The discussion of Price Points for Nintendo DS is very interesting.
It is obviously going to be more then the SP, and much less than the Sony PSP. However at what price point are we looking at EXACTLY.
Here is my thoughts.
$99 is not impossible when you look at what technology Nintendo is using to create the system. I bet this is probably right around the cost of the actual units. However, sweet it would be to get a $99 dollar new system. If the DS is launching before the PSP then this aggressive pricing isn't needed until later when the PSP is actually released.
$200 is too high. Nintendo has been able to do alot of market research. They know at what prices certain type of systems sell. Nintendo aggressively marketed the Gamecube at a lower price point. And Nintendo will probably market its next system as aggressively. $200 is going to be too high to reach a mass market appeal for a system that has no name, and is going to be competing with the Gameboy SP and the Sony PSP for recongnition.
My thoughts will be the system will retail anywhere between $125-$175 dollars. Most likely right smack in the middle with a $150 price point. Why do I even include the other two possibilities for the price point? This is a guess but if it costs around $100-115 dollars to make the DS then the $125 dollar price point is perfect to make a few bucks per system, but come in at a price that is more than competitive its down right frightening for the competetion. Also since people are predicting that the DS games price points will be between the Gameboy and Gamecube games, and be cheaper to make Nintendo is going to be making the money up on the games sold. The 175 dollar market is if the cost is around or slightly over $150 per DS unit then they can sell it for the 175 and still be under the 200 dollar price point.
Nintendo's real advantage is going to be pricing games. Everyone has stated they are willing to pay more for the DS games than GBA games as long as they are cheaper than the Cube games. This gives DS games about a 10-15 dollars extra profit IF the format really is cheaper than cartridges. Some of this money will be eaten up in added development time, but most will go straight into Nintendo's pocket, and hopefully 3rd party developers pockets.