sky-king

I just heard that Garmin has bought Apollo (UPSAT).

I have used products from both companies gong back to Apollo 612
LORANS and GPS100, and it has always seemed that every generation
brought better stuff, especially in the user interface.

I hope this will make it even better.

What does anybody else think?

Syd.

dan luke

I think unless Bendix/King wakes up (unlikely, based on my
conversations with them at OSH), light aircraft owners will be getting
screwed even more vigorously than they are now.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

stu gotts

Amen!

mike rapoport

Good. Maybe the stock will go up some more.

Mike
MU-2

mike schumann

Less Competition = Higher Costs is not always the case. If you have a
relatively low volume product, where a large percentage of the product's
cost is design & development, not manufacturing, eliminating one of the
competitors can actually create an environment where costs could go down.
The surviving company will usually optimize the product price to maximize
total profit. Many times, the optimal total profit is achieved with a lower
product price generating significantly increased volume.

Mike Schumann

mike rapoport

GRMN

But come to think of it, UPSAT was losing money, so UPS is better off too.

Mike
MU-2

jay honeck

lower


And how is this determined, if there is no other show in town to compete
against? Answer: By setting it at whatever the (formerly) rich pilot will
pay. If there is no UPSAT to field a competing product, what possible
incentive will Garmin have to lower the price?

No, less competition in the avionics world is going to hurt us all, I'm
afraid.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
http://www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

david megginson

"Jay Honeck" <jjhoneck@NOSPAMmchsi.com> writes:


They'll set the price wherever it fits best on the supply/demand
curve:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

Assume (for a new model) a that Garmin has a fixed overhead of $10M
(for certification, equipment, plant, etc.), and variable costs of
$500/unit -- would Garmin rather wholesale 1,000 units at $10,000, or
3,000 units at $5,000?

Before the StrikeFinder came out, for example, BFG still couldn't
charge $25K for a StormScope, even without any competition in the
range. Competition does help, of course, but it's not the only thing
that controls prices.


That may well be true, but this might also be an incentive for someone
else to enter the market -- maybe some UPSAT employees will leave to
form their own startup, the way the Garmin guys left Bendix-King.

To take another example, you have the only hotel at your airport --
what keeps you from raising the rates to, say, $500/night?


All the best,


David

jay honeck

Heeeyyyy....


--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
http://www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

edr

A.) Jay knows pilots
and
B.) Jay knows that pilots are cheapskates.

:-)