The new Mac Pro….now made in China!

[Todd Terry]

[Bob Zelin] “Apple looking to “price gouge” “

Of course they are. What more would you expect?

That’s simply the way big business operates, and I would expect nothing less of Apple nor do I really find any fault with it, from a business standpoint. From a humanity standpoint, yes, but not from a business standpoint.

Look, I’m not an Apple fan, by any stretch. I own zero Apple products. That last time I even touched an Apple product was years ago helping a friend load a Mac when moving. I don’t really have anything against them, they are just not what I choose to use (probably somewhat out of spite, because for so many years in our business the Apple fanboys were so militantly condescending about it). I silently shook my head eight years ago when Steve Jobs died, when people were falling all over themselves (including some folks in this forum, as I recall) slathering on the platitudes to him for his hand in creating the world as we know it like some Biblical-era prophet there for our worship. I kept quiet, even though I wanted to say “Yes the man was an incredible incredible visionary and has helped change the world. And he was also a raging narcissist with an insatiable ego who from virtually all accounts was one of the more horrible horrid human beings that you’d ever run across.” But I digress.

You can’t really fault Apple for selling their products for the most that people are willing to pay for them, or for setting a price point that maximizes company sales/profits. They are not a charity and never claimed to exist to help the world be a better place (fortunately Bill and Melinda do have a bit of that feeling). Tim Cook could get up at the next meeting and announce that all future Apple products will be half price, that Apple would still make money although not nearly as much as before, but they will be helping so many people get access to their products and live better lives and all that jazz….

The shareholder revolt would start before Cook even finished his sentence.

That’s just the way business is… and goes back to my “people are selfish” rant from before. Which, sadly, they are.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Bob Cole]

Todd, you remind me of myself.

Years ago, I was a very enthusiastic user of D/Vision Pro, the predecessor to Discreet edit*, which ran on Windows.
I had a dilemma: because a big client was using Apple’s Final Cut Pro, I had to as well.

I complained to my good friend David Roth Weiss about what I perceived as the excessively hip atmosphere at the Apple Store, the clubbiness of it all, the “in-group” feeling which made me feel out of the loop. I wanted no part of it.

But David helped me make the leap into the Apple universe. He said (more articulately than I am remembering now), “Sure, I get it about the smugness. But go ahead, buy a Mac, and then YOU will be part of the in-group.”

Bob C

[Nick Griffin]

Bought my first Mac in (wait for it…) 1984. The next year had the board modified into a “Fat Mac.” Then SE, the Mac (whatever the one with slots was called). Shortly thereafter the fist Avid system was released, based on a Mac, so little choice there, at least initially. Jump ahead through a dozen or more Mac iterations flowing through my business and I’m quite used to paying a premium price for a box, OS and peripherals that I understand. AND here’s the key: earn a pretty decent living with.

Sure most things today can be done on a PC but in the early days user surveys showed that the average PC user had their machine for 1 to 3 apps, period. (I remember a client referring to one computer as their “Lotus” computer while a “Word Perfect” computer was a couple of desks away.) At the same time the average Mac user utilized 7 to 8 apps. (And I’m not even going to begin to count the number of apps, plug-ins, etc. running on our current systems.) So I’m stuck, but I’m happy and productive.

Now here’s what I HATE: The Apple store operates in such a way that you have to make an APPOINTMENT and WAIT to buy anything — even a $25 iPhone case. What’s of more concern is how the branded cell phone stores are adopting the same business model. Not surprising how eCommerce is turning into such a better experience for those of us who know what we want to BUY.