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Apple's New Strategy: Sell Pricier iPhones First (wsj.com)
The staggered release gives the company a month to sell higher-end models without cheaper competition from itself. WSJ: This year, according to people familiar with Apple's production plans, the company prioritized production of its two pricier OLED models, the iPhone XS and XS Max, whose prices start at about $1,000. Both will hit stores Friday, followed five weeks later by the least expensive new model, the XR, which has an LCD screen and a starting price of $749. The staggered release gives Apple a month to sell the higher-end models without cheaper competition from itself. It also simplifies logistics and retail demands and could strengthen Apple's ability to forecast sales and production of all three models through the Christmas holidays, analysts and supply chain experts said. "It's sort of a Dutch auction," said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, referring to the practice of starting with a high asking price, then lowering it until a buyer accepts. "The people who are most committed will pay to get early access. Then you get to the people who are making a choice and may settle for the $750 phone. This could become the new normal."
This is a standard marketing strategy and not unique to Apple. You charge more for people who are willing to pay more (early adopters), then phase in a lower ASP as the demand curve shifts toward more typical mid and late stream adopters.
I don't really see a downside here, to me it seems like an excellent approach - by selling the top end models first, you are treating them as something more special.
Those who want to wait for the slightly lower priced Xr won't mind a delay much, and they can judge if it's worth spending more to have a nicer model earlier.
Personally I am really curious to see both the Xr and Xs Max side by side, to compare screens... I don't plan to get a phone update this year but I think seeing those two would be a really good way to contrast a great OLED against a great LCD screen. Some have said OLED screens do not appear to be quite as sharp and I think I can see what they are talking about, but the two latest larger models should present the best side by side comparison to really tell.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Market forces, affect Apple? Blasphemy!!
Any person that pays $1000 for a phone, Apple or not, is bat shit crazy, or bat shit rich.
That phones does not make miracles people!!! Wake up...
A $200 phone does 97% of what an $1000 phone can do.
Smartphones are devices for consumers. I'm a maker not a taker. I've got no use for a spying, expensive, closed-source, sealed battery, crippled computing device with no keyboard. I'd rather carry a flip phone or "dad" phone or whatever. Hell, I'd rather have people have to call my home phone at the house and get the fucking answering machine and I don't eve know they called until hours later when I *might* feel like calling them back (maybe). Da fuck do I want to give every spammer and griefer instant access to me for? Lastly, FFS, why would I pay $1000 for the privilege of being harassed and spied on?
Get a low-end Moto smartphone. Unlocked bootloader, so you can install a custom ROM/OS. They also often have (in case of G4 Play, G5, and E4(?)) removable batteries and SD cards, not sealed junk.
Every company seems to be in love with big phones. Can anyone recommend an Android phone with a 4” (or thereabouts) screen? My wife currently has an iPhone SE, and she’s adamant that she doesn’t want a phone larger than that.
I’m going to keep using my 6S for as long as I practically can... but then I’ll probably move on from Apple too. Smartphones are basically commodities at this point... paying the ludicrous premium for any of these companies’ flagship phones is not something I’m willing to do.
#DeleteChrome
The "poors" are the ones who covet the latest iBaubles. Want to know what the rich are like? Look at Warren Buffet. He lives in the same house he bought in the early 60s, drives a 15 year old car. He doesn't need "bling" to prove how rich he is to others, and he didn't get rich by spending on crap that will be obsolete in 6 months.
Most billionaires are not like Warren Buffet. But you're right, they don't covet the latest iBaubles. They covet the latest congressDroids.
I'm a maker not a taker.
If you were really a maker you would seek great tools.
I've got no use for a spying
Apple does not spy. They do not need to as they sell hardware, not you.
, expensive
Even $1k for a powerful computing device you keep at your side for three+ years is not expensive.
closed-source
Sigh.
sealed battery
All batteries are sealed, or else there would be quite a mess.
Or did you mean you could remove the battery? Funny, you claim to be a "Maker" and yet you are afraid to open a phone case to change a battery manually (which you'd only have to do every 2-3 years)??
Or did you mean you want a second battery, again if you were actually a maker you'd appreciate the flexibility of carrying around an external battery that could recharge any number of different USB devices instead of some lame proprietary internal battery that you have to throw away with your phone.
crippled computing device with no keyboard.
