Already, in its original late-prototype form, assembled in low volumes in the UK, the nivo cost less than £100 to produce - significantly less than the sale price of other thin-clients. Manufactured in larger volumes, the cost will drop significantly. Final prices will depend on the quatities shipping and the nature of the distribution channel, but we hope ultimately to reach something closer to what you would expect to pay for a VGA cable than what you would pay for a computer.
This little box, although we believe already radical enough to revolutionise the way we can provide networked computer workstations, is only the beginning of our vision. Not only will future versions offer features such as a local USB ports (for attaching peripherals or accessing flash keys and the like) and sound, but, before long, the technology embodied in the nivo will be implemented on a single chip. This will reduce its cost further -- and allow manufacturers of displays to incorporate the technology directly into the monitor. In the future, we hope, you will be able to buy monitors that have not only VGA or DVI connectors on the back (to connect to a PC), but also an ethernet port. Plug your monitor straight into a network, and up will pop a computer desktop from a nearby server.
