7 ms·

Apple Attempted to Censor Critical Coverage of Its $1k Monitor Stand

65 points by bobbybidon 7y ago

scarface74 7y ago
This was such a monumental marketing fail. If they had just said the price of the monitor was $7000 none of the target audience would have blinked. Then when it went on sale, they could have quietly added in their configuration when you buy it: -$700 Vesa mount
- reaperducer 7y ago
  I could see it if the stand provided some benefit other than looking cool. Like acting as a heat-sink, or being a massive Thunderbolt hub. But even I, who has bought half a dozen launch-day Apple items, was surprised that this price point made it through the marketing department. It came off as really tone-deaf. More than half of the Macs in my office use reams of paper as monitor stands. Maybe iFixit will do a teardown and find out it's made from mermaid scales and unicorn farts.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    $5000 for the iMac Pro isn’t bad if you need that kind of power - even though you could spec a regular 5K iMac that was close enough and save a grand. The price of the Mac Pro + monitor wouldn’t even make me blink if I had a business that needed it. But the stand is ridiculous even by Apple standards.
    - thrower123 7y ago
      It's bad when you can build a desktop with the same components for $2000 or less, without the Apple Tax. Trying to act as though they aren't marking everything up at least 100% is disingenuous, but extremely common for some reason.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        So try to configure an iMac Pro level desktop for $2000 less. Don’t forget that the 5K monitor by itself is $1300. Also try configuring a workstation for $3000 with the specs of the Mac Pro. On the lower end, try configuring a desktop for much less than the $2100 iMac 5K.
        jmkni 7y ago
        Small nitpick, the Mac Pro and iMac Pro are 2 different products.
        scarface74 7y ago
        Yes. And that’s why I use the word “also..”.
- danielscrubs 7y ago
  But why is it so expensive? That’s the big question. Many times when Apple has been called out for price gauging it has been very easy to just itemize and explain. Here? Just doesn’t seem that its anything else than just price gauging. Any one experienced in mechanics that can shed some light?
simongr3dal 7y ago
The WWDC2019 video literally starts with the text: "All Rights Reserved. This Broadcast and its contents are the sole property of Apple and are protected by Federal Law and International treaties. You are strictly prohibited from making a copy or modification of, or from rebroadcasting, or re-encoding, this broadcast without the prior written permission from Apple Public Relations, excepts as may be permitted by law." The whole video is published on YouTube, they could have just linked to the timestamp of the official video on there or on Apples own website.
- Zekio 7y ago
  Pretty sure copyright law allows doing exactly what they are saying you are not allowed to do, through fair use
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    That's the "excepts as may be permitted by law" part.
hermitdev 7y ago
One of the many reasons I will not buy Apple. You're buying the brand, the name, not actual quality. I dont know what the exact percent is, but you're paying a significant markup on hardware for Apple vs, say a Dell, for the same hardware. Yeah, OS X is BSD based, but Dell will sell you the equivalent hardware for about half the price and guarantee it works with Linux (with support). I'm not a Dell fan, despite most of my prior purchases being Dell, but they dont do an insane markup on Linux installs. Tangent: I've also seen devs work on Macs have their code fail when dployed because they assume OS X is nix and Linux is nix not recognizong that by default, the MacFS is case insensitive, like Windows, but Linux is case sensitive by default.
- scarface74 7y ago
  So Apple has been surviving on brand only for 40+ years? Anecdotally: I am looking at a 5K iMac - 6 Core I5 with 256GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $2099. The only reputable company that I can find that sells a 5K display is LG and it’s $1300 by itself. If I try to find an equivalent price Dell it doesn’t cost any less.
  - mantap 7y ago
    If a regular display breaks, you can replace it. If the display in your iMac breaks, you have to spend $$$ to repair it. And maybe apple will tell you that it can't be repaired. All-in-ones are fine as low end machines but I would never buy a premium one.
    - spectramax 7y ago
      How often do you break your display? Are you carrying around your iMac to places? This is a poor argument against something that will just sit on your desk without moving it for months if not years.
      - boomboomsubban 7y ago
        Leaving it motionless on your desk reduces the risk, but you're still one relatively minor mistake from a broken display. If you're unlucky enough to have that happen, Apple products cost much more to repair. Plus, all of the design related breaks mentioned in the article.
malshe 7y ago
What a click-bait headline. The title suggests Apple was involved in a large effort to silence the negative coverage. The article lists only one instance where they asked the website to pull down the video because it infringes copyright! The article is still up, right? Also, do people really believe that Apple makes their billions by selling dongles?
- bobbybidon 7y ago
  You're right, the title is kinda clickbait but the argument still "stands": a $1k stand his basically taking users for cash cows (while a majority of them are sheep)
- dorchadas 7y ago
  Exactly. It seems like all Apple did was request videos taken down for copyright infringement. They never edited their own video, and, last I checked, you could still even hear the audience's reaction to the stand. All they did was try to protect copyright of their videos, and look what happens. Some people love to hate Apple.
reaperducer 7y ago
Link to the original reporting, instead of some other web site re-writing someone else's work: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyright_lockdown/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyrig...
- bobbybidon 7y ago
  this was posted after the original article (if you make such a claim, get your facts straight)
bobbybidon 7y ago
"Sign In with Apple" is top post right now so I should I have figured this would not get much traction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- bezidejni 7y ago
  You do realize that those are two completely distinct things and people can like one but not the other?
  - bobbybidon 7y ago
    I do, do you realize I used the shrug?
wodenokoto 7y ago
Is it really ridiculously priced though? As if such a price is unheard of. A bang & olufsen TV starts at around $1000, and can easily be $2000. I think it is pricy but not when compared to the kind of things apple likes to compare themselves with. Their watch is expensive, but not compared with a Rolex.
- hhanesand 7y ago
  But that’s a ~TV~... a screen etc Here it’s $1000 for two slabs of metal and a hinge...
  - wodenokoto 7y ago
    Something got lost in editing on my phone. B&O stand starts at $1000. Sorry.

