[jdeeny]

If Digikey doesn't have it, no one else does either.

I don't think that is really true. Digikey does have an impressive inventory, but there are plenty of brands that they don't stock aggressively (first thing that comes to mind is Lattice).

Digikey ships things out extremely fast. Not many other places offer overnight shipping

Digikey's major competitors, like Newark and Mouser, offer essentially the same shipping options. All 3 can get things shipped out late in the day (say 5:30PM) for next-day early AM delivery.

If you are doing real engineering and not just screwing around in your basement, you don't really care that much about price. The last thing you want to do is order from multiple vendors because it eats time and is more expensive in the end because you will be raped by shipping costs.

This is the opposite of my experience. When buying for production, price is a primary concern. When buying for R&D, there are usually other orders that can by added to, so there is no shipping concern.

[blackguardx]

If you are buying parts for production from Digikey, Newark, or Mouser, then you must have very low production runs. Most companies buy production parts from major distributors who don't sell in low quantities.

It all depends on the scale of your operation. If you work for a big firm, you don't order parts yourself. Someone else does that from whomever the company has relationships with. If you are at small to medium-sized company, you may order parts yourself and your order may be delayed to combine with other orders. If you are are a consultant, you really don't have the time to pour through different catalogs searching for the best price. You just stick with a few companies for most items.

In the end, most people don't order resistors from one company and capacitors from another just to save a few bucks. The time it takes to do this outweighs any price savings. This was the point I was trying to make. Many hobbyists don't like Digikey because they are expensive. I used to feel the same way until I had to order parts for freelance work. Ordering parts sucks and sticking with one company makes it easier.

Unlike others posters, I don't think this Octopart deal is going to cut into Digikey's bottom line. Like I said, Digikey doesn't compete on price, they compete on inventory.