I certainly think its possible.
Really, your average consumer either calls it a MP3 player, or an iPod. Nobody knows the name of all these other players.
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Dell Drops iPod
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I certainly think its possible.
Really, your average consumer either calls it a MP3 player, or an iPod. Nobody knows the name of all these other players.
why is this news ???
Apple stopped selling all those Rio and other MP3 players when they annouced the iPod. why are people surprised ??
Apple stopped selling all those Rio and other MP3 players when they annouced the iPod. why are people surprised ??
I got my 40 GB back in Nov from Dell, only reason I did so was that dell was selling it for $409 which was way cheaper than anywhere else. I figured Apple must have gotten peeved and cut Dell off as a retailer. Or Dell knew they weren't going to carry it much longer and discounted that batch.
A manufacturer cannot control the pricing of their product; they can only control what they sell it for. Once that has happened, they are out of it.
winmacguy
macrumors 68020
Dont forget that the iPod is also sold world wide and not soley through Dell. Virgin Music stores in the UK sell iPods, we have a number or appliance stores in NZ that sell iPods although not in any great numbers as they dont have it on display. I think also the fact that there are so many channels now that promote iTunes and iTMS that it wont be a huge factor. Amazon.com and .co.uk both sell iPods and they would both be a pretty major distribution channels
Whoo... where have you been? First, a manufacturer can easily have it in a contract with their distributors/retailers that anyone who charges under MSRP never gets another shipment... while not "direct" control, its pretty darn effective, no?
Second, how often do you see anyone offering discounts from MSRP for Apple products? Dell did it - and now they're out of that market. Amazon does it very occasionally. Circuit City did it for a couple of days on the iPod, then it went away. Apple controls their retailers very strictly, the same way that companies like Bose do (and believe me, that's not flattering company to be in).
-Richard
ZildjianKX
macrumors 68000
tazznb
macrumors regular
Mt girlfriend, and plenty of others do.
You have to understand that you are one of the technology literate / geek.
*hint*
My girlfriend, and ALL THE OTHERS that call any mp3 player an iPod don't visit this site, and take time out to type comments.
They couldn't care less.
Seems a little petty to me, but then from a business standpoint at this point it makes sense--who in thier right mind would buy a Dell player when it's sitting next to an iPod with a steep discount? And you gotta believe that with that gouging on the iPod Dell wasn't making much off of it--more of a draw, I'd expect.
You are wrong, if the manufacturer controls the price, its considered price fixing. Car dealers like to jack the price of a high demand vehicle up and the manufacturers do not like that. Guess what, they have no say what the dealer does. If the dealer wants to jack the prices up, they can. The scenario you have provided is called price-fixing. You need to brush up on your law Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act says this "Unfair methods of competition in commerce, and unlawful or deceptive acts or practices in commerce, are declared unlawful" and in the AMWAY case, this is what a judge ruled. "Combining and conspiring to fix resale prices is a prohibited act, says this Judge, says this Commission, and says hundreds of cases before and after the Amway case. The price fixing lesson from this case can be looked at from three viewpoints, the MLM or Direct Selling Company, the Distributor, in his or her relationship to the Company whose products or services the distributorship sells, and the Distributor in his or her relationship to other distributors.
A company has an absolute right to SET prices. SETTING prices is not FIXING prices. Combinations or conspiracies are needed to FIX prices and one cannot combine or conspire with one self. No matter how many employees of ABC Company sit around the conference table deciding what to charge for the new widget, it is not a conspiracy. However, no independent contractor distributor of the company should ever be at such a meeting. All of the company's employees are part of one legal entity, the corporation, for purposes of deciding whether "two or more persons" conspired to do anything. Have a distributor, or a competitor, or a supplier, or a visitor on a plant tour for that matter attend, and the requirement of "two or more persons" has been met. This, of course, is not automatically an illegal conspiracy, by why even take the chance. The classic example is two or more COMPETITORS agreeing to fix prices, usually to damage a third competitor or just to line their pockets at the expense of the consuming public. The variation on the classic theme, also prohibited by law, is retail price maintenance. It usually involves one manufacturer, with or without the knowing cooperation of one or more of its distributors. It can also involve just two or more distributors.
A company can unilaterally publish SUGGESTED retail prices. A company CANNOT do anything to require that its independent sales force sell at the prices suggested by the company. Amway's practices in the early Sixties were deemed to be illegal acts intended to maintain the retail price of its products.
