DM42 News

[Thomas Okken]

(12-05-2017 12:25 AM)zeno333 Wrote:  My point was that at one time HP used high quality inlaid keys on one of their lowest priced calculators, the 20S..they then decided to stop doing that...I got a older manual that still said it had that feature with the new model that did not have that feature...they were to cheap to even correct the manual...Their dropping that feature on a low end model was very much a mindset issue as opposed to a cost issue since it was regarding their lower end model. You had made a point that they used to coast lots more than today, well the 20S was a low cost model and it had the better keys at the beginning, then that changed...what changed was HPs unique caring about quality, that is my point.

Replacing injection-molded keys with cheaper, painted ones reduces the cost of making a calculator by some amount of money, which is going to be the roughly same regardless of how fancy or cheap that calculator is in all other respects. It will shave off the same amount from the cost of making a 50g or 48GX as from the cost of making a 20S.

But the profit margin on a 20S is much lower, so the effect of building it more cheaply is much greater.

HP was capable of "uniquely caring" about quality as long as there were enough people willing to pay the high prices of their products, instead of buying the much more affordable TIs or Casios or Sharps. And that's not the case any more. The market for high-quality, and thus high-price calculators is all but gone. If anyone's mind-set has changed, it's not HP's, it's their customers'.