65 points by bobbybidon 7y ago

This was such a monumental marketing fail. If they had just said the price of the monitor was $7000 none of the target audience would have blinked. Then when it went on sale, they could have quietly added in their configuration when you buy it: -$700 Vesa mount

reaperducer 7y ago
I could see it if the stand provided some benefit other than looking cool. Like acting as a heat-sink, or being a massive Thunderbolt hub. But even I, who has bought half a dozen launch-day Apple items, was surprised that this price point made it through the marketing department. It came off as really tone-deaf. More than half of the Macs in my office use reams of paper as monitor stands. Maybe iFixit will do a teardown and find out it's made from mermaid scales and unicorn farts.
- scarface74 7y ago
  $5000 for the iMac Pro isn’t bad if you need that kind of power - even though you could spec a regular 5K iMac that was close enough and save a grand. The price of the Mac Pro + monitor wouldn’t even make me blink if I had a business that needed it. But the stand is ridiculous even by Apple standards.
  - thrower123 7y ago
    It's bad when you can build a desktop with the same components for $2000 or less, without the Apple Tax. Trying to act as though they aren't marking everything up at least 100% is disingenuous, but extremely common for some reason.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      So try to configure an iMac Pro level desktop for $2000 less. Don’t forget that the 5K monitor by itself is $1300. Also try configuring a workstation for $3000 with the specs of the Mac Pro. On the lower end, try configuring a desktop for much less than the $2100 iMac 5K.
      - jmkni 7y ago
        Small nitpick, the Mac Pro and iMac Pro are 2 different products.
        scarface74 7y ago
        Yes. And that’s why I use the word “also..”.
danielscrubs 7y ago
But why is it so expensive? That’s the big question. Many times when Apple has been called out for price gauging it has been very easy to just itemize and explain. Here? Just doesn’t seem that its anything else than just price gauging. Any one experienced in mechanics that can shed some light?

simongr3dal 7y ago

The WWDC2019 video literally starts with the text: "All Rights Reserved. This Broadcast and its contents are the sole property of Apple and are protected by Federal Law and International treaties. You are strictly prohibited from making a copy or modification of, or from rebroadcasting, or re-encoding, this broadcast without the prior written permission from Apple Public Relations, excepts as may be permitted by law." The whole video is published on YouTube, they could have just linked to the timestamp of the official video on there or on Apples own website.

