Another Apple Advantage: Pricing
Article at Forbes points out the relatively low prices of everything Apple announced at the recent special event. Shuffle: $49, Apple TV: $99, iPod Nano: $149. iPod Touch: $229.
This is something my wallet appreciates, as the present annual total spent on Mac hardware this year has been noticeably lower than years past: iPad: $499, iPhone: $200, soon an Apple TV: $99. That’s $799 — less than the cheapest MacBook: $999.
So one thought is how much more value Apple is packing into their cheaper products. There was once a time when beneath the cheapest — then iBook — there was essentially nothing, and a new, decent Mac would set you back thousands. Although there still exists a positive brand perception that Apple products are more expensive, that’s certainly less true now than ever before.
The second thought is there’s no MacBook on my wish list. For the first time in a decade, I’ve decided to eschew a portable Mac. It’s just Mac Mini and iPad / iPhone for the forseeable future. That choice with Apple’s cheaper products means both saving money and having more toys to play with.
The last thought is that even in this low-end of the market, Apple is in the enviable position of price determination for the whole industry. The Apple TV’s new price point of $99 meant that Netflix / Roku absolutely had to lower the prices of the less-featured Roku box. Meanwhile, Amazon had to adjust the less-featured Kindle price to accommodate the iPad at the top end.
Same situation as the low-end MacBook vs. netbooks. For years, pundits have pleaded with Apple to lower the prices on its cheapest portable to compete directly with netbooks.
Apple never did that. Instead, as mentioned above, they stubbornly held the MacBook price, never sinking into a cost-cutting war with lower margins, but instead filled the sub $1000 range with totally new products. Now the sub $1,000 range for non-computer, portable “gadgets” is sliced into even smaller ranges with Apple products determining the top end.
Any flash memory-based music player must keep $49 in mind, every smart phone $200, and every tablet PC maker $500. And they all must knee-jerk react when Apple announces a new product or fiddles with pricing.
Yep, advantage Apple.