| It's one thing to have the parts designed and moulded, the electronic PCB boards to be made, the software to be written, assembled and packaged. The other thing is storage, warranty, distribution. But also selling and advertising should be kept in mind. Up to here, it could be done as a one man job. If you're a multitasked and multitalented in using all the software for design and production. Typically it's not a one man show. So how much people are needed to be paid in such a local company? But then, it goes to the regulatories. FCC approval. Some states special regulatories. Want to sell it world wide? .. Europe? .. EC sign, even more regulatory stuff like upfront waste-fee, etc. What about the licenses and patents? Even the app communication with some devices can be problematic in terms of patents.. So, parts design, parts production, parts assembly, packaging making and packaging of the product itself, is not that big problem and can be done locally or outsourced it locally. Also the whole regulatory stuff and danger analysis and what ever is needed before you actually can sell to customers, can also be done or outsourced locally. ... Just some money is needed for it. Your friendly local outsourcers also want to earn some money for a living. So you end up with big development costs per device. No one will buy it for that costs. That's why you typically search for partners, who have some experience in rapid development and prototyping. When you've found them, they also experienced in final production and packaging. And because it's their job, they often also know about the regulatory laws and/or are experienced here and use f.e. less plasticizers in the rubber.. Most of the times you'll find such partners in eastern/asian world. Because the wages there are lower, so a company can exist even if it doesn't make own products. It's not the right question you ask. The right question would be "how expensive will it be to develop and produce locally". Because it's all about the money. (I saw in a comment of you further down "us manufactured microcontrollers < $100"... That's exactly the wrong approach :) Compare it with the costs somewhere else. The aim is to preinvest as less money as possible and to earn as much as possible per product. Don't forget all the other costs that will be pile up and must be turned over per device. So you might really end with 10k-20k per device. How much devices are planned to be sold in year in US? ) |