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From: chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Hypercard - How About New Mac Owner
Message-ID: <26161@sun.uucp>
Date: Thu, 20-Aug-87 18:52:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.26161
Posted: Thu Aug 20 18:52:21 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Aug-87 14:40:41 EDT
References: <36@mtunj.ATT.COM> <174400045@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality, uLtd
Lines: 37

>Why is Apple charging the $50 in the first place?  I can't imagine they
>are going to make lots of money from it.  It's far more than distribution
>cost.

Are you so sure? Subtract, off the top, 40% ($20) for distributor and dealer
profits.

Subtract from that the cost of the disks (4 @ say, $1.00 each), labels,
the manual (figure, raw cost from the printer about $3 or so), the box it is
sold in, the shrinkwrap, etc. etc. etc. Lets use a raw material cost of
$10.00, which seems like a nice round number.

so, we've already found 60% of that $50, and we haven't:

	o paid for the equiptment used to duplicate the floppies.
	o paid for the person who runs the equiptment who duplicates the 
		floppies.
	o paid for the people who box, shrinkwrap, inventory or ship
		the thing.
	o paid for shipping.
	o paid for the people who wrote the software and manuals in the
		first place.

Apple will probably make money on the thing.  Not much, and probably much
less per copy than the dealer does.  However, and I see this as a BIG
however, the programs will be available at the distributors -- remember all
the fun folks have every time one of Apple's free upgrades goes out to
dealers and we all go looking for one that will admit to having it?

And for folks who don't want pretty manuals and want to download it or get
it from a user group, they're welcome to it. Personally, I think it's a
steal.

chuq
Chuq Von Rospach	chuq@sun.COM		Delphi: CHUQ

We live and learn, but not the wiser grow -- John Pomfret (1667-1703)