I’m curious on how the PICAxe distribution model works, in a business sense. Does Sparkfun actually import PICAxe chips from the manufacturer (who is in the UK, IIRC)? Since the PICAxe is essentially a standard PIC, pre-programmed with a bootloader and perhaps some utility functions, it seems like it would be more efficient (and perhaps more profitable for all involved) for the picaxe folk to license their code to sparkfun, who would then use their own chips and equipment to load up the picaxe “stuff”, and simply pay picaxe a royalty for each chip shipped. But I don’t know whether there is that much trust (or tracking ability) in the hobby electronics market, and I don’t know whether the savings would be worth it, and I’m not sure how the relative pricing between distributor and “manufacturer” would work in such a case…
I believe that picaxe built the tools/boards/and bootloader. The extra cost for importing isn’t that big of a deal.
I understand your point on how to save import costs by flashing your own chips. The problem is you will need to support your licensed products. This is because of QC. PicAxe doesn’t know what you are using to make your version of their product. This in turn makes the deal a little more costly.
That is if you could even license it in the first place.
Thats my take on the whole thing. I have had to deal with it in the past regarding a completely different product. What I have learned? Its better to buy a complete product with someone else’s name on it.