5 ms·

They're eventually going to price themselves out of the market. It's just a matter of when.

ryanwaggoner 8y ago
Has any huge, ultra-successful, ultra-profitable company ever “priced themselves out of the market”? Not for a single product launch or anything, but in a sustained way that seriously damaged the business long-term?
- charlesism 8y ago
  Yes. Apple in the 1990s. That is why what they ought to know better now. Mind you, they probably do! I think they just worry about the next few quarters. As for the long-term, little personal incentive because "let the next guy or gal deal with that after I've moved on"
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    Yeah, that’s not what happened to Apple in the 90s. At all.
    - charlesism 8y ago
      Maybe your memory is playing tricks on you? It's why I switched to a PC in the 1990s. And everyone I knew. And everyone I met, read or heard about. What was the point buying a Mac, when you could buy a faster, more compatible PC running Windows 95, which was pretty Mac-like, for half the price?
      - MBCook 8y ago
        But the Mac was NEVER the majority/success the iPhone is today (at least in the US). It was always way behind. And price was a big part of the problem. Performance wasn’t until much later.
        charlesism 8y ago
        Not the Mac, but the Apple II was. When the PC industry began, Apple was king for a few years. Then Commodore overtook them in the home market, and IBM in the workplace. I'm not sure what you mean about performance? When I switched, I had the impression PCs were outperforming Macs by a long shot. That must have been within a couple years of the Win95 release. I should probably hedge a bit there because my memory might be off. It was a long time ago.
        MBCook 8y ago
        The Apple 2, yes. It wasn’t the cheapest but it was certainly the big player in the US. Performance: Macs were quite competitive, or even better than PCs for quite a while. It was only later as the Intel juggernaut kept going that Apple started to get steamrolled and had to switch off 68k. They regained the crown for a little while, but even the G3/4/5 were quickly overtaken by Intel.
        charlesism 8y ago
        I can't remember much about specs. Actually I can't even remember if I knew enough back then to interpret specs! Maybe i just thought PCs felt faster or something :)
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]

Has any huge, ultra-successful, ultra-profitable company ever “priced themselves out of the market”? Not for a single product launch or anything, but in a sustained way that seriously damaged the business long-term?

charlesism 8y ago
Yes. Apple in the 1990s. That is why what they ought to know better now. Mind you, they probably do! I think they just worry about the next few quarters. As for the long-term, little personal incentive because "let the next guy or gal deal with that after I've moved on"
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  Yeah, that’s not what happened to Apple in the 90s. At all.
  - charlesism 8y ago
    Maybe your memory is playing tricks on you? It's why I switched to a PC in the 1990s. And everyone I knew. And everyone I met, read or heard about. What was the point buying a Mac, when you could buy a faster, more compatible PC running Windows 95, which was pretty Mac-like, for half the price?
    - MBCook 8y ago
      But the Mac was NEVER the majority/success the iPhone is today (at least in the US). It was always way behind. And price was a big part of the problem. Performance wasn’t until much later.
      - charlesism 8y ago
        Not the Mac, but the Apple II was. When the PC industry began, Apple was king for a few years. Then Commodore overtook them in the home market, and IBM in the workplace. I'm not sure what you mean about performance? When I switched, I had the impression PCs were outperforming Macs by a long shot. That must have been within a couple years of the Win95 release. I should probably hedge a bit there because my memory might be off. It was a long time ago.
        MBCook 8y ago
        The Apple 2, yes. It wasn’t the cheapest but it was certainly the big player in the US. Performance: Macs were quite competitive, or even better than PCs for quite a while. It was only later as the Intel juggernaut kept going that Apple started to get steamrolled and had to switch off 68k. They regained the crown for a little while, but even the G3/4/5 were quickly overtaken by Intel.
        charlesism 8y ago
        I can't remember much about specs. Actually I can't even remember if I knew enough back then to interpret specs! Maybe i just thought PCs felt faster or something :)
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]