TABLE OF CONTENTS If one considers the current pricing for MPEG-4 products, it is evident that some market participants on the vendor side apparently believe they are in a business that sells power plants in volume, or believe that MPEG-4 products need to be priced for early adopters, who are sometimes willing to pay more than the average customer would. Many of these companies have been taking on a considerable amount of investment, which in turn, being faced with significant monthly costs for their operation per month, seems to drive prices up, never mind their expectations. In economic terms, they need to charge and present these sorts of prices to sustain their operation and deliver some form of return back to their investors. Of course, this is something that is apparent in any industry, however, and as always, timing is the important factor. Usually what happens is that when the market becomes more mature and the possible volumes are higher, prices will automatically come down. Obviously, growing competition contributes to that too. The bad news in this regard is that there may be more than a few corporate casualties along the way, which to some extent is normal in any industry that is experiencing change or consolidation in some shape or form. Critics may take this as an opportunity to judge MPEG-4 as failing, which is of course their right; however it is rather misguided to draw conclusions about the success or failure of a technology that...
