5 ms·

"feature owner didn't pay for tells owner he didn't pay for it"

t0mas88 5y ago
But that's not nearly clickbait enough
ls15 5y ago
"Audi car keeps nagging car owners who decided against premium features when they bought their car." Would be appropriate too, I think. It is one thing to just not include a certain feature, but it is another thing to still include a button that only has the function to remind you of a possible paid upgrade. People thought that they bought a car, but they also bought a relation with a company. Like people who buy a smart TV and think they bought just a TV set. Actually they bought a TV set and a relationship with a TV producer who now keeps sucking up their data and shows ads on top of the programs that they intended to watch. How should I call this? Smartphoneification of everything? Is this a good thing?
stingraycharles 5y ago
Yeah, the way I read the title was that something suddenly became paywalled after pressing a wrong button. The actual story is much less interesting.
izacus 5y ago
Why are you defending corporations why they abuse their customers? What do you gain here?
- alex_sf 5y ago
  Why do you consider giving someone what they paid for 'abuse'?
  - RealityVoid 5y ago
    Why should I pay for something that has zero marginal production cost to the producer? This is induced scarcity and I hate everything about it.
    - hef19898 5y ago
      So all softwarw should cost like 5 cents? I'm all for it!
      - tialaramex 5y ago
        You might be new around here, but there's this thing called Free Software where (although that isn't why the word "Free" is there) the marginal charge for more copies is indeed less than five cents and often effectively zero. Of course modifying the software isn't cheap, unless you're going to learn how and do it on your own time, but that's not a marginal cost
        hef19898 5y ago
        Not so new, but if we price things soley on manufacturing costs Apple products should be a factor 2-3 cheaper while Windows and Office should cost, what, a Dollar max? Not to even think about luxury and brand name stuff. Manufacturing cost is only part of the price calculation, software just sits at one extreme end of the spectrum. Disclaimer: My private daily driver runs Ubuntu and LibreOffice.
    - ddalex 5y ago
      But it doesn't have 0 marginal cost - the R&D that went into developing the hardware needs to be recouped and a profit generated; just because the cost is virtual, in missed profit, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
      - black_puppydog 5y ago
        But it absolutely does. The definition of marginal cost is "the increase or decrease in costs as a result of one more or one less unit of output." So not only was the maginal cost exactly zero, some engineer actually spent time building the gating logic.
        onetokeoverthe 5y ago
  - izacus 5y ago
    > Why do you consider giving someone what they paid for 'abuse'? I consider changing good products to use emotional and marketing manipulation to make customers feel bad about not paying enough "abusive". Just like every other action that prioritizes maximum money extraction over paying customer satisfaction. It doesn't make for a happy society.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >I consider changing good products to use emotional and marketing manipulation to make customers feel bad about not paying enough "abusive". This entire statement seems like a stretch. Do you also find it "abusive" that freemium products try to upsell premium features, or that a cloud storage service prompts you to buy more storage after you ran out? >Just like every other action that prioritizes maximum money extraction over paying customer satisfaction. It doesn't make for a happy society. By the same token, as a paying netflix customer I'm pretty dissatisfied that I have to pay $15/month. I'd be much satisfied and happier if it only costs $0.01.
- xnorswap 5y ago
  You gain a cheaper car. Even if features have zero marginal cost, they are important for market segmentation, which is important for reducing the cost for most people by allowing less price-discriminating purchasers to pay more. Imagine instead this was a button that was labeled, "I'm rich" and pressing it echoed back "Yes you are". That could be similarly paywalled and used for market segmentation. Instead, they choose to paywall a feature that has minor benefit like "climate sync" (I'm not sure I even understand what that means, I live in temperate climate).
  - neuralRiot 5y ago
    > You gain a cheaper car. I doubt it, More likely “manufacturer gets better returns from car model thus increasing projeted profits> Stocks go up”
hef19898 5y ago
Audi is famous for some of the longest lists of premium add-on features mankind ever envisioned. So no real surprise there.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  More than Porsche?
  - hef19898 5y ago
    The option list of Audi os infamous for its complexity and length. It depends on the market so, the German beats the French one by a couple light years. At least last time I checked. Porsche should be close, being part VW
    - namecheapTA 5y ago
      I think you have this backwards. Sure Audi has a lot of editions and packages, but no one else can double a cars MSRP by just adding options like Porsche can.
      - hef19898 5y ago
        A couple of years ago I almostanaged to do that with an Audi A4. It's good to see best pratice sharing between brands, like they did with Diesel engines!
      - yourusername 5y ago
        I was wondering this and it's pretty close. I can take a Audi A1 from 29379 to 53628 just by selecting options.
- neuralRiot 5y ago
  > premium add-on features A nice add-on feature for audis would be a car that lasts more than 5 years.

