Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!ames!elroy!gryphon!lakesys!macak
From: macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple Gets Greedier (Read it and Weep!)
Summary: Kick IBM when they're down?  Why not?
Keywords: Apple, Mac, Prices, Rip-off
Message-ID: <1025@lakesys.UUCP>
Date: 14 Sep 88 04:55:58 GMT
References: <1018@lakesys.UUCP> <68072@sun.uucp> <68083@sun.uucp>
Reply-To: macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)
Distribution: na
Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, WI
Lines: 52

In response to my article complaining about Apple's price increases, others
have written:

"No reason to get irate. Apple is in business to maximize their profits
-- if you don't realize this, you're missing a lot about what makes the
world go around."

"Oh please, I'm surprised you didn't suggest legislation to prevent this
sort of atrocity.  This is America, remember, free enterprise and all
that.  Apple can do what ever they like with their prices..."

"I was wondering how long it would take before people started screaming..."


OK, I admit that more than a little idealism crept into my comments.  And I
guess I was taking the view of the computer hobbiest as opposed to the Wall
Street businessman.

Certainly, if Apple can now sell all the Macs it can spit out from Fremont,
why not raise prices?  Charging what the market will bear generally is good
business practice.... at least in the short run....

But look at it this way for a moment:  IBM is currently faltering badly wrt
its line of PS/2 computers.  No matter what IBM claims, the PS/2 line is not
selling as well as IBM had expected.  The "new standard" of PS/2 and OS-2 has
thus far been largely rejected by corporate America.

This would seem to be a golden opportunity for Apple: IBM loosing market share
with its graphic interface looking dead in the water.

What if Apple pulled out all the stops, hurredly brought new manufacturing
facilities on line, and started flooding the market with reasonably-priced
Macintosh CPUs?

OK, maybe the Mac still wouldn't become the dominant business computer.  But I
bet the Mac's share of the business market would increase _dramitically_ under
this scenario.

Instead, we see Apple, pulling in record profits already, increasing prices
because that is what the market will bear.

Short-sighted?  Perhaps.  More likely my thoughts are way off base... certainly
I'm not qualified to run a computer company.  But this _is_ some food for
thought, no?

Jim

-- 

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Jim -->  macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)  {Standard disclaimer, nothin' fancy!}
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