Originally Posted by
jeep45238
I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations, and haven't worked in manufacturing, marketing, and accounting.
End of the day, we tend to get a few categories of products that actually sell to the masses:
1) a cheaply price, fairly made product
2) a consistent product
3) an improved product, at a minimally incremental price
A single small part change can take months to years depending on how the company is setup, how many subcontractors are in the mix, etc.. This is why things are generally not revolutionary.
The truly revolutionary products don't really sell that well - Look at the Luago Alien or the Archon pistols, Lucid cars, etc. They're priced to keep the company afloat, but the initial investment hasn't been paid off yet, and the demand isn't there to start looking at higher volumes (which tend to reduce prices). This may come as a shock to some, but a successful company never pays for any of this initial setup, it spreads those cost out across it's customer base in the form of increased prices. Fewer customers = more price discrepancy per change.
What you or I want may not sell at high enough of a profit margin to keep the company afloat, because we can't provide enough profit margin to offset the tooling, R&D, engineering, marketing, etc., of the new product line.
The products that take a bit more of a generational leap, and are cheaply priced, tend to get ignored as there's corners being cut somewhere. The LCR used to be priced well below a J frame and regularly on sale, and now it's priced at or above a Glock.
If you have the ability to do market research, find an existing product that can be tweaked slightly, and provide an answer/product for an ignored portion of the population - you'll have a winner. And that's a lot harder than people think.