JimMoci@AOL.COM sez --
>Hey guys- I work for a tech school and we are sent products to evaluate
>all the time- so much that we have to turn some stuff away. Everything
>from textbooks, TV's, laptops, software, electronic whiteboards, etc.
>Panasonic even gave us a $25,000 plasma screen monitor in hopes of getting
>the school district to buy one for every school. It's how business is
>done- and its how companies get new customers. Not everyone is as frugal
>as hams. Now lighten up and enjoy the holiday!
Nobody said there was anything wrong with businesses providing free stuff
(pursuant to certain anti-bribery laws, of course).
The issue was whether it was reasonable for a business to _DEMAND_ free
prototypes when producing and delivering same were not justified by the
expectation of follow-on business.
I make no bones about accepting free literature and free samples from all
electronics companies willing to provide them. If I don't have to endure
the ^&^(&^(* BS some companies want to put me through to get sample
quantities, it makes me a lot likelier to specify their parts. Nowadays
(and for several years) my first question to a rep is "How soon can I get
*one* piece?" The only correct answer is "yes." Until this year, Motorola
couldn't quite figure that one out.
Part of Motorola's current economic woes stem from its insistence on
focusing on the 20% of the customers that provided 80% of the bookings, to
the total exclusion of all other business, and often to the exclusion of
all external customers. I think they've seen that this strategy is
ineffective, considering that they're now licensing their wireless ICs to
any company willing to buy them.
Last time I checked, Agilent (HP) and Apple started in a garage, Dell
Computers started in a dorm room, and National Instruments started out of a
briefcase. And last time I checked, these companies were not especially
enamored with MOT -- at best, MOT is second-source for Apple processors.
I'm not saying prototypes need to be free. I do feel that samples and
prototypes should be priced at the hobbyist level, given the nature of the
part (e.g., no free Dahl transformers or Sand Labs 5 KW amps). And I do
say that any company that shuns the small developer deserves to suffer in
the marketplace.
Jim N6OTQ
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