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> So given that the costs of production haven't been lowered, why would anybody expect the cost to the consumer to decrease? This was the part of the story I n
by freddie_mercury 8y ago
> So given that the costs of production haven't been lowered, why would anybody expect the cost to the consumer to decrease?
This was the part of the story I never understood. There seemed to be some sort of implied "and then VCs will subsidise things until everyone permanently accepts lower profit margins in order to lower costs". Which just didn't seem like a terribly plausible sequence of events.
It kinda reminds me of how everyone thought e-books of the latest Harry Potter should cost $1 (compared to a more expensive print book) and, surprise, it didn't work out that way either.
- village-idiot 8y agoTurns out that physical books and DVDs were a minuscule part of what made books and movies expensive. Who knew?* * Lots of people knew this.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoAnd a lot of people didn't. It's hard to internalize how cheap matter is at scale. For a long time I really did think most of a book's cost is in printing. I still catch myself assuming a random product is expensive because of its manufacturing; it's a hard habit to kick.
- SubiculumCode 8y agoWell, i would have assumed that part of the price was mo opolistic behaviors by cable.
- Mindwipe 8y agoWhich prices being similar in every developed country in the world where there is plenty of competition should have clued you in to not being the case.
- SubiculumCode 8y agoMaybe not on a per content basis, but for the monololith cable packages
- TeMPOraL 8y ago> "and then VCs will subsidise things until everyone permanently accepts lower profit margins in order to lower costs". Which just didn't seem like a terribly plausible sequence of events. Isn't it quite literally the exact thing Uber successfully did to taxi markets worldwide?
- blihp 8y agoThey only do that as a short term move to grab market share and put weak competitors out of business. Generally that's just a phase in the early days and eventually prices start creeping up, often higher than they were before.