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|Apple will not cut into those margins to make market share. They never have. That's not to say they won't do whatever they can to gain market share. But deep p

by lotusleaf1987 15y ago

|Apple will not cut into those margins to make market share. They never have. That's not to say they won't do whatever they can to gain market share. But deep price cuts is not one of those things. Then where are all the $200-$400 tablets that should be killing Apple like in your reference previously: A brief look back at the history of the PC clearly shows this. So why isn't this happening now then? Also yes, AT&T or whoever the carrier is subsidizes the price, I thought this was obvious and didn't need clarifying.

dean 15y ago
"Then where are all the $200-$400 tablets that should be killing Apple like in your reference previously: A brief look back at the history of the PC clearly shows this." My reference to the history of the PC was to point out that even when Apple had only 4% or 5% of the PC market, and was all but irrelevant, they still did not choose to compete on price. I never said anything about "$200-$400 tablets that should be killing Apple", but since you bring it up, I would be surprised if they don't come eventually. And when they do, you won't see Apple matching those prices, let alone beating them. "Also yes, AT&T or whoever the carrier is subsidizes the price, I thought this was obvious and didn't need clarifying." If you know this, then why do you bring it up as an example of how Apple has dropped their prices?
- demallien 15y ago
  I think you are both talking past each other. If I understand dean correctly, he isn't saying that Apple can't price a device aggressively, but rather that when faced with a choice of cutting corners to make a cheap device, or adding value to the product whilst maintaining price, they opt for the second choice. To make things more concrete, where Dell might look at a Macbook Pro, and then figure that they can compete by using a plastic casing instead of unibody aluminium, thereby making their product $50 cheaper to make, so they can sell it for $50 less, Apple is more likely to try to compete by adding a thunderbolt interface, or introducing better screens that guarantee colour fidelity, or making a better OS, or whatever. That don't lower the price - have a look at the MacBook line, the prices have barely changed over 5 years, but the value of the models offered has increased massively.

dean 15y ago

"Then where are all the $200-$400 tablets that should be killing Apple like in your reference previously: A brief look back at the history of the PC clearly shows this." My reference to the history of the PC was to point out that even when Apple had only 4% or 5% of the PC market, and was all but irrelevant, they still did not choose to compete on price. I never said anything about "$200-$400 tablets that should be killing Apple", but since you bring it up, I would be surprised if they don't come eventually. And when they do, you won't see Apple matching those prices, let alone beating them. "Also yes, AT&T or whoever the carrier is subsidizes the price, I thought this was obvious and didn't need clarifying." If you know this, then why do you bring it up as an example of how Apple has dropped their prices?

demallien 15y ago
I think you are both talking past each other. If I understand dean correctly, he isn't saying that Apple can't price a device aggressively, but rather that when faced with a choice of cutting corners to make a cheap device, or adding value to the product whilst maintaining price, they opt for the second choice. To make things more concrete, where Dell might look at a Macbook Pro, and then figure that they can compete by using a plastic casing instead of unibody aluminium, thereby making their product $50 cheaper to make, so they can sell it for $50 less, Apple is more likely to try to compete by adding a thunderbolt interface, or introducing better screens that guarantee colour fidelity, or making a better OS, or whatever. That don't lower the price - have a look at the MacBook line, the prices have barely changed over 5 years, but the value of the models offered has increased massively.