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Apple Currently Sold Out of $999 Pro Stand for Pro Display XDR [Updated]
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Guess the sheep are gonna sheep...
3 words: no height adjustment
The price notwithstanding, that's a very nice stand btw. Precision tilting and magnetic connector are two of my most favorite features of this stand.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
The problem with that bit of rationalization is that the scale of what "rich" means can slide: "If a person is a billionaire, a stand priced at $100K is like the price of a cup of coffee..." and then "If a person is the richest in the word, a stand priced at $1M is like the price of a cup of coffee..." but then you find yourself with a potential market of as little as ONE person.
Why bother making millions of iPhones? Just make a handful and price them at the total "another year of record revenue" target for iPhone and sell them to a handful of people able & willing to pay that much for each of them. Introducing iPhone Edition, only $29B each. We think you (very few, very rich people) will love them.
See gen 1 Edition Watch where Apple actually flirted with this concept.
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That’s unfortunate. While I can’t afford the display itself, I was thinking about getting just the stand. Having it on my desk would really let people know I’m deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem.
Ok. Then why buy $1500 iPhone when you can get good Android phone for $500? Or why buy more expensive car when you can buy non-expensive car and it will take you places all the same. Or why buy brand purse for $500 when you can carry stuff in regular $20 purse? Or why buy anything more premium or luxurious when you can buy cheapest possible option that gets the job done.
Wasn’t their excuse that the base model comes with a VESA mount? Or am I recalling correctly that even the VESA option was another $400 and if you seriously took them up on just buying the monitor, you would have to use it as pictured.
I think an assumption that goes missing in this discussion is that the vast majority of “rich” people still have a sense of value. Perhaps even more than the majority of “poor” people. Just because they can pay $100 for every cup of coffee doesn’t mean they will. But of course if you can afford nice things that are at least arguably worth a premium, like cars and bags and computers, it’s just human nature to want the best one you can get.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes.
Each consumer gauges whether something is worth an ask price or not. Filtering for only cheapest is not necessarily the best option for all but neither is filtering for most expensive at the other extreme. In this case, it is a hunk of metal often invisible (hidden behind the thing it holds) priced very high when comparable pieces of metal can do the very same job for considerably less. When one can get 9X% of the very same benefit for under 10% of the price, even the wealthy should choose the "bargain."
See gen 1 Apple Watch Edition: the $17K Apple Watch.
The $20 purse vs. the $500 purse is quite typically addressed by buying a purse priced between the two. However, somewhere out there, one could find the $5K purse and probably the $50K purse too (here's one priced at $3.8 Million). The very wealthy can see the $50K purse like it's the $500 or even $20 purse. But it doesn't automatically make the $50K purse worth it... or even justified at that price... nor should all strive to buy the $50K purse because it is obviously the best purse available (because it is priced highest). Else, again, if price decides what is good, only that $3.8M purse is the "good one."
If the expensive one offered some meaningful benefit to justify a relatively sky high price, that benefit might justify paying more. This is a monitor stand priced separately at a THOUSAND dollars. I would guess someone at Apple accidentally added a 0 to the $100 price tag and it somehow stuck. If it sold better maybe try adding a zero to iPhone 15 pricing, given that fans will rationalize any price and iPhone has many very tangible benefits to try to support the jump to 5-digit pricing. "Introducing iPhone 15 Pro Max Ultra Supreme Mach II... starting at only $15,990. We think you'll love it. Order now."
"On the new 30-year payment plan, payments are only $90/month."
"On my new "we really gotcha* with this one" plan from T-VerizaT&T, I pay nothing for this phone"
*and your descendants
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Apple is a marketing company in its core, and happen to build tech Products.
Also, Apple die hard fans will sacrifice their lives to feed Apple with more of their money.
It's a lot cheaper then a high end Ergotron arm, or various other high end setups, I can see millions of potential customers worldwide willing to pay 20% to 40% of the price in exchange for 20% to 40% of the flexibility.
Most folks expressing disbelief really might not know or understand.
A lot of things become expensive when the expectation is for it to be built to a quality target and not a cost target.
Most folks expressing disbelief really might not know or understand.
A lot of things become expensive when the expectation is for it to be built to a quality target and not a cost target.
The many professionals in many disciplines who need the XDR Display's capabilities.
Not for people who are not in that category or hang around in tech forums.
I can see why it's a popular item with Apple selling a lot of them.
The last of the stupid designs by Jony Ive. A monitor with no stand, and the stand cost $999 for a piece of aluminum. And $200 for VESA. Apple lost their ***** minds when they did this. The best keynote ever when it was announced…the loud boos when the price was revealed is amazing. The poor fool on stage was caught off guard and didn’t know what to do. That was WWDC 2019.
Quefrency split keyboard according to Christian's mastodon thread.
$20 purse? Luxury!
I carry my stuff around in a large leaf that I fold into a pouch. Leaves are free, don't waste your $20.
I would still go back to economic theory - more specifically, profit maximisation.
You model how much each product will sell given a certain price point, and then go with whichever option earns you the most money.
In the case of the iPhone, many of its strengths come from it having a huge install base, which while still may smaller than android, is large enough in an absolute sense to sustain itself. You have a big enough critical mass of users to make developing apps for it lucrative enough, you have enough users to make platform-only features like airdrop and iMessage worth it, and you have enough users to market additional hardware, accessories and services to.
In this context, the iPhone is expensive (because it does cost that much to refine, make and market), but not prohibitively so that people start flocking to cheaper android alternatives.
It's the same logic underpinning their core products. Be it the iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods or Mac, Apple has affordable entry-level options for people looking to dip their toes into the Apple ecosystem, up to more premium offerings for people with more disposable income. But the point is that hardware like the sports Apple Watch model, AirPods and MacBook Air are priced very competitively when compared to other alternatives. This is not by accident.
The XDR monitor is an optional display aimed at a very specific group of users. Apple knows that this group of people will spare no expense to have the "right" environment to work in, and its hefty price tag reflects the value Apple feels these user base will put on it. If someone is staring at a screen and editing photos and videos for hours on end, and thinks a few thousand dollars will make their job so much more bearable in the long run, who am I to judge?
In fact, you see this pricing strategy amongst its entire line of accessories. Are there cheaper watch bands available on amazon? Apple literally doesn't care. iPad Pro Magic Keyboard too expensive? Use the cheaper K380 Logitech keyboard then. It is precisely because these are optional accessories that Apple knows they can offer a differentiated product (made possible by their control over hardware and software) and charge a premium for them, and if customers baulk at these prices, there are always cheaper third party options to choose from.
I still go back to my original argument - nobody is going to see this stand as a standalone $1k accessory. They see it as part and parcel of a $6k monitor, and will buy both together. You can also see it as a $800 discount if you decide to mount the screen on a VESA stand.
If you get the 5k display first, and then complain about not buying the stand because it is too expensive, I think it says more about your own purchasing decision than Apple's pricing strategy.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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People in line to buy an Apple Pro Stand for $999
