Money don't grow on trees

Hello World! I figured that would be appropriate since this is my first blog post at Crank Software. :) Cheesy, maybe; Retro, absolutely ;)

I was sitting at my computer doing some work and listening to music the other night. The song I was listening to at the time was "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" by Cage The Elephant. The particular verse that caught my attention was "money don't grow on trees, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, Nothin in this worlds for free". It very quickly reminded me of the economic situation we are all in now. It also got me thinking about BOMs. No not that kind but, the kind companies are always thinking about (Bill Of Materials) when creating devices. How are they going to keep the developing costs of their products down to make them attractive to the end customer?

Apple has raised the bar on the performance and functional factor by introducing the iPhone and iPod Touch. Customers have started to expect certain functionality and performance from their smart devices. But at the same time customers have a certain price point that keeps them from buying these products. Apple has been able to offer their iPhone and iPod Touch at a price point that attracts customers. They have also created an entire eco system around these devices to create an additional revenue stream. iTunes sells apps, music, movies etc. that can be played on these devices. One might ask does the additional revenue from the eco system help cover the BOM? Do they take a hit on the device to make it up later in revenue from services? Who knows for sure.

So what options do companies have that do not have existing services or eco systems in place to drive additional revenue from? One option would be getting the most out of their hardware. Having a development and runtime solution that took full advantage of the underlying hardware would definitely be a benefit. An environment that not only took advantage of the hardware solution they have now but also future hardware configurations. A solution that was designed for embedded devices right from inception. Not a software solution originally designed for the desktop world and quickly massaged to find life in the embedded space.