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From: drc@dbase.UUCP (Dennis Cohen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: More Mac prices
Message-ID: <249@dbase.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Oct-87 09:28:07 EST
Article-I.D.: dbase.249
Posted: Fri Oct 23 09:28:07 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 26-Oct-87 03:29:07 EST
References: <201@pembina.UUCP> <460@aucs.UUCP>
Organization: Ashton Tate Development Center Glendale Cal.
Lines: 30
Summary: Prices, out of line?

In article <460@aucs.UUCP>, peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) writes:
(lead-in material deleted)
> 
> I agree with Paul (the original poster): Mac prices are out of line
> with other companies' products. I would really like to see a growth
> of Macs, but when PCs are so much cheaper, it won't happen.
> 
PCs aren't so much cheaper.  IBM products cost as much or more for comparable
configurations.  The clones cost less and, while they are of benefit to the
buying public, do not have the R&D costs associated with Apple and Big Blue.
It is a *LOT* cheaper to put out a "knock-off" product than to develop something
in-house.  This is something that I have yet to see discussed on this net and
it really bothers me a little that otherwise intelligent people do not seem
to understand this basic fact.  The same holds true in software.  This is one
of the reasons that companies like Apple and Lotus have "look and feel" suits.
If I were to want to (and I definitely don't), I could produce a look-alike/
work-alike for many of the products currently on the market for a fraction of
the price -- I don't have to design an interface, I don't have to worry about
what features to implement or how they work (from the user perspective), that's
all done for me by the people and companies who made the big investment up
front.

** FLAME OFF **

Dennis Cohen
Ashton-Tate Glendale Development Center
dBASE Mac Development Team
--------------------------
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above are MINE!  I don't know what opinions,
if any, my employer might have on any issue under discussion.