Teenage Engineering OP-1

[LyingDalai]

One thing is nice, though, is that OP-1 is neither discontinued nor replaced by a mk2 that would make further updates inaccessible.

About the crazy price, this was the trick a former boss of mine was using when he didn’t really want to sell this particular product at this particular time, while letting the door open for happy accidents (as in customer in a hurry / absolutely needing the product).
I would assume this price will go slower once TE is ready. Might be next Black Friday, though.

Got my second hand OP-1 480€ in 2014 when the price new was 700€.
While I love the OP-1, I wouldn’t pay more than 700€ for it. Above is way too much, IMO.

[ivarin]

conspiracy theories)
are you saying they’re probably trying to kill their firstborn to boost op-z/po’s sales?

[lemons]

If the $28 speaker part is your main point of contention, ignoring the $70 connector board, $100 keyboard, and $90 UI board, all of which are in conflict with your narrative that you " bet one OP-1 costs about 100€ to make for TE - all the rest is profit." then I’m afraid you are correct and there is no point in arguing.

The speaker comment was just to prove my point in that drawing conclusions from iFixit consumer prices as to what TE pays for OP-1 parts does not make a very good argument in my opinion.

That said, I think $100 for the keyboard is pretty ridiculous too. What in that keyboard costs $50 to make (assuming you are correct in that iFixit prices are 50% more than what the part costs to make)? It’s very simple design with no pressure sensitivity or anything. All the other prices are also inflated for the OP-1 spare parts you listed.

[LyingDalai]

Not kill, just put on hold.
And avoid crazy second hand prices while still grabbing the customers in need.
That’s a pure supposition, but I feel it could be true…

[lemons]

That, and anyone that believes TE that chooses to buy one at this price (like me) is an idiot.

If you have the money, that’s not idiotic at all. That doesn’t make you an idiot, if you have the money to spare.

Thinking that TE isn’t making massive profit when they sell OP-1 for 1399€ does seem idiotic to me however.

[AdamJay]

What in that keyboard costs $50 to make

The fact that no one else uses it, therefore there is reduced market to scale up production.
Economies of scale are less applicable to a part that sells to one main vendor maybe twice a year.
Like most every other part on the OP-1.

drawing conclusions from iFixit consumer prices

Hence my qualifier to take 50% off.

[lemons]

The fact that no one else uses it, therefore there is reduced market to scale up product.
Economies of scale are less applicable to a part that sells to one main vendor maybe twice a year.
Like most every other part on the OP-1.

Yeah, but $50 still seems a bit much. TE is still selling OP-1’s by the thousands, I think they can score a better deal for a simple keyboard than $50 a piece.

[AdamJay]

Have you ever worked in contract manufacturing?

$50 for a custom part (which requires additional assembly labor) selling to one vendor is a steal.

[lemons]

Have you ever worked in contract manufacturing?

$50 for a custom part (which requires additional assembly labor) selling to one vendor is a steal.

I am still not convinced. They have made that keyboard part for 8 years. I am pretty sure they are not paying $50 for it. I would say $5 to $10 would be closer to truth. What iFixit charges for them isn’t really indicative on anything in my opinion.

[AdamJay]

I’ll take that as a no, you haven’t worked in contract manufacturing.

You’ll never be convinced, and I am done.

[lemons]

I’ll take that as a no, you haven’t worked in contract manufacturing.

No, I haven’t. I don’t think only those who have worked in contract manufacturing should be allowed to argue though. It’s bordering argument error if you attack my experience instead of my arguments…

It’s quite simple, 10 year old mobile phone parts don’t equal 1399€ price. Also, custom cases and buttons can be found on devices that cost very little, so those really don’t give any excuse to ask 1399€ for 10 year old device either.

It’s just common sense, it doesn’t require extensive experience in contract manufacturing to see this.

[ddiamond84]

Lots of things seem like “common sense” and then turn out to be totally wrong.

[Anfim]

So you have zero evidence and zero experience to back up your claims, other than a vague hunch that it should be cheaper. Why bother posting?

[darenager]

“The Behringer effect”

[JohnnyEgo]

i just Love my OP-1

[lemons]

So you have zero evidence and zero experience to back up your claims, other than a vague hunch that it should be cheaper. Why bother posting?

I gave several perfectly reasonable arguments based on comparisons to other products and also common sense - you on the other hand attacked me instead of my arguments.

Just because we can’t know the exact price TE pays for manufacturing doesn’t mean we can’t argue and speculate about it.

So do you think 1399€ is a reasonable price for OP-1, that was originally released in 2011 for 799€?

[pronk]

Another thing people are ignoring is that it isn’t just the cost of the physical pieces that make up the synth that factor into what it costs TE to release and sell it. They need to think about how many they are going to sell versus how much it cost them in salaries/time etc to actually develop it, and that factors into the price. Products don’t just magically appear out of nowhere only costing the price of their components.

[darenager]

So you have zero evidence and zero experience to back up your claims, other than a vague hunch that it should be cheaper. Why bother posting?

I gave several perfectly reasonable arguments based on comparisons to other products and also common sense - you on the other hand attacked me instead of my arguments.

You seem to be struggling with terms here, you didn’t give reasonable arguments, nor common sense, and as far as I can see no one “attacked” you, and you didn’t have a valid argument for the reasons already pointed out, multiple times.

[darenager]

Bingo. The cost of developing something complex and as niche as an OP-1 means that you have to sell a certain amount of units before you are even at a break even point, let alone in profit.

But hey lets not let facts get in the way of peoples emotional responses.

This isn’t to suggest that the OP-1 hasn’t for some time now been generating profit for TE, but the new redesign will have cost significant development time, and therefore the price increase isn’t just due to more expensive parts being used.

[lemons]

You seem to be struggling with terms here, you didn’t give reasonable arguments, nor common sense, and as far as I can see no one “attacked” you, and you didn’t have a valid argument for the reasons already pointed out, multiple times.

So you think TE is barely making profit when they sell OP-1 or 1399€?