And to add to that, I'm not hunting around the Internet for the best deal, because I don't want to hand my card number out to everyone online. I'm willing to pay a little more to know who has my credit card number and who doesn't. The time it takes me to cancel a card, get a new one, and change all my auto-payments to reflect the new card is worth a few dollars more.
I didn't get a Raspberry Pi at launch because I had never heard of RS Components or Element 14, and I sure as hell wasn't given my card number to someone I didn't know. If it's not on Amazon, Newegg, Sparkfun, or Adafruit, I don't need it.
> because I had never heard of RS Components or Element 14, and I sure as hell wasn't given my card number to someone I didn't know
Farnell is significantly larger than Newegg or sparkfun or adafruit (even if you combine them). RPi distributes via Farnell or RS because many schools and colleges - the target audience for original RPi - will have accounts at RS or Farnell already.
I didn't get a Raspberry Pi at launch because I had never heard of RS Components or Element 14, and I sure as hell wasn't given my card number to someone I didn't know. If it's not on Amazon, Newegg, Sparkfun, or Adafruit, I don't need it.