Kinect parts cost MS around £34
Research suggests tidy profit per unit.
If you were to go shopping for all the constituent parts of Microsoft's Kinect peripheral you'd land up with a bill for an estimated £34, according to tech analysis published today.
EE Times has reported that a teardown analysis performed by technology consultants UBM TechInsights attributes $17 (£11) of the total to Kinect's PrimeSense reference system, which incorporates the cameras, microphones and central processor.
The rest of the total is split between around 20 other parts.
"Basically, the strength of the design is the huge design win for the Israeli fabless company PrimeSense," said UBM TechInsights' Allan Yogasingam. "They've provided the most innovative portion of the Kinect with their image processor, audio and video interface."
That figure may play into the hands of all those who deemed Kinect's £129.99 launch price as too high, but don't forget that there's packaging, marketing, labour, distribution and R&D to pay for too. Oh, and a cut for the shareholders as well, ideally.
Still, you can't put a price on fun, right? Which, with a few reservations, Eurogamer's Oli Welsh believed Kinect delivered.
Microsoft's Kinect control system launched in Europe earlier this week with anecdotal evidence suggesting the RRP isn't discouraging consumers from opening their wallets.