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A couple of points on Apple (which I’m most familiar with). First, you are only looking at the 16-32GB upgrade. They charge the same fixed increment on 32-64 an

A couple of points on Apple (which I’m most familiar with). First, you are only looking at the 16-32GB upgrade. They charge the same fixed increment on 32-64 and 64-128.This should give a clue for what is going on here. Apple has a couple of goals. For the consumer they want it to be easy to make purchase decisions. By not varying the price for upgrading to each category, the decision becomes easier for most customers. What can you afford for the convenience of more storage space. The second thing is probably more important to a successful business–profit margins. Apple is looking at profit margins across the whole product line not for each tier. Clearly anyone buying a 16GB or 128GB iPad is getting the best deal and those buying a 32GB are getting the worst of it. I’m betting that the 32GB iPad is the most popular and so it has the most influence on the profit margin for the platform. In essence, buyers of the 32GB iPad are subsidizing the 16GB version. As long as customers find the 32GB iPad desirable at the list price, this will continue.

TrainedMonkey 13y ago
I agree, another point that article is missing, is that buying extra 16GB of memory will give you more mileage compared to base 16GB. That is because significant portion of base 16GB is occupied by OS and required apps. So adding 16GB does not double effective storage, more like increases it by 2.5-2.75 times.
- tedunangst 13y ago
  My 16GB model has 12.8GB free. A 32GB would have 28.8GB free. So more like increases it 28.8 / 12.8 = 2.25 times.
  - TrainedMonkey 13y ago
    After running some numbers I am coming up with even less. Using 28GB of formatted storage (see link below as to why) I get 28/12.8 = 2.1875* . While this is way lower compared to my original estimate of 2.5, that is still higher than factor of 2 which is what we would expect from simply doubling storage. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57404587-243/why-my-new-ipads-storage-doesnt-add-up/ http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57404587-243/why-my-new... * This number heavily depends on what you count as required app, for my iPhone for example GPS is a must which chews into storage fast.
xumption 13y ago
Apple seems to be doing pretty well on the profit front given it's $147bn in cash reserves, all hail their profiteering but a large part of that has been acquired through blatantly milking a naive user base. http://bgr.com/2013/10/02/apple-cash-reserves-147-billion-dollars/ http://bgr.com/2013/10/02/apple-cash-reserves-147-billion-do...
- wonderzombie 13y ago
  Just because other people have different priorities does not mean they are naive.
smackfu 13y ago
I think it's just a bit too transparent of a strategy, and I end up getting the 32 GB but feeling like I got ripped off, which isn't exactly a win/win for Apple.
twistedpair 13y ago
That is how Apple would probably spin it. We're not charging you $300 for a $16 part (16GB -> 128GB, 1800% markup) [0], we're simply making it easier for you to chose a model. IBM doesn't offer that feature! [0] http://www.insye.com/DP/NANDFlashSpotPrice.aspx http://www.insye.com/DP/NANDFlashSpotPrice.aspx

TrainedMonkey 13y ago

I agree, another point that article is missing, is that buying extra 16GB of memory will give you more mileage compared to base 16GB. That is because significant portion of base 16GB is occupied by OS and required apps. So adding 16GB does not double effective storage, more like increases it by 2.5-2.75 times.

tedunangst 13y ago
My 16GB model has 12.8GB free. A 32GB would have 28.8GB free. So more like increases it 28.8 / 12.8 = 2.25 times.
- TrainedMonkey 13y ago
  After running some numbers I am coming up with even less. Using 28GB of formatted storage (see link below as to why) I get 28/12.8 = 2.1875* . While this is way lower compared to my original estimate of 2.5, that is still higher than factor of 2 which is what we would expect from simply doubling storage. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57404587-243/why-my-new-ipads-storage-doesnt-add-up/ http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57404587-243/why-my-new... * This number heavily depends on what you count as required app, for my iPhone for example GPS is a must which chews into storage fast.

xumption 13y ago

Apple seems to be doing pretty well on the profit front given it's $147bn in cash reserves, all hail their profiteering but a large part of that has been acquired through blatantly milking a naive user base. http://bgr.com/2013/10/02/apple-cash-reserves-147-billion-dollars/ http://bgr.com/2013/10/02/apple-cash-reserves-147-billion-do...

wonderzombie 13y ago
Just because other people have different priorities does not mean they are naive.

smackfu 13y ago

I think it's just a bit too transparent of a strategy, and I end up getting the 32 GB but feeling like I got ripped off, which isn't exactly a win/win for Apple.

twistedpair 13y ago

That is how Apple would probably spin it. We're not charging you $300 for a $16 part (16GB -> 128GB, 1800% markup) [0], we're simply making it easier for you to chose a model. IBM doesn't offer that feature! [0] http://www.insye.com/DP/NANDFlashSpotPrice.aspx http://www.insye.com/DP/NANDFlashSpotPrice.aspx