Regarding the price of the unit, my opinion is that EMPEG co. would be able to go to a venture capital person and say "We have guaranteed proof that at least 10,000 people are interested and are willing to buy." The investor provides the initial capital to do the production run and then when the units get sold they recoup their money (including, presumably, interest). EMPEG co. gets to supply all those people who have put their names down, presumably get to make a bit of money from reduced tooling-up costs, and could even pass on this saving to us if they had enough to fund another production run.

This doesn't necessarily mean the price comes down. I'd imagine the cost of tooling-up a run of 10,000 is a bit less than for ten runs of 1000, but then probably not more than 20%. But the benefit of the above is that the units are supplied straight away, rather than in dribs and drabs, giving the EMPEG unit more immediate presence in the marketplace, which generates more interest. Besides, if EMPEG co. can get to the stage where they have no waiting list and units in stock ready to ship immediately, people would buy this in preference to putting their name in a waiting list.

And then everyone'd be happy.

Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.