In what way crippled? And rather than "no keyboard" is has an infinite number of keyboards.
If you really have to have a physical keyboard for a phone then why not get one? That's the nice thing about buying popular hardware, is that you can expand it almost in whatever way you like.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
`They have phones for the home now? And what on earth is an "answering machine"?
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Interesting. I'll have to check them out, especially if there are alternative operating systems. Right now I alternate between a Blackberry and an old Sony Walkman phone running Symbian (and no IP stack) Thanks!
You sound like an H1B faggot who used Google translate just to post this out of your native monkey language. Now go dispose of yourself, quietly, Coward.
I think it might be noteworthy that they did exactly the opposite last year, with the iPhone 8/8+ available on 9/22 and the iPhone X available on 11/3. The most obvious explanation in that particular case was production delays... but what if it was less about practical issues and more about exploring the market? I mean, I know that I for one pre-ordered an iPhone X straightaway, and ignored the iPhone 8 entirely... but I dunno; maybe that mode of thinking only matches the crazy ones. (Or maybe not.) Perhaps most people want either whatever is available immediately (instant gratification) or whatever is cheapest. Last year, you could get both of those things at once... this year, you have to choose... but you can get their best options straightaway.
And both last year's roll-out and this year's roll-out are perfectly valid marketing methodologies.
Congressworms. FTFY.
... don't play this stupid game in the first place. I feel sorry for dumb bastards who bought an iPhone all those years back and are now locked into constant upgrade cycles. The REALLY stupid ones even appear on /. and elsewhere to justify why patently anti-consumer practices such as proprietary connectors, sealed in batteries, removal of features of headphone jacks etc are somehow a really good idea.
What part of "for profit private corporation" do you not understand? They want to maximize revenue, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as they're not breaking laws to do so.
Hehe, it's a steam powered device from before your time. Yes, home phones are an anachronism. Mine costs $16 a month, though. It's worth paying it just to hear people flip out over the fact that I still have one. They also tend to lose their minds that they have to leave a message or just fuck off. People are so used to instantly being able to yank someone chain. They have a conniption fit when they can't do that and I enjoy every second of their discomfort like an alien protoplasm that feeds on hate. I do carry an ancient symbian cell phone for my job, though. They pay for the service.
If they wanted to be somehow evil, they'd not say ANYTHING about the XR until it was released.
The problem with this argument is the predecessors are still for sale. The model 7 and 7 plus, as well as the 8 and 8 plus. And at reduced prices over their introduction, and for the 7s a further reduction.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
Once Blackberry gave up their secure messaging service cracks to Governments they immediately became less popular.
I like taking spare batteries for my gadgets on adventures (backpacking, sailing, long-distance cycling or swimming). They're more compact than external battery top-up devices
I don't see how you can say that when external batteries come in any form factor you like, from incredibly small to large but extremely powerful.
I like external chargers more because they give me way more options for act I might need to do than carrying around extra phone batteries ever did. They can also support fast-charge so while not instant, they can give you a huge amount of power in just minutes.
If you think you'll be in a situation where you can't easily plug in for even a little while, well that's why they make battery cases... again external batteries allow for a huge range of form factors and use cases.
Not to mention that for me, external phone batteries would die and need to be replaced way more often. And when you were done with the phone all of those external batteries were worthless. I greatly prefer the sealed batteries even though I spend a lot of time hiking or away from power.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Etruscans and Romans also sold their expensive apples first, thousands of years ago.
Smartphones are devices for consumers.
Oh, the old "I'm saving money using a dumbphone" argument. I assume you must never buy anything retail or dine out, right? My phone has likely paid for itself several times over in terms of looking up deals (slickdeals/retailmenot), comparison shopping/price matching while in a store, finding the cheapest gasoline (yeah, there's an app for that), and promotional freebies (I've gotten Amazon gift cards from Coke, free food from Chick-Fil-A, etc.)
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
I bet they know everything about you, even your condom size.
Major retailers will probably find a way to do this even for the cash-carrying luddites, using facial recognition (utilizing the many security cameras already present). The privacy ship has sailed, may as well make the best of it.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Apple Fanboy current and since 1981 here.
Even check my stupid username.
Fuck Apple.
FUCK APPLE.
Apple died as Steve Jobs was dying.
One proof among hundreds:
2011.
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
No "save as" function.
SMFH.