None of which are electronics manufacturers... or chemists. Economics:

Shanghai Tobacco Products Ltd. can make an ecig for $1.83. They can sell it for $2.99. That's great profit. Marlboro can sell a branded ecig for $3.99 - for now. But they can't make it for less than $1.83. They can't make it at all. They'll have to buy it from Shanghai Tobacco Products Ltd who will either sell them to Marlboro for $2.99 or give them a volume discount because they're selling a six month run.

Shanghai Tobacco Products makes $1.16 for each ecig they sell to you. Marlboro makes a maximum of $2.16... yay Marlboro. But Shanghai is going to get their cut, even if it's 50 cents on the dollar. So Marlboro is making more like $1.56... for now.

What's really happened is Marlboro has underwritten Shanghai's next development cycle. Shanghai is going to come out with a new ecig they can sell for $1.59 because they can make them for $0.89. Oh and by the way, they're going to brand them as Marlboro because what the fuck is Marlboro going to do about it? Because you don't buy ecigs at nice controlled mass markets like Best Buy. You buy them from the corner bodega that mostly has peculiar skull cigarette lighters and off-brand beef jerky.

All the controls that keep prices in line for tobacco? Simply don't exist for ecigs.