4 ms·

Too far? Apple is a luxury good. You are buying the Prada, the Audi/BMW/Benz/etc of laptops - they position themselves at the high end market and will extract a

Too far? Apple is a luxury good. You are buying the Prada, the Audi/BMW/Benz/etc of laptops - they position themselves at the high end market and will extract as much margin as they can from that market. These price increases follow suit with their aspirational positioning. There is no "too far", just what their target market with a lot of discretionary income will still purchase.

johansch 10y ago
There is a "too far". When it slides from being an expensive good tool to a very expensive luxury item mostly used for show. It's a lot easier to be pretty than to solve (new) problems. Of course, their watch foreshadowed all of this. They are not interested in solving problems; they want to turn into a Prada/Chanel/Hermes/LV style super luxury brand.
- micaksica 10y ago
  > they want to turn into a Prada/Chanel/Hermes/LV style super luxuary brand. The Watch Edition showed that there's a step too far for them, but it's not the definition you used. Nobody bought the thing. We had to get into the five figures for that to happen, though, and it's because Apple didn't fully understand the luxury watch market isn't entirely driven by how expensive the thing is. That said, Apple has been pushing the luxo market for quite some time, even before the watch. There has almost always been cheaper items than Apple products that fulfill roughly the same niche. iPhones are often a status symbol, and now having the newest one is, now that they are ubiquitous. The fact that they are somehow supremely useful sometimes falls out for the sake of design. Remember the little iPod shuffle that had absolutely no buttons that they marketed like jewelry? What about the headphone-less iPhone 7 or the Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C only new MBP? Going older, what about the 20th Anniversary Mac, the G4 Cube, or the iMac which didn't come with a floppy drive and nearly everyone bought that Bondi Blue SuperDrive thing?
  - johansch 10y ago
    I think you're missing the point. We all looked to Apple for technical, user-focused innovation.. now all we're getting is a good-looking and expensive things that's best sold in a jewelers shop. I really can't see this working out for them in the long run. (In the short term, sure.)
    - micaksica 10y ago
      I believe that you are taking too much stock in believing that you and your needs are Apple's primary market now. Software developers are but a small niche compared to Apple's worldwide consumer base, and they are developing for their market at large, that buys these products for the social signaling and never use 30% of their capabilities. They want good looking and expensive things, and the capabilities of the devices Apple is producing is an improvement over the last iteration as well as still above the common consumer's resource consumption to start.
      - johansch 10y ago
        I'm not speaking as a software developer now. I think it's an established fact that "normal" people love (loved) Apple products because they "just work" (worked). The prettiness is a nice bonus, but they key thing was always the concept of "things just working". I now see Apple moving their focus from "just working" to "pretty", while raising prices.
    - jsz0 10y ago
      Are you unfamiliar with USB-C? It offers some obvious benefits to users.
  - dsr_ 10y ago
    The Watch Edition never needed to sell. It just needed to exist as a thing that could set your price expectations: "That one is just too far, but I guess I could pay $399."
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mattdennewitz 10y ago
a prada bag comes with its straps, gratis. an audi's battery is connected to the engine for no extra charge.
kyriakos 10y ago
Audi is premium?
sp0rk 10y ago
> There is no "too far", just what their target market with a lot of discretionary income will still purchase. How do you know the author does not fall into that category?
flashman 10y ago
Apple is a premium brand, not a luxury one. Premium products are mass marketed and justify their price premium with higher quality and useful extra features. Luxury products are niche targeted and justify their price premium with exclusivity and unnecessary extra features. Put it this way: an iPhone is premium, manufactured in the millions. A gold iPhone is luxury, manufactured in the thousands.
j45 10y ago
Apple equipment isn't just premium or luxury, it's truly better built and engineered than the average or high end laptop PC. It's only been a year or two that PC's have started catching up, with machines like the zenbook 3, x1, etc.

johansch 10y ago

There is a "too far". When it slides from being an expensive good tool to a very expensive luxury item mostly used for show. It's a lot easier to be pretty than to solve (new) problems. Of course, their watch foreshadowed all of this. They are not interested in solving problems; they want to turn into a Prada/Chanel/Hermes/LV style super luxury brand.

micaksica 10y ago
> they want to turn into a Prada/Chanel/Hermes/LV style super luxuary brand. The Watch Edition showed that there's a step too far for them, but it's not the definition you used. Nobody bought the thing. We had to get into the five figures for that to happen, though, and it's because Apple didn't fully understand the luxury watch market isn't entirely driven by how expensive the thing is. That said, Apple has been pushing the luxo market for quite some time, even before the watch. There has almost always been cheaper items than Apple products that fulfill roughly the same niche. iPhones are often a status symbol, and now having the newest one is, now that they are ubiquitous. The fact that they are somehow supremely useful sometimes falls out for the sake of design. Remember the little iPod shuffle that had absolutely no buttons that they marketed like jewelry? What about the headphone-less iPhone 7 or the Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C only new MBP? Going older, what about the 20th Anniversary Mac, the G4 Cube, or the iMac which didn't come with a floppy drive and nearly everyone bought that Bondi Blue SuperDrive thing?
- johansch 10y ago
  I think you're missing the point. We all looked to Apple for technical, user-focused innovation.. now all we're getting is a good-looking and expensive things that's best sold in a jewelers shop. I really can't see this working out for them in the long run. (In the short term, sure.)
  - micaksica 10y ago
    I believe that you are taking too much stock in believing that you and your needs are Apple's primary market now. Software developers are but a small niche compared to Apple's worldwide consumer base, and they are developing for their market at large, that buys these products for the social signaling and never use 30% of their capabilities. They want good looking and expensive things, and the capabilities of the devices Apple is producing is an improvement over the last iteration as well as still above the common consumer's resource consumption to start.
    - johansch 10y ago
      I'm not speaking as a software developer now. I think it's an established fact that "normal" people love (loved) Apple products because they "just work" (worked). The prettiness is a nice bonus, but they key thing was always the concept of "things just working". I now see Apple moving their focus from "just working" to "pretty", while raising prices.
  - jsz0 10y ago
    Are you unfamiliar with USB-C? It offers some obvious benefits to users.
- dsr_ 10y ago
  The Watch Edition never needed to sell. It just needed to exist as a thing that could set your price expectations: "That one is just too far, but I guess I could pay $399."

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

mattdennewitz 10y ago

a prada bag comes with its straps, gratis. an audi's battery is connected to the engine for no extra charge.

kyriakos 10y ago

Audi is premium?

sp0rk 10y ago

> There is no "too far", just what their target market with a lot of discretionary income will still purchase. How do you know the author does not fall into that category?

flashman 10y ago

Apple is a premium brand, not a luxury one. Premium products are mass marketed and justify their price premium with higher quality and useful extra features. Luxury products are niche targeted and justify their price premium with exclusivity and unnecessary extra features. Put it this way: an iPhone is premium, manufactured in the millions. A gold iPhone is luxury, manufactured in the thousands.

j45 10y ago

Apple equipment isn't just premium or luxury, it's truly better built and engineered than the average or high end laptop PC. It's only been a year or two that PC's have started catching up, with machines like the zenbook 3, x1, etc.