2010-11-22, 06:54 PM
<--- Believer in Keynesian economics
Reading about all this stuff reminds me of the way the SSD market has been over the past four years.
At first when SSDs came out, they were SLC (single layer cell). They were EX-PEN-SIVE. A 128GB drive was over $1000. Very few were made, the price stayed high, and very few people bought. Soon after, MLC (multi layered cell) was developed which dropped the $/GB by 60% - TRIM and garbage collection were introduced - supply increased, demand increased, and price massively decreased. But then something happened. Apple began to include SSDs in their Macbooks which caused a huge shortage in the market for MLC NAND. Prices rose, demand fell down the tank, and supply tanked. Suppliers closed up shop since they couldn't sell anything. It took over 9 months for the market to correct itself and for prices to fall. In Februrary of this year, MLC NAND was $3.50/GB for consumers. It's been falling steadily since.
I thought it was interesting that after Apple caused a shortage that suppliers would stop producing and close up shop. I thought as price increased, suppliers are encouraged to create more so they can sell more at that price.
Reading about all this stuff reminds me of the way the SSD market has been over the past four years.
At first when SSDs came out, they were SLC (single layer cell). They were EX-PEN-SIVE. A 128GB drive was over $1000. Very few were made, the price stayed high, and very few people bought. Soon after, MLC (multi layered cell) was developed which dropped the $/GB by 60% - TRIM and garbage collection were introduced - supply increased, demand increased, and price massively decreased. But then something happened. Apple began to include SSDs in their Macbooks which caused a huge shortage in the market for MLC NAND. Prices rose, demand fell down the tank, and supply tanked. Suppliers closed up shop since they couldn't sell anything. It took over 9 months for the market to correct itself and for prices to fall. In Februrary of this year, MLC NAND was $3.50/GB for consumers. It's been falling steadily since.
I thought it was interesting that after Apple caused a shortage that suppliers would stop producing and close up shop. I thought as price increased, suppliers are encouraged to create more so they can sell more at that price.