If you controlled the pricing on Apple how would you price Macs?

[gunraidan]

When you match computers feature for feature Macs do not cost twice as much as Dells

Some models get pretty close while some exceed (Mac Pro).

and there's more than one type of consumer out there. Not every business needs to try to appeal to every type of consumer to be successful.

This is true but Apple is missing out on a huge consumer base.

And I assume you have proof that shows that dropping the prices by the amount that you want will increase sales enough significantly enough to be worth the risk?

Even if things don't go according to plan Apple can just raise the products up again stealthily (I.E. The diminish of the $999 iMac).

I'm not trying to bust yer balls or anything, but it's a common thing for people to say X costs too much w/o understanding why X costs what it costs.


Lethal

It's easy to see why Macs cost more than PC's.

- R & D in hardware

- Paying top notch designers

- Justification of going all in on your own

- etc.

I'm just saying they should try bumping down their prices a bit more to attract more consumers while still maintaining a profit.


EDIT - What do you mean about Dell keeping low prices because of a "low overhead"?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Some models get pretty close while some exceed (Mac Pro).

Link, please.

This is true but Apple is missing out on a huge consumer base.

Apple currently seems to be doing fantastic w/the demographic they are targeting.

Even if things don't go according to plan Apple can just raise the products up again stealthily (I.E. The diminish of the $999 iMac).

Or Apple just doesn't risk anything and keeps the prices relatively static until market forces dictate they need to change them.

[QUUOTE]
I'm just saying they should try bumping down their prices a bit more to attract more consumers while still maintaining a profit.[/QUOTE]
Why? Because it would be a solid businesses decision for Apple or because you want to pay less for a Mac? You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

EDIT - What do you mean about Dell keeping low prices because of a "low overhead"?

Lower operating costs in part because of a very efficient supply, manufacturing and shipping chain.


Lethal

 

[gunraidan]

Link, please.

Just read through this thread for Mac Pro examples. Also I take back what I said about the iMac as I foolishy forgot about the "all-in-one" aspect.

Apple currently seems to be doing fantastic w/the demographic they are targeting.

And some of the things they've done are lowering the prices on their products.

Apple just doesn't risk anything and keeps the prices relatively static until market forces dictate they need to change them.

Why wait for the market to force? Why not test it out? Apple has been lowering their products bit by bit overtime.

Why? Because it would be a solid businesses decision for Apple or because you want to pay less for a Mac?

...I don't think you understood this part of my post.

You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

That doesn't mean that you can further improve the model.

Lower operating costs in part because of a very efficient supply, manufacturing and shipping chain.


Lethal

I see thanks.

 

[11800506]

I personally think the Mac lineup is priced well as it is now. If I were in charge of Apple pricing I think instead of lowering prices, I would try and make hard drive and RAM more competitive, like raising the HDD capacity in the Mac Mini or Macbooks. I might lower the price of the Mac Pro a bit, but overall I think they are priced well to maximize profits while maintaining the relative exclusivity that Apple enjoys with its products.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Just read through this thread for Mac Pro examples. Also I take back what I said about the iMac as I foolishy forgot
about the "all-in-one" aspect.

Yet another thread where someone says Dells are way cheaper, then someone else says you didn't compare like-to-like and shows that Dells aren't way cheaper, and another person says you can buy all the parts from NewEgg for $900 and build it yourself as if everyone on Earth wants to build their own computer from scratch. Sorry, but this same stuff that has been going on for years. No matter what price point a Mac comes out at someone complains, points at Dell and it turns into a dozen pages of crap. The 'Apple Tax' is more fiction than fact.

Why wait for the market to force? Why not test it out? Apple has been lowering their products bit by bit overtime.

What do you want Apple to test out, an overnight, across the board price cut? Why? They just had their most profitable quarter ever that didn't involved a holiday season.

...I don't think you understood this part of my post.

Care to elaborate on it or do I have to guess?

That doesn't mean that you can further improve the model.

Again, do you have any numbers that show how much better off Apple would be if they cut their hardware prices down to where you want them?

I see thanks.

If you google stuff like "dell supply chain" you'll find some interesting articles (assuming you are interested in stuff like that). Dell pushes supply management in a similar way that Apple pushers computer design and functionality.


Lethal

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Yes you can sell your fancy lemonade costs a bit more to make than regular lemonade for $5 but if the stand across the street is selling lemonade that's for $1 and is having 10 times the sales, who's making more profit?

