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« on: December 01, 2010, 09:00 AM »
Interesting responses, superboyac and oshyan. However, I don't see how there is that much disagreement between us. Apple gets away with their pricing - and I respectfully disagree about the gap between Apple and non-Apple products; feature for feature you pay more to Jobs and co. for similarly spec'd equipment than you do to a non-Apple manufacturer - because people are willing to pay a premium for the name. As Oshyan notes, this is due to the strength of their brand.
My argument above was that manufacturers can not get away with pricing their products the way that Apple does. Why is the iPhone 4 $800 or $900 vs $450 to $500 for a WP 7 device or an Android device (thesee are current non-contract prices in Canada)? Even differences in the quality of materials do not account for such a huge price difference (and some of the Android based HTC devices I've handles are close in terms of build quality; I'll leave GUI out of it as I've not used Android). The same observations are true of PMP's and personal audio players. Apple's pricing for their products in these categories is astronomical in comparison to the competition; the only place the competition is willing to try pricing their products in the same "range" as Apple is in touchscreen PMP devices, including the iPad (I'm thinking of the Galaxy Tab). Sony and Samsung are the two main competitors here, with both products that have already been released and those that have been announced. Microsoft has been unsuccessfull in trying to market the Zune HD as a competitor to the iPod Touch with a comparable feature set, nice build quality and more bang for the buck (cheaper pricing for capacity). However, they don't seem to be having much luck. I don't believe that people aren't willing buy these products because of inferior quality in either materials or design. Rather, the vast majority of people are unwilling to consider buying non-Apple products in particular niches (personal audio, PMPs and tablets - though it's early days yet), which is perhaps a clearer statement of my original thesis.
You both mention the corporate will to change as being key. Again, I don't see where we disagree that much. My argument is that most technology companies that have tried have failed, and in failure they have to answer to their investors. This makes risk a daunting prospect. Samsung, Microsoft, and Sony are three of the biggest companies on the planet. Smaller companies don't have the resources. Samsung is the only company that looks to me to be willing to take Apple on directly and they seem to be gearing up to do so agressively. I still maintain that the Galaxy Tab is overpriced...
One point to note with respect to the dialogue is that I my thinking and comments are specific to tablets and media players. To a large degree, I no longer think about Apple as a PC manufacturer but as a technology company.