I don't think it is a scam to sell products with different features and specifications and allow the customer to choose the product that is right for them. Could search technology improve this process? Sure, but it isn't a scam.
Furthermore, cameras used in the example are quite different -- the more expensive camera shoots 720p video, has optical image stabilization, and a larger display.
I just went looking to see if the $114 camera did HD video, since I'm planning to upgrade my Canon five megapixel camera explicitly to get HD video and big enough storage to make it worth having. So, for me, that's a huge feature difference. I don't know if I'm an average digital camera consumer, but I'm definitely not a serious photographer or videographer.
"the more expensive camera shoots 720p video, has optical image stabilization, and a larger display."
Which sounds like one codec chip that is still too new to be a commodity, one routine that takes a lot of time and effort to get really right, and an actually more expensive part. Additionally, the internals for the video might require a more expensive bus going out to the storage device and possible more cache memory to grease the wheels. I'm not having a hard time believing this all adds up to around $100 of parts and design labor. Maybe it doesn't, but it's enough I'd want to see proof of the claim the customer is getting ripped off.
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I don't think it is a scam to sell products with different features and specifications and allow the customer to choose the product that is right for them. Could search technology improve this process? Sure, but it isn't a scam.
Furthermore, cameras used in the example are quite different -- the more expensive camera shoots 720p video, has optical image stabilization, and a larger display.
I just went looking to see if the $114 camera did HD video, since I'm planning to upgrade my Canon five megapixel camera explicitly to get HD video and big enough storage to make it worth having. So, for me, that's a huge feature difference. I don't know if I'm an average digital camera consumer, but I'm definitely not a serious photographer or videographer.
"the more expensive camera shoots 720p video, has optical image stabilization, and a larger display."
Which sounds like one codec chip that is still too new to be a commodity, one routine that takes a lot of time and effort to get really right, and an actually more expensive part. Additionally, the internals for the video might require a more expensive bus going out to the storage device and possible more cache memory to grease the wheels. I'm not having a hard time believing this all adds up to around $100 of parts and design labor. Maybe it doesn't, but it's enough I'd want to see proof of the claim the customer is getting ripped off.
Could search technology improve this process?
I'm assuming that's where he is going. From his twitter bio: Currently co-founding an ecommerce search company.