3 ms·

Or they just create one phone for the EU market and don't market the rest?

by refurb 3y ago

malermeister 3y ago
That just doesn't happen because you lose economy of scale. The EU actually has a ton of soft power through this, enough for it to be a term in geopolitics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect
- refurb 3y ago
  Europe is about 20% of Apple sales internationally. It's not that much power. https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue-of-apple-by-geograhical-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue...
  - malermeister 3y ago
    I don't think many companies would be able to take a 20% overnight drop in sales without it causing some major issues.
    - refurb 3y ago
      But the adjustment is not without cost itself. Is the cost of a complete redesign > lost sales in EU? Then don't do the redesign.
      - malermeister 3y ago
        The redesign is a one-time cost. Lost sales in the EU will be ongoing until it happens.
        refurb 3y ago
        That's true, but a new product line has on-going update costs and warranty support costs as well.
        malermeister 3y ago
        Which is exactly why it makes sense to not have a separate EU version with the extra costs that would bring, i.e. the Brussels effect in action.
noirbot 3y ago
Which could make for a really interesting experiment - how many people would buy the EU replaceable battery edition of the phone vs. importing/traveling to a non-EU country nearby to buy the other version. It seems clear that there will be some downside to the replaceable battery version, whether it's size, cost, weight, ergonomics, water resistance, etc. Will the convenience of having replaceable batteries and not importing be worth those downsides? We'll have to see.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  > Which could make for a really interesting experiment - how many people would buy the EU replaceable battery edition of the phone vs. importing/traveling to a non-EU country nearby to buy the other version. Assuming everything else is close enough. I know there's an ocean between me and the EU, but importing a phone becomes significantly more difficult than it needs to be based on which cellular frequencies are supported.
  - noirbot 3y ago
    Sure, but I'm thinking about stuff like just going to Nordic countries or even the UK. A lot of Europe isn't that far away from a country that doesn't follow EU rules. I was under the impression that you could, for the most part, buy a phone in the US and use it in the EU anyway these days?
    - tyfon 3y ago
      Here in Norway (one of the two nordic countries to be not in the EU, the other is Iceland), we adopt more regulations from the EU via EØS (EEA) than most EU countries. So we're basically part of the EU without the voting rights and toll union benefits.. Besides, our governments and most of the people cross "isle" are very much into the green/circle economy thing. It would get adopted from the EU even without being part of EØS I think. Personally I think it would be great to be able to have a phone longer, I absolutely hate throwing out working hardware like the 2010 mac pro I used to have but apple decided not to support any more. The funny part is that someone has now made a hack/patch so it runs the newest os x anyway [1]. It was never the hardware that was the issue, just lack of support from apple. [1] https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.ht...
seszett 3y ago
That seems unlikely, since it would multiply the design costs. But since I am in the EU I wouldn't mind.
perlgeek 3y ago
If they do, and it turns out that people generally prefer the EU model, other regulators might follow.

Or they just create one phone for the EU market and don't market the rest?

by refurb 3y ago

Or they just create one phone for the EU market and don't market the rest?

That just doesn't happen because you lose economy of scale. The EU actually has a ton of soft power through this, enough for it to be a term in geopolitics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect

refurb 3y ago
Europe is about 20% of Apple sales internationally. It's not that much power. https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue-of-apple-by-geograhical-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue...
- malermeister 3y ago
  I don't think many companies would be able to take a 20% overnight drop in sales without it causing some major issues.
  - refurb 3y ago
    But the adjustment is not without cost itself. Is the cost of a complete redesign > lost sales in EU? Then don't do the redesign.
    - malermeister 3y ago
      The redesign is a one-time cost. Lost sales in the EU will be ongoing until it happens.
      - refurb 3y ago
        That's true, but a new product line has on-going update costs and warranty support costs as well.
        malermeister 3y ago
        Which is exactly why it makes sense to not have a separate EU version with the extra costs that would bring, i.e. the Brussels effect in action.

noirbot 3y ago

Which could make for a really interesting experiment - how many people would buy the EU replaceable battery edition of the phone vs. importing/traveling to a non-EU country nearby to buy the other version. It seems clear that there will be some downside to the replaceable battery version, whether it's size, cost, weight, ergonomics, water resistance, etc. Will the convenience of having replaceable batteries and not importing be worth those downsides? We'll have to see.

Dylan16807 3y ago
> Which could make for a really interesting experiment - how many people would buy the EU replaceable battery edition of the phone vs. importing/traveling to a non-EU country nearby to buy the other version. Assuming everything else is close enough. I know there's an ocean between me and the EU, but importing a phone becomes significantly more difficult than it needs to be based on which cellular frequencies are supported.
- noirbot 3y ago
  Sure, but I'm thinking about stuff like just going to Nordic countries or even the UK. A lot of Europe isn't that far away from a country that doesn't follow EU rules. I was under the impression that you could, for the most part, buy a phone in the US and use it in the EU anyway these days?
  - tyfon 3y ago
    Here in Norway (one of the two nordic countries to be not in the EU, the other is Iceland), we adopt more regulations from the EU via EØS (EEA) than most EU countries. So we're basically part of the EU without the voting rights and toll union benefits.. Besides, our governments and most of the people cross "isle" are very much into the green/circle economy thing. It would get adopted from the EU even without being part of EØS I think. Personally I think it would be great to be able to have a phone longer, I absolutely hate throwing out working hardware like the 2010 mac pro I used to have but apple decided not to support any more. The funny part is that someone has now made a hack/patch so it runs the newest os x anyway [1]. It was never the hardware that was the issue, just lack of support from apple. [1] https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.ht...

seszett 3y ago

That seems unlikely, since it would multiply the design costs. But since I am in the EU I wouldn't mind.

perlgeek 3y ago

If they do, and it turns out that people generally prefer the EU model, other regulators might follow.