Lego Mindstorms: What Went Wrong?

latif writes "In recent years, Lego Mindstorms has generated more media buzz for Lego than all of its other product lines combined, but surprisingly, Mindstorms seem to be out of favor at Lego. The Mindstorms line has been cut down to a single set and Lego is not interested in marketing even that set. Lego has been in a lot of financial trouble in recent times and its neglect of a product line with solid sales potential might seem odd but this is not so. I have done an analysis of Lego's Mindstorms options and my analysis indicates that Lego has solid economic reasons for backing away from the Mindstorms line."

Comments

What went wrong?

[spudchucker]

Too f*cking expensive.

And then reality kicks in

[Colin Smith]

So your *bits* cost $20.

Then there's your development costs.
Then your business administration costs.
Then marketing costs.
Then advertising costs.
Then sales costs.
Then distribution costs.
Then support costs.

Then... and only then... If you were charging enough and people actually bought what you're selling... You get to make profit, and the government comes along and takes a third of that.

1: Idea
2: ???
3: Profit

See above for ???

Lego BTW, made a loss in 2003 and 2004...

Fuck. People have absolutely no idea...