But that's not nearly clickbait enough

ls15 5y ago

"Audi car keeps nagging car owners who decided against premium features when they bought their car." Would be appropriate too, I think. It is one thing to just not include a certain feature, but it is another thing to still include a button that only has the function to remind you of a possible paid upgrade. People thought that they bought a car, but they also bought a relation with a company. Like people who buy a smart TV and think they bought just a TV set. Actually they bought a TV set and a relationship with a TV producer who now keeps sucking up their data and shows ads on top of the programs that they intended to watch. How should I call this? Smartphoneification of everything? Is this a good thing?

stingraycharles 5y ago

Yeah, the way I read the title was that something suddenly became paywalled after pressing a wrong button. The actual story is much less interesting.

izacus 5y ago

Why are you defending corporations why they abuse their customers? What do you gain here?

alex_sf 5y ago
Why do you consider giving someone what they paid for 'abuse'?
- RealityVoid 5y ago
  Why should I pay for something that has zero marginal production cost to the producer? This is induced scarcity and I hate everything about it.
  - hef19898 5y ago
    So all softwarw should cost like 5 cents? I'm all for it!
    - tialaramex 5y ago
      You might be new around here, but there's this thing called Free Software where (although that isn't why the word "Free" is there) the marginal charge for more copies is indeed less than five cents and often effectively zero. Of course modifying the software isn't cheap, unless you're going to learn how and do it on your own time, but that's not a marginal cost
      - hef19898 5y ago
        Not so new, but if we price things soley on manufacturing costs Apple products should be a factor 2-3 cheaper while Windows and Office should cost, what, a Dollar max? Not to even think about luxury and brand name stuff. Manufacturing cost is only part of the price calculation, software just sits at one extreme end of the spectrum. Disclaimer: My private daily driver runs Ubuntu and LibreOffice.
  - ddalex 5y ago
    But it doesn't have 0 marginal cost - the R&D that went into developing the hardware needs to be recouped and a profit generated; just because the cost is virtual, in missed profit, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
    - black_puppydog 5y ago
      But it absolutely does. The definition of marginal cost is "the increase or decrease in costs as a result of one more or one less unit of output." So not only was the maginal cost exactly zero, some engineer actually spent time building the gating logic.
      - onetokeoverthe 5y ago
- izacus 5y ago
  > Why do you consider giving someone what they paid for 'abuse'? I consider changing good products to use emotional and marketing manipulation to make customers feel bad about not paying enough "abusive". Just like every other action that prioritizes maximum money extraction over paying customer satisfaction. It doesn't make for a happy society.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >I consider changing good products to use emotional and marketing manipulation to make customers feel bad about not paying enough "abusive". This entire statement seems like a stretch. Do you also find it "abusive" that freemium products try to upsell premium features, or that a cloud storage service prompts you to buy more storage after you ran out? >Just like every other action that prioritizes maximum money extraction over paying customer satisfaction. It doesn't make for a happy society. By the same token, as a paying netflix customer I'm pretty dissatisfied that I have to pay $15/month. I'd be much satisfied and happier if it only costs $0.01.
xnorswap 5y ago
You gain a cheaper car. Even if features have zero marginal cost, they are important for market segmentation, which is important for reducing the cost for most people by allowing less price-discriminating purchasers to pay more. Imagine instead this was a button that was labeled, "I'm rich" and pressing it echoed back "Yes you are". That could be similarly paywalled and used for market segmentation. Instead, they choose to paywall a feature that has minor benefit like "climate sync" (I'm not sure I even understand what that means, I live in temperate climate).
- neuralRiot 5y ago
  > You gain a cheaper car. I doubt it, More likely “manufacturer gets better returns from car model thus increasing projeted profits> Stocks go up”

hef19898 5y ago

Audi is famous for some of the longest lists of premium add-on features mankind ever envisioned. So no real surprise there.

sokoloff 5y ago
More than Porsche?
- hef19898 5y ago
  The option list of Audi os infamous for its complexity and length. It depends on the market so, the German beats the French one by a couple light years. At least last time I checked. Porsche should be close, being part VW
  - namecheapTA 5y ago
    I think you have this backwards. Sure Audi has a lot of editions and packages, but no one else can double a cars MSRP by just adding options like Porsche can.
    - hef19898 5y ago
      A couple of years ago I almostanaged to do that with an Audi A4. It's good to see best pratice sharing between brands, like they did with Diesel engines!
    - yourusername 5y ago
      I was wondering this and it's pretty close. I can take a Audi A1 from 29379 to 53628 just by selecting options.
neuralRiot 5y ago
> premium add-on features A nice add-on feature for audis would be a car that lasts more than 5 years.