Okay Geek Farm
The Kinect Costs $56 to make, but it costs $150
Brandon Davenport
It’s still a good price, but if the Kinect really costs just $56 to make, why is it $150? This is surpassing Apple-like margins and seems just plain ridiculous. Microsoft claimed that the Kinect cost close to the retail price, but a recent report by the EETimes, The Kinect probably costs around $56 bones to make, and that means Microsoft is lining their pockets with $93 per unit sold.
Now that we’re done with the whole “evil corporate conspiracy” spiel, Microsoft could have some reasoning behind these absurd margins. The original prototypes cost around $30,000 to make, and the initial research was quite expensive — but that’s true for all products right? (except for the $500 Million dollars Microsoft alloted for advertising). You can also find out what you need to build your own Kinect for $56 at the source.
