I totally agree with you. I think what I had in mind is continuing with high quality parts but finding less expensive parts and ways of manufacturing. As a smaller company with a low production I think they had to put up with limited options for manufacture. I think parts like the docking connector posed a problem because of limited selection and high price. I have seen some cases where being part of a large electronics company gives you access to better circuit board design software so you can use fewer layers and save manufacturing costs. Luckily hard drive prices will get bigger with cheaper prices and mp3 sizes could go down in size so there is at least one future reason for a price drop.

Alex Lear