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The pi zero was sold at a loss... It is/was a marketing manuever to absorb more of the diy iot market share; which is the reason there is a 1 per customer limit

The pi zero was sold at a loss... It is/was a marketing manuever to absorb more of the diy iot market share; which is the reason there is a 1 per customer limit. As well as the reason microcenter requires in person purchase and not online. Secondly the pi line, like the Arduino line, along with everything else of that nature, are 'development platforms.' You don't buy a developer kit in mass intending to resell as an end product... The pi, Arduino, beagle, etc have an excessive number of Io pins, often a variety of sensors, multiple options for power source and corresponding voltage regulators and other features useful for development. When you take your design to market, you simply draw your own schematic/PCB layout and place an order for a board without the unused sensors, io's, regulators, etc. The schematics provided for the pi and other platforms are quite modular and easy to understand. One can simply remove all the io's, accessories from busses, regulators, clocks, and whatever else isn't required. One can then tweak the PCB layout to fit their form factor, power requirements, component tolerances and whatever else to suit their exact use case, to minimize cost.

codys 10y ago
> You don't buy a developer kit in mass intending to resell as an end product Beaglebone black-like system boards are used for both development & production. I almost shipped a system like this personally. With the BBB, you can get slightly modified versions, in bulk, and with enough availability to satisfy purchasing. Even if you couldn't, the SoC on the BBB can be bought from TI. I imagine there are similar things for more modern, powerful SoCs. Many companies like isolating the complicated timing sensitive board design (as needed for NAND and off chip memory) from the rest of their design, and don't necessarily have the skills in house to do that type of layout. Pre-made boards like the BBB provide a lower cost option than a completely custom board. With the RPis, you can't even buy the SoC. I'm not aware of anyone you can buy slightly modified (ie: unneeded components pulled) boards from in bulk.
- delhanty 10y ago
  >Beaglebone black-like system boards are used for both development & production. That's correct. Autodesk uses a modified Beaglebone Black for its reference "open" * 3D printer design Ember: https://beagleboard.org/blog/2015-09-29-autodesk-ember/ https://beagleboard.org/blog/2015-09-29-autodesk-ember/ The Ember retails at $7495, but one can experiment with the modifying firmware with a standard Beaglebone Black. * "open" as defined by Autodesk.
michaelmior 10y ago
> you simply draw your own schematic/PCB layout and place an order for a board The number of people who view PCB design as simple is significantly smaller than the number of people who develop for the Pi.

codys 10y ago

> You don't buy a developer kit in mass intending to resell as an end product Beaglebone black-like system boards are used for both development & production. I almost shipped a system like this personally. With the BBB, you can get slightly modified versions, in bulk, and with enough availability to satisfy purchasing. Even if you couldn't, the SoC on the BBB can be bought from TI. I imagine there are similar things for more modern, powerful SoCs. Many companies like isolating the complicated timing sensitive board design (as needed for NAND and off chip memory) from the rest of their design, and don't necessarily have the skills in house to do that type of layout. Pre-made boards like the BBB provide a lower cost option than a completely custom board. With the RPis, you can't even buy the SoC. I'm not aware of anyone you can buy slightly modified (ie: unneeded components pulled) boards from in bulk.

delhanty 10y ago
>Beaglebone black-like system boards are used for both development & production. That's correct. Autodesk uses a modified Beaglebone Black for its reference "open" * 3D printer design Ember: https://beagleboard.org/blog/2015-09-29-autodesk-ember/ https://beagleboard.org/blog/2015-09-29-autodesk-ember/ The Ember retails at $7495, but one can experiment with the modifying firmware with a standard Beaglebone Black. * "open" as defined by Autodesk.

michaelmior 10y ago

> you simply draw your own schematic/PCB layout and place an order for a board The number of people who view PCB design as simple is significantly smaller than the number of people who develop for the Pi.