The advert cuts to the bone in my case, as I vividly remember going to considerable trouble to look (very briefly, as it turned out) at a Macintosh SE in 1987 when I needed a computer as a postgraduate student. I walked out of the shop repulsed by the product, which before seeing the price tag I had really wanted to buy. At about a third of the cost, I ended up buying an Epson IBM clone instead. It served me well.
Similarly, the original Macintosh in 1984 was obscenely overpriced, and no amount of salivation over the technical marvel (which in major respects it wasn't - 128k ram=technical crap), or the fluff of SuperBowl adverts et al., can disguise the fact. The Macintosh was consequently a colossal commercial failure in the months following its launch, as almost nobody could justify paying the kind of money demanded for the machine. The company resorted to gimmicks like the 'test drive' program wherein you were supposed to be able to take a demo machine home for a night and try it out. The trouble was, of course, that your average retailer did not have enough of the fabulously overpriced machines to lend out, not being able themselves to afford to buy wholesale large numbers of what they knew very well that only a handful could afford to buy retail.
You have to wonder whether the 'reality distortion field' supposedly surrounding Jobs at the time was not, in fact, all around the Apple campus, with its smug assurance that their product was so superior to the alternative that the masses would flock to retail outlets to buy the thing, bowing down in worship and all but selling their souls for its sake. Apple had a long and highly unsavoury history of obscene levels of markup on Apple II machines by then, and the company took it for granted that this could continue unabated. The trouble was that the Apple II, despite disgraceful 800% or so markups towards the end of its commercial run, still did not cost the trusting consumer or the Apple II fanbase an absolute fortune in purchase price. The Macintosh, by contrast, did just that. It consequently tanked, which was only justice.
The upshot was that the company, which had geared up to sell millions of the machines, ended up almost folding, and was actively looking for a buyer only months after the Macintosh was introduced. It would all have ended, indeed, but for the advent of desktop publishing. Publishers could afford the machine, and this meant a small but steady volume of sales. And so, the 'computer for the rest of us' became the computer for none but the professional elites.
The Mac's pricing was the work of idiots. Selling a zillion widgets with a 10-20% profit margin works, as the WallMart model shows. The fact of life is that you will only ever sell a few of your widgets when the markup is 100% or more. Apple's directors were greedy and out of touch with reality.
The explanation perhaps lies in the culture of the industry in general, as well as of Apple in particular. I have a friend who has been doing work for Stanford Uni., who tells me that around the technology parks of California, a BMW is an economy car. That's the problem now, and it was certainly the problem then. Apple, whether led by Steve Jobs or by others when His Divine Holiness got the ceremonial boot in 1985 following the abject commercial fiasco of the Macintosh, did not seem to realize that most of the public simply could not afford to sink something approaching a quarter or a fifth of its disposable income on something as ephemeral as a 'personal computer.' Eventually, they went on to drop prices on their consumer products somewhat, but I still don't think they have learned the lesson of decency. They are, in short, still screwing the public. The computer for the rest of us, my gluteus maximus.
Today, I am not poor, but I still remember that experience in 1987 and am very wary of new Apple products and pricing.
Similarly, the original Macintosh in 1984 was obscenely overpriced, and no amount of salivation over the technical marvel (which in major respects it wasn't - 128k ram=technical crap), or the fluff of SuperBowl adverts et al., can disguise the fact. The Macintosh was consequently a colossal commercial failure in the months following its launch, as almost nobody could justify paying the kind of money demanded for the machine. The company resorted to gimmicks like the 'test drive' program wherein you were supposed to be able to take a demo machine home for a night and try it out. The trouble was, of course, that your average retailer did not have enough of the fabulously overpriced machines to lend out, not being able themselves to afford to buy wholesale large numbers of what they knew very well that only a handful could afford to buy retail.
You have to wonder whether the 'reality distortion field' supposedly surrounding Jobs at the time was not, in fact, all around the Apple campus, with its smug assurance that their product was so superior to the alternative that the masses would flock to retail outlets to buy the thing, bowing down in worship and all but selling their souls for its sake. Apple had a long and highly unsavoury history of obscene levels of markup on Apple II machines by then, and the company took it for granted that this could continue unabated. The trouble was that the Apple II, despite disgraceful 800% or so markups towards the end of its commercial run, still did not cost the trusting consumer or the Apple II fanbase an absolute fortune in purchase price. The Macintosh, by contrast, did just that. It consequently tanked, which was only justice.
The upshot was that the company, which had geared up to sell millions of the machines, ended up almost folding, and was actively looking for a buyer only months after the Macintosh was introduced. It would all have ended, indeed, but for the advent of desktop publishing. Publishers could afford the machine, and this meant a small but steady volume of sales. And so, the 'computer for the rest of us' became the computer for none but the professional elites.
The Mac's pricing was the work of idiots. Selling a zillion widgets with a 10-20% profit margin works, as the WallMart model shows. The fact of life is that you will only ever sell a few of your widgets when the markup is 100% or more. Apple's directors were greedy and out of touch with reality.
The explanation perhaps lies in the culture of the industry in general, as well as of Apple in particular. I have a friend who has been doing work for Stanford Uni., who tells me that around the technology parks of California, a BMW is an economy car. That's the problem now, and it was certainly the problem then. Apple, whether led by Steve Jobs or by others when His Divine Holiness got the ceremonial boot in 1985 following the abject commercial fiasco of the Macintosh, did not seem to realize that most of the public simply could not afford to sink something approaching a quarter or a fifth of its disposable income on something as ephemeral as a 'personal computer.' Eventually, they went on to drop prices on their consumer products somewhat, but I still don't think they have learned the lesson of decency. They are, in short, still screwing the public. The computer for the rest of us, my gluteus maximus.
Today, I am not poor, but I still remember that experience in 1987 and am very wary of new Apple products and pricing.