Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Are Arduino Unos Coming Down in Price?

In a previous post, I discussed the expansion of the microcontroller ecosystem (something predictable for a popular segment, call it Moore's Law if you will, I didn't).  I admit I do not have the free time to do thorough market analysis on products but I keep my eye on things and I think I have spotted a trend.  Arduinos appear to be dropping in price.

The Chinese knockoffs open source compatibles have always tried to undercut the official Italian boards but often not by much.  The compatibles appear to be dropping in price.  Yourduino has boards now from $17.50 to $21.50.  Itead has dropped their board to $22.50 and have expanded their low cost IBoard series (that integrates ethernet at prices comparable with the Uno's price).  Seeed dropped their Duemilanove clone to $22.50 from $27.50.

Ok, so what about the original?  Microcenter in the US is advertising the Arduino Uno for $19.99 but on further inspection it is the "Gheo Electronics Arduino Uno Rev. 3" - somewhat deceptive.

The official products appear to be holding in price at US companies like Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc.  Will this last?  Perhaps with the introduction of the Arduino Due in coming days, finally the Uno pricing will come down to a bit more than the soft selling Leonardo?

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