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[HA Dave]

....I think it is simple economics...
They made tons of x10 modules.  There was less demand than supply, so the prices were low........
They stayed so low, with little demand that the supplier couldn't make money producing them.  Less supply, and now the prices are higher.

So... you think Apple has all the assemblers they need? Do you think there is a ample global supply of electronic parts?

X10... most certainly has its own problems. But X10 didn't cause China's problems! Supply and demand tends to work very well when... left to do that. Economy of scale allowed X10 to sell huge amounts of cheap parts, and dominate a market, that it didn't control through any superior technology. But tablets and phones killed the cheap and plentiful Chinese parts.

Meanwhile.... my Government has flooded the world with [three times as many] new dollars which are backed by.... you guessed it even LESS productivity than America had in 2008. So.... just like the old S&H stamps it takes many more stamps [dollars] to trade for the same old merchandise. Not only does the people of China want more dollars in trade for the same things... the oil producing nations want more dollars per barrel too.

But I do think you're also correct! When families are trying to decide wether to buy gasoline or food.... Home Automation devices might drop a little lower on the "needs list". Whereas value priced items tend to do better during tough economic times... I don't think that applies to value priced luxury items.

[nybuck]

Radio Shack used to sell X10 Modules under their "Plug-N-Power" line.  Not any more.  I still have a couple of their modules in my spare box.

My first X10 devices were Radio Shack plug-n-power.  I wonder how I would have bought X10 devices without the internet back then....  But anyway, getting back into X10 home automation in the early 2000's was a great time.  Prices were much lower than in the 90's, and supply was great.  Aaaah, the good old days.

and is that HA for home automation, or laughter, Dave? - I don't disagree with you, I just don't have all the insight into global economy.  When I hear explanations for oil prices based on speculation and something they call oil futures, I suddenly feel a headache coming on...
But I do often wonder why everything at WalMart or Harbor Freight Tools is so cheap because it is made in China, yet all the expensive Apple products are made in China as well...  So a cheap $80 tablet is probably made on the same street as an Ipad for $600?  I don't know if I will ever understand.   

[Dan Lawrence]

Plus the fact that China is beginning to become less Communist as the old generation dies off, the citizens are getting more like free people.     

[HA Dave]

...... But I do often wonder why everything at WalMart or Harbor Freight Tools is so cheap because it is made in China, yet all the expensive Apple products are made in China as well...  So a cheap $80 tablet is probably made on the same street as an Ipad for $600?  I don't know if I will ever understand. 

Although the Peoples Republic is still basically a communistic socialist state... they are starting to see the light of free enterprise. Most factories in China are co-ops... owned by the locals where the factory is located and by the workers themselves. They hold meeting and vote on officers, hire managers, decide which direction to procede and so on (pretty much as described in the red book).

I read of a guy who went to a factory in China where he was having bicycle frames made to his specification. After the meeting and negotiations in the office part of the factory he was taken down into the factory for a tour. There he was introducted to an older gentleman that had been a frame welder for many many years.... he was also the chairman of the board.

Doing business in China is different than in the west.

The Apple factory in China has (I have read) over 250,000 employees in one location. I doubt that Apple (or Steve Jobs) negotiated with any local factory to work out any "deals". I would guess Apple dealt directly with national "party" officials. Of course... politicians in China have deep pockets just like socialist politicians in the west. So costs at the big state sponsored factory.... are much higher than at the [formentioned] bicycle factory where the owner operators worked long hours to compete with others doing the same thing.

In China.... government decides what big factory is built where. And the government also decides what new housing is built where. And government decides who goes to colleges where and when (it must be that the government controls ALL student loans there.... too). So government run factories will be the ones that attract the the best workers.... even if it means closing down other factories.

In socialist states... GOVERNMENT decides who [and what products] will be the winners... and who will be the losers. Sorta like the windmills and solar panel companies in America recently. In China.... it is all rigged and corrupt! I am sure there are other similarities to recent American events also.

[HA Dave]

I also recently heard that a big part of [our troubled automaker] General Motors recent success is because the Chinese government stepped in and agreed to purchase a large number of China made GM cars and trucks. Of course... one hand washes the other. China is making demands that the Cadillac be made in China. Today the Cadillac... how long till they make the pride of the fleet... the Volt. [obivious humor intended]. Soon all GM cars will be made in China. Good luck with competing with those prices Ford.

Of course... becoming the "automaker of the world" while remaining on top... of the top electronic products... won't be easy even for China. The Chinese bicycle welder I mentioned in the earlier post may have to move and learn to weld mufflers. Particularly because the car factories are also State owned and controlled (in this case... I mean the ones in China... not just GM).

This is what I think happened to X10 products.

So.... why doesn't X10 just move their factory's somewhere else? For the same reason China won't have to worry about losing control of the bicycle market after most of the bicycle factory's switch to making mufflers for Cadillac's. Because trade agreements are negotiated for America (and by extention to a great deal.... North America) by the United States State Department. And Hillary Clinton just doesn't seem motivated to try to pressure China to make cheap X10 modules. Or.... allow other nations to import those same products.

Maybe.... Secretary Clinton would rather press China to control North Korea... then press them to produce cheap CM15A's. Or maybe since the biggest share of the administrations campaign contributions are coming from small little Internet donations. Donations that are too small to even record the ip address of the contributor... let alone the donators name. Maybe... we don't have much choice in what China does. After all... Americans can't get permission to drill off the coast of Florida. Yet China's rigs don't mind drilling for our oil only slightly closer to Cuba.