Hi Rayhart, this is something I have been thinking about recently and this is my take on it- Its a lot cheaper to just rip off and copy someone else's research, testing and design than to create and innovate your own. From what I have observed, this happens across a number of industries especially cars and tech. The expense of a product isnt just in the raw materials and labour. Development, safety testing, research, design all take talent, time and money- so whilst the end product may not itself cost a lot to manufacture, a lot of money has already been spent prior to production, and this needs to be recouped in order to be financially viable.

Companies that make cheap copies haven't done this and therefore have much lower overheads. Unfortunately this practice can undermine innovation. It can be very expensive to bring an idea through to a completed product. As to the olloclip- I have one and consider the price I paid for it reasonable for what it is. It is good quality, made with good quality material and I like to support good design and innovation.

Another example would be companies like Mercedes Benz who have spent a lot of money to develop safety systems in cars that make them one of the safest cars to drive- would I like it that their cars were cheaper so that everyone could have the benefits of that safety? Hell yes. But they also have to remain profitable. And as a result of being profitable, they are able to continue to research design and develop innovative safety systems in their vehicles. I guess one of the things I admire about MB is that they have made a lot of the safety systems they have developed over the years available to the car manufacturing industry as a whole. That, and they go fast :)