Black Friday Pricing Hits Space Controller! Now Just $59

"Black Friday" is that day following American Thanksgiving where some stores have shockingly low prices to draw customers at the start of the xmas spending orgy, like $100 for notebook computers -- Nicholas Negroponte, take note. (I wrote "xmas" to avoid confusion with Christmas.)

This week, 3dconnexion announces it own Black Friday price reduction: a puck-like 3D Space Navigator for just US$59. The company's president, Rory Dooley, last week flew up to visit upFront.eZine, telling me that the old $500-price limited its appeal to workstation-oriented CAD users, such as Catia and NX. Just 12% of the MCAD designers use a SpaceBall-like peripheral.

Now the German-based company, a division of Logitech, is slashing prices in an attempt to appeal to everyone:

* Top-end Space Pilot is cut by $100 to $399.
* New Space Explorer is $299.
* Space Traveller Portable is $199.
* New Space Navigator is $99.

If you promise to use the Space Navigator for *koff, koff* personal use, then it drops to $59. It has, however, just two buttons vs 8 (or more) for the more expensive versions. The surprise for me is that Google Earth 4 includes support for 3dconnexion's controllers.

To further build hype, the company is this week giving a free Space Navigator to each member of the press attending Autodesk University. That would exclude me.

[This item didn't make last night's upFront.eZine due to 3dconnexion's NDA fussiness.]

Comments

[Bill Fane]

Did I miss something? I was at Autodesk University as a presenter and as a member of the press, and nobody gave me a Space Navigator.