PLCProf posted:Does anybody know the true commercial market for all these modules? Who uses them in what products? Hard to believe they are manufactured for the hobbyists!
I'm going to guess it is a hobbyist of a different sort. It has proven difficult to find accurate and/or up to date numbers, but the best I can find shows over 3 million Raspberry Pi's sold as of March 2014. Arduinos are even harder to track because there are many more clones out there. The figures I can find suggest over 1.5 million boards just between genuine Arduino boards and SparkFun branded boards are sold each year. Other articles and community responses say for every genuine board made at least 2 clones are made. All told you're looking at something in the neighborhood of 5 million+ micro-controller boards sold in a year, of just the two most well known types. Never mind the odd balls like Edison or the BASICStamp.
I'm sure some of the modules are designs salvaged from other applications, especially things like power supply modules, but the majority are simply catering to the explosion of people that find tinkering fun. Things like MakerFaire and the Make! movement in general also help to promote learning and making this "high tech" accessible to all.
On the later points, chances are you can sell a lot of units of $3 module with pigtails on it for $15+. I've seen endless examples of folks here on the forum choosing to spend 5 to 10 times more money to keep from having to put together a few wires. Most recently I recall some LEDs being sold for $3 a piece for less than 25 cents worth of parts. (Mind you, not regulated, just a resistor, cap, and what is claimed to be a bridge rectifier) There is a huge market for plug and play devices in the train hobby. It seems folks would rather spend money than do work, and that is a good arrangement for folks that know how to do the work.
JGL
