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Who ruined the Pi

I've already written a couple of columns about the game-changing device that is the Raspberry Pi.

In case you've been living in a cave for the past few weeks, let me remind you that the Pi is a small, single-board computer which packs an enormous punch for its size and price.

And it's the price of this device that really got heads turning when it was announced.

For just US$35, you get enough computing power to do a whole lot of really cool things and all that's needed to make it work is a source of power, a keyboard and a display.

It's almost a renaissance of the old ZX80 and C64 days.

However, wouldn't you know it, things are not all that they seem.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the device with a hiss and a roar, with units flying off shelves at a rate that took even the most optimistic commentators by surprise.

Within hours, the entire first production run was sold out and people were begging for more.

By the time I got to my keyboard to place an order -- the cupboard was bare and not due to be restocked for a month or more.

The designers of this computer were pretty savvy about how they marketed it -- instead of trying to handle an avalanche of individual customer orders, they farmed out this task to two big-name electronic retailers -- RS Components and Element 14.

Indeed, if you want to buy a Pi from the next batch, you'll have to rush off to these companies now and pre-order.

However, if you live in NZ or Australia -- be prepared for a shock.

That US$35 computer will cost you, not the NZ$42 you'd expect (based on currency conversion) -- but a whopping $70.45.

This "take the US-dollar price and double it to get the price in NZ$" is the kind of strategy that high-margin TradeMe sellers usually use -- it's not what I'd expect from an official distribution channel.

And of course, because RS and Element 14 effectively have a duopoly on supply, they can actually charge whatever the hell they want for these things -- hence the big gap between the US$35 Pi we were told about and the NZ$70 Pi we would have to buy.

Now some might say that this is just a storm in a teacup and that at $70 this device is still a good buy -- which maybe it is. However, with this kind of pricing, you can bet that there are a number of Chinese companies busy reverse-engineering the Pi as we speak and it's probably only a matter of weeks before we see the "Noodle Pi" being offered from that part of the world -- at US$30 including free shipping to anywhere in the world.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation will likely do very well from this device but I think they may have ankle-tapped themselves somewhat by allowing their appointed resellers to gouge the market in regions such as Australasia.

I was going to buy several of these boards when they were available and start doing some serious messing around. At 80% more than the original advertised price, I'm not so sure now. I will probably buy one and then just wait for the clones.

Paying an extra $30 might not sound like much - but if you were contemplating equipping our schools with these as a learning tool -- that can quickly add up to a huge amount of money.

What about you? Has the $70 price surprised you at all? Has it changed your buying plans?

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