Apple isn’t a cuddly teddy bear

With the way the media view ‘price gouging’ I have no idea why Apple is so loved: Are they the best company in the world at price skimming?

Apple Inc. halved the price of its entry-level iPhone to $99 and rolled out a next-generation model, looking to sustain the momentum for its popular smart phone amid the recession and fresh competition.

They somehow manage to charge enormous premiums to early adopters and still get viewed as customer focussed and friendly. Given the way they must hog consumer surplus I can only attribute their positive public image to fantastic marketing. Bravo to their marketing department!

6 replies
  1. agnitio
    agnitio says:

    My favorite call in the Mac vs PC ad war comes from the PC side, “Not everyone wants a machine that’s been washed with unicorn tears”

    Clearly some ppl do!

  2. Chris Auld
    Chris Auld says:

    Worse still they charge for service packs! Granted US$30 isn’t much…. But with Windows Service packs have always been free.

  3. Bill Bennett
    Bill Bennett says:

    Please remember companies are singular (see this: http://is.gd/WScj). The break out quote uses it correctly. Your headline would read so much better if it said “Apple isn’t a cuddly teddy bear”.

    This isn’t just pedantry. By writing “they” you fall in to the trap of assuming Apple is a bunch of fun guys who just love making cool tools and are practically giving them away. On the other hand, the depersonalised “it” is a cold, hard-headed corporation.

    Hmm… I’ll have to make my economic point in another post now.

  4. Bill Bennett
    Bill Bennett says:

    I’m guessing about the details, but I suspect like any corporation Apple knows how to maximise its profits in the short term and, to date, has been lucky over the longer term. Remember the company nearly went through in the 1990s because hardly anyone could afford its overpriced computer hardware.

    The thing that amazes me is the popularity of Apple gear in New Zealand.

    Many years ago I did a calculation to discover a Palo Alto bus driver needed to work about five days to buy a Macintosh and a Wellington bus driver still wouldn’t be able to afford one after five weeks.

  5. rauparaha
    rauparaha says:

    @agnitio & Chris Auld
    Sooo true. Why else would you fork out for that stuff, unless you were a musician or graphic designer?

    @Bill Bennett
    Actually I think that I just edited the title a couple of times and didn’t proofread to check that my verbs still agreed. Thanks for picking it up.

  6. Webmaster Blog
    Webmaster Blog says:

    It sounds like you’re creating problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of looking at why their is a problem in the first place.

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