FPGAs are also mentioned. :=)

So smaller companies have more time to innovate on the platforms that exist, instead of being crushed by newer and faster offers by the big companies each 18 months.

As all IT market depended on pushing people useless things in the order of "technology progress" it have to crash harshly. First sign are already visible.

So you are right - innovative things, that are made smart instead of billion transistors have today great oportunity to win.

Economies of scale give larger companies a competitive advantage.

Chuck T wrote:

What is 5 percent of a million dollars?  It is 50,000 dollars.  Do you know many sales people who will work for less than that?  Do you know that some companies balk at paying 5 percent for a sales person but they still want someone to go show off products at some of their shows?  Some companies want their products for nothing and they want service on top of that.  So our salespeople have to pay for parking and give service and they are now being asked to work for free which they won't do.

There are plenty of people here in the Midwest willing to work in sales for $50,000. That is enough to become rich with good financial management and good government management. Try finding people who are willing and capable to do hard physical work for $50,000.

Chuck T wrote:

These larger companies also find a way to get involved in our business and legally steal the customers info and they go sell to them directly cutting out the distributor.

In our industry, agriculture, the big companies want to sell a semi load minimum and that won't even get you good pricing. We have no minimum which is great for individuals and small OEM companies. It helps that our products are generally more competitive in an inflationary environment. It also helps that we are a manufacturer and custom fabricator that can make a product before you can find the right person to talk to at a big company.

Chuck T wrote:

And we've sold other people's products from other states.  The seller knows where we're selling it, decides it is profitable, opens up business in our state and cuts us out of the contract once it is over.

The poor economy has made individuals and businesses more cost sensitive. One of the simplest ways to save money is to cut out the middle man. That's not good when it's you but that would be capitalism if we didn't subsidize everything unequally in this country. Bad economies go back to basics where creating or manufacturing a product cheaper and/or better is king. Hopefully, the Natami team is taking the poor global economy into consideration in it's product design choices and sales strategy.