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From: jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Hypercard - How About New Mac Owner
Message-ID: <3694@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU>
Date: Thu, 20-Aug-87 23:56:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.3694
Posted: Thu Aug 20 23:56:41 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Aug-87 15:57:07 EDT
References: <36@mtunj.ATT.COM> <174400045@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu> <3699@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Organization: Palomar Software, Inc., Vista, CA
Lines: 47

In article <174400045@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu> dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>are going to make lots of money from it.

Having researched these issues in setting the price for Colorizer
(whcih also happens to be $50 :-)), I'd like to point out a few things
that you might have missed:
  1. Suppose you are willing to donate R&D, marketing, etc. for the
     product.  Apple can't afford to do this very often, but let's
     assume they decide to do so for a strategic product (not necessarily
     a good assumption, but...)
  2. A bound manual, printed will run roughly $2-$5, depending on the
     quality, quantity printed, etc.  If it's a very thick manual
     (like the HyperCard manual) you might add another $2.
  3. Disks in massive quantities are no less than $1.  Four disks
     is $4.  Labelling and duplication is another 25 cents, say,
     so call it $5.
  4.  Box?  You want a box?  Another 50 cents or so.  Shrink wrap?
     A dime, maybe?  (I don't do Apple's quantities so my estimates
     are better for thousands than 100's of thousands).  We're up
     to $10 -- without returning a penny for the effort it cost
     to develop, test or document it.
  5. Oh yeah, I forgot.  Suppose you write a check for $49.95 to
     your local dealer.  Does Apple see $49.95?  No.  Do they see
     $29.95?  No.  It depends somewhat on the distribution channel,
     but generally the publisher sees less than half of the end cost.

At the same time, if the cost is too low, the profit for the dealer
is too low, and it's not worth their labor to sell it.

In article <3699@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>, wetter@tybalt.caltech.edu (Pierce T. Wetter) writes:
>    Dealers HATE free upgrades. While often if the dealer knows you he will 
> give you the upgrade for free, having random people walk in and demand a new
> whatever is severly annoying. As for getting upgrades for free, the only
> difference between now and then is dealers won't have to provide it.

Actually, this is one reason why Finder 6.0 is available free on
CompuServe and User Group disks, AND you can buy it from your
local dealer.  Dealers don't want to provide it free, and having
worked for a big company, I know they'd just rather pay the $50,
get the new documents and the software without a hassle, rather than
wait to get it through less formal channels.

Also, with dealers now selling the new upgrades, maybe corporate
users will get them promptly.  As it is, if you weren't tapped
into the magazines, or BBS's or user groups, you might not even
know there was a new system.  (One place I know is still using
Finder 1.1g).