> This device doesn't have any of those
The controller has a touch panel and battery (pretty sure they're wireless).
> reported to cost ~$64 to build
Is that just the BoM or does that factor in manufacturing, QA, having to hold inventory, etc.?
The controller has a touch panel and battery (pretty sure they're wireless).
> reported to cost ~$64 to build
Is that just the BoM or does that factor in manufacturing, QA, having to hold inventory, etc.?
True, however the issue is different from mobile devices. The battery in a controller is likely a standard off the shelf package, e.g. a pair of AA sized rechargeable cells. Mobile devices generally have a battery custom designed for the needed form factor. That custom design and production is very costly.
> Is that just the BoM or does that factor in manufacturing, QA, having to hold inventory, etc.?
It was a teardown by iSuppli, I can't find the original report now and I believe it was actually the Apple TV 2 not the Apple TV 1 as I originally stated, I forgot there was a huge Apple TV way back and was thinking of the ATV 2 as the original.
The price from iSuppli would be BoM + manufacturing. Manufacturing for a device like this is minimal per unit, just a few dollars and generally includes the factory level QA. For any run of decent size the electronics QA is done by a machine via flying probe or bed of nails setup, its very cheap on a per unit basis. The only manual QA needed would be checking out the packing for defects.
Found the teardown: http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/iSuppli-Teardown...