It is on the issue of retail price maintenance that the Amway case becomes very specific. The Judge writes: "The Rules of Conduct of the Amway Sales Plan published in 1963 required that distributors sell Amway products to consumers at the specified resale price. It also provided that no unauthorized discount be given on sales to other distributors, and fixed the resale charge for freight. The record does not show when Amway stopped using this sales manual or whether distributors were ever clearly notified that it does not express Amway's policy. Such resale price maintenance is per se unlawful.""
Do you know what MSRP stands for? Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. The key word there is suggested. If a company could control the price, it would be called the MMRP, Manufacturers Mandated Retail Price.
Dell stopped selling iPods for multiple reasons, I'm sure. The biggest would be the obvious conflict with their own product. Dell sells just about anything, but as soon as they can get a Dell-branded version they will cut out the other manufacturers when possible. Often, it's the same manufacturer putting Dell's name on the product.
Pricewise, Dell probably was taking losses on the iPods every time they sold them cheap. Why have two competing products, with the most popular one netting you either no money or negative money, and one with a large profit margin and not yet established in the marketplace... it just wouldn't make business sense. Dell is relying on people who either don't know the iPod or think that the Dell is just as good (Dell caters to the non-tech-savvy).
As for Apple setting prices, they can and do. If you notice, the online retailers can't drop the price more than $5 below Apple's retail price, or they could/will lose their reseller status. That's why Macmall and such use other promos, like free ram or free printers (and then they charge an installation fee for ram that is almost as much as the price of the ram itself).
Pricewise, Dell probably was taking losses on the iPods every time they sold them cheap. Why have two competing products, with the most popular one netting you either no money or negative money, and one with a large profit margin and not yet established in the marketplace... it just wouldn't make business sense. Dell is relying on people who either don't know the iPod or think that the Dell is just as good (Dell caters to the non-tech-savvy).
As for Apple setting prices, they can and do. If you notice, the online retailers can't drop the price more than $5 below Apple's retail price, or they could/will lose their reseller status. That's why Macmall and such use other promos, like free ram or free printers (and then they charge an installation fee for ram that is almost as much as the price of the ram itself).
Not true. Purchase agreements can include such language.
edit:
Ok, I read up on the FTC Act.
If this activity is illegal then how do you explain game console prices? That's price fixing....
Though many others have already said it, i'll say it too, Yes. I've even heard of non-HD based mp3 players as referred to as iPods. I think iPod is here to stay.
Slight c@*k up in the quoting department today.
My point is that if any reseller sells an ipod for $30 less than msrp then they are losing money.
My point is that if any reseller sells an ipod for $30 less than msrp then they are losing money.
Personal reasons?
In addition to the business rationale of giving more attention to its fledgling, misshapen mp3 player, Dell might have personal reasons, too.
After all, it's scarcely a month since Jobs (in that very intriguing NY Times Magazine piece) mocked Michael Dell for being unable to dance. ;-)
In addition to the business rationale of giving more attention to its fledgling, misshapen mp3 player, Dell might have personal reasons, too.
After all, it's scarcely a month since Jobs (in that very intriguing NY Times Magazine piece) mocked Michael Dell for being unable to dance. ;-)
I think it's pretty clear that dell "dropped" apple because apple stopped supplying them with ipods (in an effort to curb discounting for whatever reason...).
It's the old 'you're fired, I quit' scenario.
It's the old 'you're fired, I quit' scenario.
Steven1621
macrumors 6502a
one certainly can't blame dell for not wanting to sell it top rival as well as a better product than their own.
apple's presence in target stores as well as best buy is far more valuable than dell, not to mention the quality of their own apple stores.
apple's presence in target stores as well as best buy is far more valuable than dell, not to mention the quality of their own apple stores.
slipper
macrumors 68000
the term price fixing is not setting a set price for an individual product from an individual company. rather, it would be a bunch of companies such as apple and dell and several other HD-music players joining together with the intent of jacking up the prices of the entire market in attempt to increase profits.
hmm doesnt this sound familiar? gas prices have been pretty high this year... 🙄 🙄 🙄 well just kidding but you get the idea right?
hmm doesnt this sound familiar? gas prices have been pretty high this year... 🙄 🙄 🙄 well just kidding but you get the idea right?