[asterisk-users] Hardphone SIP phone costs

[Drew Gibson]

Anciso, Roy wrote:
>
> I ’ m trying to understand something that just doesn’t seem to 
> compute. How can companies like Cisco justify selling their hard 
> phones for as much as they do? I know there is a matter of recouping 
> R&D costs but when you look at the iPhone with all its amazing 
> features for less than $500.00 it just doesn ’ t make sense. Am I the 
> only one that thinks this?
>

Hi Roy,

Although Cisco generally make good gear, it does tend to be 
over-featured and over-priced. It's due to two main factors, branding 
and lock-in.

Branding:- NoLogo by Naomi Klein is a good primer (regardless of which 
side of the fence you sit), see also H. C. Andersen's "The Emperor's New 
Clothes" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Clothes

Lock-in:- If you've already bought into The Brand (eg Cisco's Call 
Manager software) you don't have a choice if you want all the features. 
You _could_ try telling the boss that the $100k+ that was spent on The 
Brand was a waste of money, that it could have been done for $20k with a 
mix of Brands, with more relevant features and that you're _sure_ the VP 
would understand .... but then, no one got fired for buying IBM.


regards,

Drew


-- 
Drew Gibson

Systems Administrator
OANDA Corporation
www.oanda.com