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Point taken, but perhaps a bad example. When I buy an iPhone, I'm paying a little for materials, but mostly I'm purchasing the culmination of tens of billions o

Point taken, but perhaps a bad example. When I buy an iPhone, I'm paying a little for materials, but mostly I'm purchasing the culmination of tens of billions of dollars of R&D that possibly surpasses any other product on Earth. A better example might be a luxury brand wallet where they sell the illusion of better quality, but that may or may not be true.

pydry 5y ago
Luxury brand wallet owners feel much the same way about their wallets that you do about your iPhone.
- Swenrekcah 5y ago
  Perhaps, but I think most luxury brand buyers fall into one of two categories: 1) They are paying more for quality materials, durability and perhaps a hand-made feel (that may or may not be in line with reality). 2) They are paying more so that they can get something that most others can't only because it's too expensive. I really can't believe that people who buy $2000 handbags think that the handbag company is doing any R&D into handbags. But perhaps they do...
  - pydry 5y ago
    You can replace R&D with trust, material quality, worksmanship or some other ethereal hard to pin down quality.
- Frost1x 5y ago
  >I suspect many consumers wouldn't like to know that the $1500 iPhone they just bought only has $400 worth of actual parts in. This is neglecting software development, maintenance, new features rolled out, etc. Yes, you're overpaying beyond cost, Apple would go out of business if you weren't. The question is are you overpaying for the functionality or value you get out of the product/service and are the margins too fluffy. In the case of a designer wallet or velben goods in general, you're really paying for the status and symbolism in the inflated margins. This may be true of some iPhone owners who don't use their phone or buy one every quarter but not most, they're getting utility and value out of the devices that's likely worth the cost. Velben goods get a bit complex as well because of intangible value in social situations. Sure, that designer wallet is a waste of money. My $10 leather wallet does the same thing and is probably more durable (even blocks RFID, yay). There is much theater to life, however, and velben goods can land you in situations surrounded by those will wealth that leads to opportunities you might not otherwise have. Impression and perception is difficult to assess value (advertising and marketing in business sure think its valuable), but you'll find you may get bumped in lines, have better service, land a job, or something else all because of such social impressions. This is the entire reason people don't wear flip-flops, athletic shorts, and t-shirts into the office or interviews and why some people carry thousands of dollar hand bags around. The question is: what's your ROI on these impressions? It's difficult to measure and frankly to me seems typically like a net loss. I personally think it's crazy and could care less if you waste money to flaunt wealth or play status games, but I've witnessed the effects first hand of success in this realm to not completely discard the intangible value that may exist.
  - pydry 5y ago
    >In the case of a designer wallet or velben goods in general, you're really paying for the status and symbolism in the inflated margins. This may be true of some iPhone owners. Or indeed, most. Apple is hardly shy about marketing itself as a purveyor of luxury goods.
    - EricE 5y ago
      >Apple is hardly shy about marketing itself as a purveyor of luxury goods. And why would they? Should they instead market themselves as a purveyor of shit goods? Sounds like a sure fire way to increase sales /s
HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
OK, now how do you think a non-technical person with no interest in R&D (or even knowledge of the term) would react to the question of why they buy an iPhone. I suspect that you'd find the iPhone purchase motivation is pretty much the same as the luxury wallet.

pydry 5y ago

Luxury brand wallet owners feel much the same way about their wallets that you do about your iPhone.

Swenrekcah 5y ago
Perhaps, but I think most luxury brand buyers fall into one of two categories: 1) They are paying more for quality materials, durability and perhaps a hand-made feel (that may or may not be in line with reality). 2) They are paying more so that they can get something that most others can't only because it's too expensive. I really can't believe that people who buy $2000 handbags think that the handbag company is doing any R&D into handbags. But perhaps they do...
- pydry 5y ago
  You can replace R&D with trust, material quality, worksmanship or some other ethereal hard to pin down quality.
Frost1x 5y ago
>I suspect many consumers wouldn't like to know that the $1500 iPhone they just bought only has $400 worth of actual parts in. This is neglecting software development, maintenance, new features rolled out, etc. Yes, you're overpaying beyond cost, Apple would go out of business if you weren't. The question is are you overpaying for the functionality or value you get out of the product/service and are the margins too fluffy. In the case of a designer wallet or velben goods in general, you're really paying for the status and symbolism in the inflated margins. This may be true of some iPhone owners who don't use their phone or buy one every quarter but not most, they're getting utility and value out of the devices that's likely worth the cost. Velben goods get a bit complex as well because of intangible value in social situations. Sure, that designer wallet is a waste of money. My $10 leather wallet does the same thing and is probably more durable (even blocks RFID, yay). There is much theater to life, however, and velben goods can land you in situations surrounded by those will wealth that leads to opportunities you might not otherwise have. Impression and perception is difficult to assess value (advertising and marketing in business sure think its valuable), but you'll find you may get bumped in lines, have better service, land a job, or something else all because of such social impressions. This is the entire reason people don't wear flip-flops, athletic shorts, and t-shirts into the office or interviews and why some people carry thousands of dollar hand bags around. The question is: what's your ROI on these impressions? It's difficult to measure and frankly to me seems typically like a net loss. I personally think it's crazy and could care less if you waste money to flaunt wealth or play status games, but I've witnessed the effects first hand of success in this realm to not completely discard the intangible value that may exist.
- pydry 5y ago
  >In the case of a designer wallet or velben goods in general, you're really paying for the status and symbolism in the inflated margins. This may be true of some iPhone owners. Or indeed, most. Apple is hardly shy about marketing itself as a purveyor of luxury goods.
  - EricE 5y ago
    >Apple is hardly shy about marketing itself as a purveyor of luxury goods. And why would they? Should they instead market themselves as a purveyor of shit goods? Sounds like a sure fire way to increase sales /s

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago

OK, now how do you think a non-technical person with no interest in R&D (or even knowledge of the term) would react to the question of why they buy an iPhone. I suspect that you'd find the iPhone purchase motivation is pretty much the same as the luxury wallet.