Zekio 7y ago
Pretty sure copyright law allows doing exactly what they are saying you are not allowed to do, through fair use
- reaperducer 7y ago
  That's the "excepts as may be permitted by law" part.

hermitdev 7y ago

One of the many reasons I will not buy Apple. You're buying the brand, the name, not actual quality. I dont know what the exact percent is, but you're paying a significant markup on hardware for Apple vs, say a Dell, for the same hardware. Yeah, OS X is BSD based, but Dell will sell you the equivalent hardware for about half the price and guarantee it works with Linux (with support). I'm not a Dell fan, despite most of my prior purchases being Dell, but they dont do an insane markup on Linux installs. Tangent: I've also seen devs work on Macs have their code fail when dployed because they assume OS X is nix and Linux is nix not recognizong that by default, the MacFS is case insensitive, like Windows, but Linux is case sensitive by default.

scarface74 7y ago
So Apple has been surviving on brand only for 40+ years? Anecdotally: I am looking at a 5K iMac - 6 Core I5 with 256GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $2099. The only reputable company that I can find that sells a 5K display is LG and it’s $1300 by itself. If I try to find an equivalent price Dell it doesn’t cost any less.
- mantap 7y ago
  If a regular display breaks, you can replace it. If the display in your iMac breaks, you have to spend $$$ to repair it. And maybe apple will tell you that it can't be repaired. All-in-ones are fine as low end machines but I would never buy a premium one.
  - spectramax 7y ago
    How often do you break your display? Are you carrying around your iMac to places? This is a poor argument against something that will just sit on your desk without moving it for months if not years.
    - boomboomsubban 7y ago
      Leaving it motionless on your desk reduces the risk, but you're still one relatively minor mistake from a broken display. If you're unlucky enough to have that happen, Apple products cost much more to repair. Plus, all of the design related breaks mentioned in the article.

malshe 7y ago

What a click-bait headline. The title suggests Apple was involved in a large effort to silence the negative coverage. The article lists only one instance where they asked the website to pull down the video because it infringes copyright! The article is still up, right? Also, do people really believe that Apple makes their billions by selling dongles?

bobbybidon 7y ago
You're right, the title is kinda clickbait but the argument still "stands": a $1k stand his basically taking users for cash cows (while a majority of them are sheep)
dorchadas 7y ago
Exactly. It seems like all Apple did was request videos taken down for copyright infringement. They never edited their own video, and, last I checked, you could still even hear the audience's reaction to the stand. All they did was try to protect copyright of their videos, and look what happens. Some people love to hate Apple.

reaperducer 7y ago

Link to the original reporting, instead of some other web site re-writing someone else's work: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyright_lockdown/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyrig...

bobbybidon 7y ago
this was posted after the original article (if you make such a claim, get your facts straight)

bobbybidon 7y ago

"Sign In with Apple" is top post right now so I should I have figured this would not get much traction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

bezidejni 7y ago
You do realize that those are two completely distinct things and people can like one but not the other?
- bobbybidon 7y ago
  I do, do you realize I used the shrug?

wodenokoto 7y ago

Is it really ridiculously priced though? As if such a price is unheard of. A bang & olufsen TV starts at around $1000, and can easily be $2000. I think it is pricy but not when compared to the kind of things apple likes to compare themselves with. Their watch is expensive, but not compared with a Rolex.

hhanesand 7y ago
But that’s a ~TV~... a screen etc Here it’s $1000 for two slabs of metal and a hinge...
- wodenokoto 7y ago
  Something got lost in editing on my phone. B&O stand starts at $1000. Sorry.