Projections for reductions in price of hardware wallets

Question

The components of hardware wallets are not very expensive (at least when purchased as scale). I understand the need to recover R&D costs and that higher sales volume will increase negotiating power with component and manufacturing providers.

Are there projections for the future prices of existing hardware wallets (such as KeepKey, Trezor and Ledger) over the next 12-24 months based on projected sales data?

When hardware wallet costs near the cost of flash drives, then usage and security for new bitcoin users (and minimal funds) should increase dramatically.

Answer 1

This data on Ledger production costs seems relevant:

https://forum.daohub.org/t/ledger-proposal-for-the-dao-1-ethereum-hardware-wallet/1750

1. Significant price savings exist with orders as small as 6,000 units Q: "Why 6,000 units?" A: "This is our estimate of the best compromise of minimum order needed to get good prices, without having too much stock on hands if the market is going bearish"

2. 120,000EUR/6,000 units = 20 Euro per unit compared to a retail selling price of 59 EUR (without tax). Based on this data, significant scaling has already occurred. Higher prices (compared to production costs) reflect revenue sharing agreements with partners (in this proposal the DAO would have been paid 25 EURper unit) and profits for the wallet makers themselves.

3. "When hardware wallet costs near the cost of flash drives, then usage and security for new bitcoin users (and minimal funds) should increase dramatically." Depending on what type of flash drive and hardware wallet you are referring to this has occurred already. The Ledger HW.1 retails for 18EUR: https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/3-ledger-hw-1