I'd like to know as well. The truth is probably that digi-key saw some profit changes or personel changes that make an increase in traffic from a quality aggregator like octopart advantageous. It could also be a look at all the other places that are on octopart and see that they don't have the inventory that digi-key has; so they might not be the low cost leader on all the parts but they have 1k in stock. Maybe octopart hired a salesperson? I hope they chime in.
Octopart is an insanely useful tool when you're doing hardware. A few years back when I was doing hardware design their site was like a second homepage for me.
It's really exciting to see them succeed. The whole space they're in needs to be shaken up.
Our university wanted to order some Pandaboards (http://pandaboard.org/) from DigiKey, but we were kind of scared off by the weird, weird ordering process (and strange localisations) compared to other online shops :(
I believe the Pandaboard comes with an RS232 connection. But you could also try the Beagleboard. You might want to take a look at the Gumstix Overo line and their various expansion boards, but I'm not exactly sure if they provide what you need. Also, you could try a USB->RS485 converter if you need that specifically.
If you're willing to just breadboard it, or want to integrate it into something else, an FTDI chip + Maxim 1308x is basically what they're selling you, and I don't think they cost half that.
I'd love to see Octopart add precise component outlines to its database, with an API so that a component can be added to a board layout or schematic directly from the Octopart meta-catalog. This would make Octopart even more awesome.
Our backend is already equipped to handle this and now we're starting to focus on getting manufacturer data feeds. If you have a chance, please send me an email to let me know which manufacturers you think we should prioritize (andres@octopart.com).
I nominate Atmel, Microchip, Micrel, Micron, and NXP. I'd suggest prioritize strongly based on what Sparkfun sells because I bet they dominate the market among early adopters.
Also, footprints for as many standard JEDEC components as possible.
I really prefer Digikey's search: I can really narrow down to the specs I'm looking for. For example, when I'm searching for a graphical display it's quite important to be able to pick the pixel count I'm interested in. If price is important, I use Digikey to find the specific part, then look for that part number elsewhere.
If this deal is successful for Octopart, Digi-Key will no longer own the customers; people will go to Octopart instead to search for parts. That means Digi-Key has to compete in a competitive market, which is going to substantially reduce their profits.
Digikey doesn't compete on price, they compete on inventory. Most hardware designers I know use Digikey exclusively because Digikey is pretty much guaranteed to stock the part they want to buy. If Digikey doesn't have it, no one else does either.
Also, Digikey ships things out extremely fast. Not many other places offer overnight shipping, which is important when you are closing in on a deadline.
If you are doing real engineering and not just screwing around in your basement, you don't really care that much about price. The last thing you want to do is order from multiple vendors because it eats time and is more expensive in the end because you will be raped by shipping costs.
If Digikey doesn't have it, no one else does either.
I don't think that is really true. Digikey does have an impressive inventory, but there are plenty of brands that they don't stock aggressively (first thing that comes to mind is Lattice).
Digikey ships things out extremely fast. Not many other places offer overnight shipping
Digikey's major competitors, like Newark and Mouser, offer essentially the same shipping options. All 3 can get things shipped out late in the day (say 5:30PM) for next-day early AM delivery.
If you are doing real engineering and not just screwing around in your basement, you don't really care that much about price. The last thing you want to do is order from multiple vendors because it eats time and is more expensive in the end because you will be raped by shipping costs.
This is the opposite of my experience. When buying for production, price is a primary concern. When buying for R&D, there are usually other orders that can by added to, so there is no shipping concern.
If you are buying parts for production from Digikey, Newark, or Mouser, then you must have very low production runs. Most companies buy production parts from major distributors who don't sell in low quantities.
It all depends on the scale of your operation. If you work for a big firm, you don't order parts yourself. Someone else does that from whomever the company has relationships with. If you are at small to medium-sized company, you may order parts yourself and your order may be delayed to combine with other orders. If you are are a consultant, you really don't have the time to pour through different catalogs searching for the best price. You just stick with a few companies for most items.
In the end, most people don't order resistors from one company and capacitors from another just to save a few bucks. The time it takes to do this outweighs any price savings. This was the point I was trying to make. Many hobbyists don't like Digikey because they are expensive. I used to feel the same way until I had to order parts for freelance work. Ordering parts sucks and sticking with one company makes it easier.
Unlike others posters, I don't think this Octopart deal is going to cut into Digikey's bottom line. Like I said, Digikey doesn't compete on price, they compete on inventory.
Digikey's shipping is amazing. (and cheap!) Plus, as you say, they have an enormous inventory - and a solid in-house search engine for filtering through it.
It's great to hear that Octopart will be indexing them. I've always liked Octopart's goals, but without Digikey on board they weren't that useful to me, except as a adhoc datasheet search engine.
People like me are already hitting octopart first (via browser plugin, even). I'll only move on to digikey if I don't find what I'm looking for, or I'm already buying things there and want to combine shipping.
