4 ms·

But a cheap + good enough + lots of vendors did take over the PC industry and the mobile phone market (the iPhone doesn't own it yet) and the car industry and t

But a cheap + good enough + lots of vendors did take over the PC industry and the mobile phone market (the iPhone doesn't own it yet) and the car industry and the video game industry and <insert other industry>. There are always exceptions to the rule. The success of the iPod in the face of fierce competition will be studied in depth in B-schools for the next 50 years. But in general, people are more willing to pay less for good enough features than to pay more for slightly better. That's why there are a bazillion Honda Accords and Toyota Camerys on the road, and far fewer cars that cost over $35k even if they are "better". Or why most homes have a GE sub-$400 Washing Machine instead of a $1200 LG. These things are "good enough" and cheaper. But I'll freely admit that the iPad has taken off far more strongly than I think anybody would have expected. It may have hit that critical mass the way the iPod did as well and nothing will be able to break that.

lsc 16y ago
I think the interesting part about the Accord and the Camery vs. the BMW is that by many objective standards (certainly by long-term reliability) the cheaper cars are actually /better/ than the more expensive cars. would I rather drive a brand new BMW or a brand new toyota? while they are new, sure, I'll take the BMW. But speaking as someone who has owned an out of warranty BMW, well, after the warranty period is over, the Toyota is a better car.
- elblanco 16y ago
  The analogy goes even further. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/11/18/study-reveals-laptop-brand-reliablity/1 http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/11/18/study-revea...
  - lsc 16y ago
    the poor showing of apple and lenovo may be partly due to the higher retained value of their products. I expect IBM/lenovo or a apple macbook are probably the only laptops worth fixing once they are out of warranty. cheap laptops, once they are out of warranty, often have an ebay value less than what you'd pay to get it repaired.
    - sorbus 16y ago
      From my reading of the article, it seems like they tracked the number of laptops which failed and needed repairs, not the number which failed and were repaired. So no, higher retained value doesn't explain it. Even if they were looking at how many were repaired (where lower retained value could tilt repair percentage downward, by making people disinclined to repair them, as you suggest) this would merely make other brands of laptops less reliable (with lower numbers caused by fewer damaged laptops being repaired); correcting for it wouldn't improve Mac/IBM/Lenovo's numbers, though it could damage the others, making them seem better by comparison.
loewenskind 16y ago
>That's why there are a bazillion Honda Accords and Toyota Camerys on the road, and far fewer cars that cost over $35k even if they are "better". Bad example since the more expensive cars usually aren't better. They tend to break down more often and be expensive to get fixed.

lsc 16y ago

I think the interesting part about the Accord and the Camery vs. the BMW is that by many objective standards (certainly by long-term reliability) the cheaper cars are actually /better/ than the more expensive cars. would I rather drive a brand new BMW or a brand new toyota? while they are new, sure, I'll take the BMW. But speaking as someone who has owned an out of warranty BMW, well, after the warranty period is over, the Toyota is a better car.

elblanco 16y ago
The analogy goes even further. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/11/18/study-reveals-laptop-brand-reliablity/1 http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/11/18/study-revea...
- lsc 16y ago
  the poor showing of apple and lenovo may be partly due to the higher retained value of their products. I expect IBM/lenovo or a apple macbook are probably the only laptops worth fixing once they are out of warranty. cheap laptops, once they are out of warranty, often have an ebay value less than what you'd pay to get it repaired.
  - sorbus 16y ago
    From my reading of the article, it seems like they tracked the number of laptops which failed and needed repairs, not the number which failed and were repaired. So no, higher retained value doesn't explain it. Even if they were looking at how many were repaired (where lower retained value could tilt repair percentage downward, by making people disinclined to repair them, as you suggest) this would merely make other brands of laptops less reliable (with lower numbers caused by fewer damaged laptops being repaired); correcting for it wouldn't improve Mac/IBM/Lenovo's numbers, though it could damage the others, making them seem better by comparison.

loewenskind 16y ago

>That's why there are a bazillion Honda Accords and Toyota Camerys on the road, and far fewer cars that cost over $35k even if they are "better". Bad example since the more expensive cars usually aren't better. They tend to break down more often and be expensive to get fixed.