Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL From: SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Lasers cost cutting secret. Message-ID: <8902281447.aa18108@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> Date: 28 Feb 89 19:26:49 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 39 >>How is it that Laser can make a profit selling "basic computing" at prices >>Apple seems unwilling to compete with? >I suppose that letting another company sink millions into research and then >"borrowing" the ideas that work out best could cut down on some overhead. NO, NO, NO!!! That's the sort of faulty economic logic that has abdicated so many products and markets to Asians who understand that the idea is to have MORE MONEY COMING IN THAN IS GOING OUT! R&D costs are SUNK (gone, kaput, spent years ago!). Development is ALREADY PAID FOR (whether or not in retrospect it was a good idea). Besides, the Apple 2 line already has profited Apple enough to make Midas jealous. If Apple can't manufacture a //c with all the features of the Laser line and sell it (to school systems and other volume purchasers anyway) for at least as little as the Lasers then something is seriously wrong with either Apple's engineering or their bookkeeping (the latter more likely). If a concern exists about full service dealers being unhappy with a source (Apple) manufacuring low margin competition, the clasic market response is to launch a new ("fighting") brand (you'd be surprised at how many makers of famous department store brands make less well-known substitute brands for the likes of Walmart and K-Mart). How about a //c with an expansion box option and a "Rocket chip" processor named the "Robust?" (maybe in a James Bondish "gun metal grey" case?). School systems also need a built in bracket for securing the machine to something heavy (like the walls, or the floor). Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246