I see a lot of deals where Mobile phones and tablets are being reduced from say 2 years ago..,
Why is this the case? is it they are bringing a new interface for electronics next year or something , which I suppose will always be bound to happen.
e.g. Blackberry Playbook reduced to just $189 on oo.com.au, from 2 years ago when they were well over $500
It's just competition heating up, that's all.
I think it's because Microsoft just entered the fray with their own tablet-oriented operating system, Windows 8 RT, which will mean the mobile phone war is split 3 ways between Apple IOS, Google Android and Microsoft Windows.
Also, the costs of hardware is dropping. Back then, you would have to pay upwards of $500 to get something like a Tegra2 tablet or mobile phone.
Now, for $200, you can get a RK3066 chip that is not only cheaper than Tegra2, but blows it away in terms of performance. Continuing this trend, we are already seeing Quad Core tegra 3 tablets that are selling at $250 (Nexus 7). That makes the current Tegra2 dual core tablets uncompetive… so the only way is to drop the price.
Blackberry Playbook was a pretty much a flop, mainly because it ran an operating system that few were familiar with.
Combination of competition, manufacturing costs become lower as tech matures, and more people buying these device which means mass production which = lower manufacturing costs as well. Google are also willing to sell their devices with little or no profit as they make most of their profits via advertising, which means the more people they can get using their devices and apps, the more profit they make. Also costs are always lower on end of life products, so you'd expect old tech to cost significantly less by the end of its life and are quite often sold at lost to make room for new stock. :)
Pretty much that; competition.
Hence why Android-based devices don't hold their re-sale price well; as there is many competitors going for it(i.e. Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony, etc)
Whereas, iOS only has Apple and hence no 'competition' for that OS.
However, it is a pro and con with competition; with the obvious pros being(for the companies) higher research to make the best product and the obvious con being the selling price
Competition.