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The author is correct, it is price before product. But the product needs to be functional for there to be a price. The author says that customers weren't willi

The author is correct, it is price before product. But the product needs to be functional for there to be a price. The author says that customers weren't willing to pay for a fancy racing transmission. That's correct, people will ultimately choose the cheaper option if they aren't getting any utility out of the racing transmission. But you can't go all the way to the other side and put in an unreliable transmission like for example Jaguar did in the X-Type. Those cars sold well at first, but now their resale is basically non-existent because the transmission goes poof about 3x faster than a Toyota's.

ken 8y ago
> The author is correct, it is price before product. Given that the two main examples in the article are so controversial, can you give any examples where it was true, and successful? As consumers, we obviously don't know what price points most consumer products were intended for. I've read that the Macintosh was intended [1] to be $500, but ended up selling for $2495. It's hard to imagine that a personal computer costing half the price of an Apple II in 1984 would have been able to include hardware/software that had such a significant impact on the industry. [1]: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Price_Fight.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  I guess it's a complex topic but maybe we can stick with the example I offered? Or we could talk about Windows and Linux. There's different bands of consumers, really. Like there are literally billions of customers on this planet who can't spend more than $1,000 on anything, full stop, period, even if it would radically improve their life. So, the differences of an OS or a car are lost to them. The best they can ever afford is Linux or a chromebook or XP, not windows 10 or a macbook air. They'll never purchase a Porche, they're stuck with a beat up Camry or Monte Carlo if they're really unlucky.

ken 8y ago

> The author is correct, it is price before product. Given that the two main examples in the article are so controversial, can you give any examples where it was true, and successful? As consumers, we obviously don't know what price points most consumer products were intended for. I've read that the Macintosh was intended [1] to be $500, but ended up selling for $2495. It's hard to imagine that a personal computer costing half the price of an Apple II in 1984 would have been able to include hardware/software that had such a significant impact on the industry. [1]: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Price_Fight.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...

anoncoward111 8y ago
I guess it's a complex topic but maybe we can stick with the example I offered? Or we could talk about Windows and Linux. There's different bands of consumers, really. Like there are literally billions of customers on this planet who can't spend more than $1,000 on anything, full stop, period, even if it would radically improve their life. So, the differences of an OS or a car are lost to them. The best they can ever afford is Linux or a chromebook or XP, not windows 10 or a macbook air. They'll never purchase a Porche, they're stuck with a beat up Camry or Monte Carlo if they're really unlucky.