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Google Slashes Prices of Its USB-C Headphone Dongle Following Minor Outrage (mashable.com)
At its hardware event last week, Google unveiled its two new flagship smartphones: the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. While these devices feature high-end specifications and the latest version of Android, they both lack headphone jacks, upsetting many consumers who still rely heavily on wired headphones. To add insult to injury, Google announced a USB-C adapter for a whopping price of $20 -- that's $11 more than Apple's Lightning to 3.5mm adapter. This resulted in some minor outrage and caused Google to rethink its decision(s). As reported by 9to5Google, Google decided to slash the price of the dongle by over 50%. It is now priced at a more reasonable $9.
It's been my limited experience with headphone purchasing that there are only two kinds: the cheap-ass ones (up to $50), then there's a huge gap and you have the high-end artisanal $3000 ones designed by Taoist monks on rice paper with endangered squid ink, made with alluvial gold connectors and endorsed by the latest rapper who hasn't yet been shot by any of the other rappers.
Anyway, with all their data mining, Google couldn't tell that people would be outraged at the original set price? Did they even think to ask anyone, or did they run around the boardroom table and get the opinions of a bunch of people who earn more money in a week than most of us see in a year?
This story is about Google lowering the price on something that provides that analog hole, so I'm not quite 100% certain that your logic holds up.