Andrew Warren wrote:
>
>     If you're making a commercial USB product, your own VID is
>     required.  USB-IF membership (which includes a VID, free
>     compliance testing at USB Plugfests, a license to use the USB
>     logo, etc.) has been priced at $2500/year for a while; VIDs for
>     non-members used to cost $200 but were inexplicably repriced to
>     $1500 last year.
>

<speculation>

At a $200 price, there were probably a lot of VIDs being issued to people
who ended up never using them. It's hard to imagine that they could even
cover their costs at that price.

At a $1500 price, two things happen:

1. People are much less likely to get a VID until they're serious about
developing a commercial product.

2. The price difference between just getting a VID and becoming a member
shrinks quite a bit. This may induce people to join rather than just getting
the VID. (The $2500/year price tag becomes insignificant if it can be
amortized across enough units sold.)

</speculation>

Just my $0.02, Bob



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