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There is some value in this article, but the author is super careless with his terms and comparisons, and his point suffers for it. He wants Costco (low cost,

There is some value in this article, but the author is super careless with his terms and comparisons, and his point suffers for it. He wants Costco (low cost, low price, high volume, slim overall profit) and Apple (low cost, high price, medium-to-small volume, large overall profit) and Tesla (currently I believe high cost, high price, low volume, negative overall profit) to be the same, and so he constantly elides the differences. I think that overall his point is that Costco and Apple are fundamentally about having low costs that allow them to make a different volume/price tradeoff than their competitors, but he constantly confuses price and cost, and contradicts himself about Apple's volume.

devsquid 11y ago
Yea I have been noticing people really trying to make the Apple and Tesla comparison lately. It just feels so forced. -edit random thought- Seems like a whole lot of wealthy tech writers/bloggers want to sell themselves on getting a Tesla because somehow its similar to buying an early mac. There should be a specific term for the tech version of Keeping Up With The Joneses. I wonder how many of them drink soylent and order their quarters off of quarterly. I realize I am on a 'startup centric' site but god damn man some introspection is good people.
- klipt 11y ago
  > Seems like a whole lot of wealthy tech writers/bloggers want to sell themselves on getting a Tesla because somehow its similar to buying an early mac. Surely if you think Apple/Tesla is going to be great, the smart move is to buy early shares, not early products? The products will still be good/relatively cheap in future - the shares won't.
  - greglindahl 11y ago
    Indeed - anyone who bought a Model S in late 2012-early 2013 would have made $500k+ had they bought stock instead.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- Dwolb 11y ago
  Does the essence of the term differ from an early adopter?
  - devsquid 11y ago
    I would say being an early adopter is apart of it, but I don't think early adopters are always concerned about being 'techno hip'. Definitely saying you were one of the first fuels it. lol. I mean just like the saying its a extremely reductionist view of a person, but it touches on something in all of us and something too much in in a lot of us.
rootlocus 11y ago
Indeed, according to this: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-idUSKCN0QE0DC20150810 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-i... Tesla actually loses money on every car, instead of what the author implies with "You don't sell many units, but you make a lot of profit per unit."

devsquid 11y ago

Yea I have been noticing people really trying to make the Apple and Tesla comparison lately. It just feels so forced. -edit random thought- Seems like a whole lot of wealthy tech writers/bloggers want to sell themselves on getting a Tesla because somehow its similar to buying an early mac. There should be a specific term for the tech version of Keeping Up With The Joneses. I wonder how many of them drink soylent and order their quarters off of quarterly. I realize I am on a 'startup centric' site but god damn man some introspection is good people.

klipt 11y ago
> Seems like a whole lot of wealthy tech writers/bloggers want to sell themselves on getting a Tesla because somehow its similar to buying an early mac. Surely if you think Apple/Tesla is going to be great, the smart move is to buy early shares, not early products? The products will still be good/relatively cheap in future - the shares won't.
- greglindahl 11y ago
  Indeed - anyone who bought a Model S in late 2012-early 2013 would have made $500k+ had they bought stock instead.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
Dwolb 11y ago
Does the essence of the term differ from an early adopter?
- devsquid 11y ago
  I would say being an early adopter is apart of it, but I don't think early adopters are always concerned about being 'techno hip'. Definitely saying you were one of the first fuels it. lol. I mean just like the saying its a extremely reductionist view of a person, but it touches on something in all of us and something too much in in a lot of us.

rootlocus 11y ago

Indeed, according to this: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-idUSKCN0QE0DC20150810 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-i... Tesla actually loses money on every car, instead of what the author implies with "You don't sell many units, but you make a lot of profit per unit."