Charitable status
I thought the PI production company has or at least had charitable status which gave it a price advantage over the tax paying competition. Broadcom made a good decision gifting technical support. Lots of chip sales. There were / are other "better" ARM processors in the same price range.
Knew it was dodgy when they did the True VNC product placement.
Fortunately there are several PI like boards.
Like IBM and the PC, they may have greated the market, but it is unclear they can hold the market.
If they raise prices to maximise profits ...
Ubuntu on Pi class ARM processor is now supported directly by Ubuntu. There is very little secret sauce to give them an IP edge.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