But you are making a huge assumption that your lowering of prices will result in a significant enough increase in sales volume to make up the lower amount of revenue per sale. ...

There's two even bigger assumptions:

A. The $1 lemonade is equal in quality to the $5 lemonade, and

B. The $1 lemondae actually is lemonade, and not just dog wee.​

You have to remember that your comparing Apples with lemons (aka Windoze PCs), so the cheaper PC across the street is very rarely ever even remotely going to match up ... which is why Microsoft opening stores next door to Apple Stores is a massive mistake on their part.

 

[djellison]

For example, Final Cut Studio 2 sells for $1300 but contains around $30,000 worth of apps.

Are you drunk? FCS2 competes with a PART of CS4. It's priced at the right level. No more. No less.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Are you drunk? FCS2 competes with a PART of CS4. It's priced at the right level. No more. No less.

Nope, not drunk. Do you know how much Apple's ProApps used to cost before Apple bought and/or bundled them? Color alone was a $25,000, 'budget-priced' grading app before Apple bought it and bundled it w/FCS2. FCP by itself used to be $1k. Cinema Tools by itself used to be $1k. Pretty much every app that's in FCS2 now used to be a stand alone app that cost between $500-$1k. Motion is derived from Shake which used to be a $10k app. The first thing Apple did after they bought it was drop the price to $4k. Apple eventually stopped developing Shake and dropped the price to $500. Nuke, which seems to be the most popular app choice to replace Shake is around $3.5-4k, IIRC. So, as I look at it Shake is about $3k worth of app being sold for $500. Final Cut Server ($1k for 10 clients, $2k for unlimited clients) used to be a program called ArtBox that sold for $20k. The price tag Apple hangs on it's software is often well below what would be the 'going rate' if the same app was sold by a different company.

And how can I try this late night rant into the thread you ask? Apple can afford to sell very powerful software a rock bottom prices because they make their money selling hardware.


Lethal

EDIT: And don't even get me started about bang for your buck when FCP's biggest competitor was an Avid system (hardware+software) that was $25k on the low end.

 

[gunraidan]

Yet another thread where someone says Dells are way cheaper, then someone else says you didn't compare like-to-like and shows that Dells aren't way cheaper, and another person says you can buy all the parts from NewEgg for $900 and build it yourself as if everyone on Earth wants to build their own computer from scratch. Sorry, but this same stuff that has been going on for years. No matter what price point a Mac comes out at someone complains, points at Dell and it turns into a dozen pages of crap. The 'Apple Tax' is more fiction than fact

That isn't what was going on in that thread. The main point is that the 2009 Mac Pro had far less value than Mac Pro's of previous years that even Dell had alternatives for far cheaper that offered more of everything the Mac Pro did.

Essentially the thread's point was that the 2009 Mac Pro was overpriced compared to other Mac Pro's from the previous years by a very significant margin.

do you want Apple to test out, an overnight, across the board price cut? Why? They just had their most profitable quarter ever that didn't involved a holiday season.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of this profit is coming from their hardware (particularly notebooks) decreasing. Next quarter should be even more interesting with the new cheaper Macbook Pro.

Care to elaborate on it or do I have to guess?:

Read the quote again:

I'm just saying they should try bumping down their prices a bit more to attract more consumers while still maintaining a profit.

If you sell more of a product to such a point that minimizing of a profit becomes irrelevant. Saying that I think most (not all) of their products are priced right, just that some need to either lower their pricing to get a piece of the common consumer market. Possibly pull a 3G with the White Macbook?

Again, do you have any numbers that show how much better off Apple would be if they cut their hardware prices down to where you want them?

Again as Apple's computer prices decline their sales go up. Than again this could be because as Macs get more and more popular more people are willing to buy them?

If you google stuff like "dell supply chain" you'll find some interesting articles (assuming you are interested in stuff like that). Dell pushes supply management in a similar way that Apple pushers computer design and functionality.


Lethal

Wow thanks a lot. Will read.

Are you drunk? FCS2 competes with a PART of CS4. It's priced at the right level. No more. No less.

You'd be amazed how much plug-ins and add-ons cost with programs. Yes those features may look worthless, but to an editor that many features for such a price is a wet dream.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I wouldn't change the pricing at all. When you change the pricing, you usually lower it, not increase it. Therefore we do the Dell route, where cheaper means better. So far, HP is trampling all over Dell's face.

 

[InvalidUserID]

Nothing.

If anything, bump up the price and include some of the higher end features (Blu-Ray!).