

Hey Jeff, did you work something out with Cobb? Trigger finger is ready to order

 

Cobb definitely should have given their vendors a few months notice. Hopefully it was just an oversight and not indifference.



Jeff, your service is still valuable, just charge a bit more on top so your margin remains the same. Even if people can buy the unit cheaper elsewhere, they still need it tuned and buying the tuning after the fact will cost more than just purchasing from you.

 

They probably have their hands full relocating to Austin, TX

 

+1 rob

 

Is there any reason stated for the price drop? Are they coming out with the next best thing and just getting rid of inventory?

 

mysql +1

 

Any word on the price Jeff. My trigger finger is ready to send money lol.