“Consumer electronics companies constantly churn out digital
cameras, music players and other technological wonders. But they’re
not nearly as creative in selling technology as they are in making
it. They rely on the old standbys, such as selling the main product
at a discount and jacking up the price on supplies, or relying on
rebates to lower the price.“Printers are the most notorious example. They’re practically
given away, but the cartridges are huge profit-makers. Lexmark
locks down its laser printers with software that rejects refilled
or third-party cartridges, preventing competition from lowering
prices. It’s apparently illegal under the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act to reverse-engineer the software to make compatible
cartridges…”