Hardware Analyst Breaks Down Cost Of Xbox 360’s 120GB Hard Drive
>> From multiplayerblog.mtv.com: [QUOTE] iSupli representative Krishna Chander expects the hard drive came from electronics manufacturers Toshiba or Seagate . When the hard drive ships to retail, it comes pre-loaded with starter software (i.e. Xbox Live Arcade trials) and "specific Gaming Instructions and some levels of the OS," said Chander.
Unlike an off-the-shelf drive that can simply be loaded into your standard PS3, Chander explained, the Xbox 360 drive's pricing also includes color tuning and packaging. This begins to drive the price up from what you might see at an online retailer like NewEgg.
The software-loaded drives are then sold to what's called Value Added Resellers (VARs). These folks take the base drives and apply the casing and packaging. iSuppli expects VARs purchase the drives for $75, before charging $5 to add their part to the final package that ends up appearing at your local games store.
These drives are then delivered to Microsoft. iSuppli believes the markup on the drives could be as much as $20, making the drives $100 a pop for Microsoft. Microsoft then sets a suggested price for retail. In this case, it's $179.99. [/QUOTE]
