Strange Prices

I expect BBB pricing to remain "strange" and disparate across the world, because Premier Farnell isn't a BBB manufacturer as it is for Raspberry Pi, and so different forces are in play.  There is also an inevitable conflict of interest to some degree, since every BBB sold probably means one less sale of Pi Model B.  We'll never know how that's being played, as it's an internal business matter.  They've already raised the price once, as BBB was initially listed at £27.<something> in the UK and now it's listed at £30.99.

As you point out though, their price leeway is limited.  If BBB is priced too high, people will just go elsewhere.

The same applies to stock issues as it does to price issues.  At least in the UK, Farnell is ordering relatively few BBBs each week and there are never any in stock, so customers may be going elsewhere.  Currently their stock info says:

Availability:  Awaiting Delivery

 

1000 will be available for delivery on 27 May, 2013

5000 will be available for delivery on 2 Jun, 2013

1500 will be available for delivery on 3 Jun, 2013

I suspect that CircuitCo doesn't allow them any greater numbers so it's not Farnell's fault, but that's no comfort to eager customers.  Those who have succumbed to the BBB feeding frenzy will go elsewhere.

> because Premier Farnell isn't a BBB manufacturer as it is for Raspberry Pi

Do we really know what this difference amounts to?

Premier Farnell doesn't actually manufacture either device.

Sony manufactures the RPi, and Circuitco manufactures the BBB.

I think RS Components is directly involved in testing returned RPis,

but I don't think Farnell even does that.

Farnell may be involved to some extent in supplying components.

We have heard for example that RS didn't order enough Broadcom cpu's

early on.  But we have also heard that the RPF got stuck owning

inventories of memory chips.  So it isn't exactly clear to what extent

Farnell is involved in component inventories for RPi compared to BBB.

coder27 wrote:

 

Do we really know what this difference amounts to?

Unlikely we ever would.  But basically what RS & Farnell bring to the table is going to be their wallets and their connections for sourcing components.  Probably they also have existing relationships with the contract boardshops for other reasons, which makes getting off the starting blocks that much easier.

The situation with the RPi and who does what, owns what, etc is as clear as mud, Don't expect any change there.  Optimistically I'd expect things to be easier for something like the Beaglebone as the designs are fully open.. You still have the same problem if TI don't produce enough AM3359/8's though.

coder27 wrote:

 

Do we really know what this difference amounts to?

Unlikely we ever would.  But basically what RS & Farnell bring to the table is going to be their wallets and their connections for sourcing components.  Probably they also have existing relationships with the contract boardshops for other reasons, which makes getting off the starting blocks that much easier.

The situation with the RPi and who does what, owns what, etc is as clear as mud, Don't expect any change there.  Optimistically I'd expect things to be easier for something like the Beaglebone as the designs are fully open.. You still have the same problem if TI don't produce enough AM3359/8's though.

Do we know if Farnell's restrictions on RPi sales to non-businesses in

certain countries such as Belgium and Netherlands also applies to BBB?

Since those restrictions seem to be generic in the countries concerned and nothing specific to the RPi itself, I don't see why there would be any difference.