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Nvidia to try making money off accessories

by on21 September 2013

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Shield hard shell for Appleish $39.99

It looks like Nvidia is trying to make a quick buck on Shield accessories. At this time there is no indication how the first generation Shield consoles will sell and once we asked Nvidia a direct question we got an answer that it’s still too early to talk numbers.

Fair enough, but one thing that caught our eye were the prices of accessories that sometimes exceed even Apple’s ridiculous price tags. Nvidia wants $39.99 for a nicely designed hard shell case for Shield and this is definitely not something most consumers would find appropriate. It doesn’t help that it’s very hard to find any alternative due to the specific design and form factor of the Shield. Nvidia doesn’t offer any alternatives on its own Shield shopping website.

Nvidia tells you that this is not just any carrying case, it comes with accessory storage for USB cable, easy access to the Shield plug without opening the case and a wrist strap. Unless it can do the dishes, we still think it’s way too expensive.

Nvidia also charges $29.99 for an additional 2.1A power adaptor and this is actually more than Apple want to charge you for an Apple 5W or 12W power adaptor. To be on the fair side, Apple’s charger doesn’t come with the cable. Amazon charges $19.99 for its fast Kindle charger but again doesn’t come with the cable. Chargers are highly profitable as they cost just a few bucks to make, but you probably knew that already.

Nvidia is also selling custom tags which is a nice touch as you can individualise and make it a little bit more your own. This will cost you $19.99 per tag which is not much more than a piece of carbon fibre cover or a glossy black tag, where we suspect plastic.

Nvidia is not alone in overcharging people for accessories for their devices, but we can assume that the part of the strategy is that company has to make money somehow. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was very clear on many occasions that Nvidia wants to make money on hardware, a strategy that is unfamiliar to handheld gaming consoles such as the Playstation Vita or Nintendo DS. These two make money off game royalties 

The only company that ever pulled off a very cool accessory that you simply had to have was the iPad magnetic cover and needless to say that no one else has done this before or after. Nvidia still has a thing or two to learn about this part of the market. You can check out the Shield accessories mentioned here.

 

 


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Last modified on 21 September 2013
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