How come Apple doesn't lower price?

[sukai]

That's right. I'd be willing to bet you could not go into an Apple Store look through their inventory and find one that was manufactured in July 2011. it would have to have been made in July 2011 or before to be one year old.




I think SSD's are overrated and even at todays 3rd party prices are overpriced. When a 4TB SSD's sell for $650 or less ( about 2x cost of HDD ) they might be a viable option. That's just my opinion, I work with large quantities of large sized image files and for me the SSD's of today are a joke.

Enjoy your new iMac, I have on 2011 27" with the 3.4 Ghz i7 and I love it. I have two other older ones, but they still work well for us and not looking to replace wither one of them for at least another year.

-_-"Thats not what I meant.
I do agree about the ssd. Hopefullyy the prices drop fast because I would love to have that much ssd for around that price ahaha. I have yet to experience ssd but for now am totally fine without.
Also this being my first iMac am definitely going to enjoy it! Thanks.

 

[eddjedi]

Do many companies slash prices each year? Could you walk in to BMW and and pay 50% of the original retail price for a 2012 X5 just because the model originally came out in 2008 and is 'old technology'? Of course not.

As for SSDs, the difference in performance is amazing, until you've tried one out yourself don't call them over-rated. Yes they're expensive but as with any technology that's because they're very new and still cost a lot to manufacture. And having to use large files doesn't write them off, do what most people do and install your OS, apps and home folder on the SSD, and the use the other internal HD for the large images, videos etc. You will still notice a massive difference, my iMac boots up about 70% faster and can transfer files at well over 200mb per second.

 

[bf2008]

Of course car companies lower the price. They do it through bigger discounts.

I think they may need to change this strategy or compensate in some other way. If you look at their revenue graph, it peaked after the iPhone 4S release and then it plummeted. The phone market has become extremely competitive, much more than the laptop one. What they learn from there in this sense, they may apply it to the computer world.

But let's be realisitic. Even their internal pricing is wrong at the moment. How can the 13inch MBP cost the same as the 13inch MBA, when the air comes with an SSD? I think they got it wrong in that sense, and it's confusing loads of customers. I think they should have rebranded the MBP Macbook, and sell it for the same as the 11inch MBA. Then the products would be much more clearly differentiated.

Finally, as one has suggested, they could keep the base prices the same, but make upgrades much cheaper, so basically encouraging people to buy more expensive models but with fairer pricing. That way they'd still keep the premium image but keep selling, especially for the informed customers, who are also more likely to get upgrades.

 

[Lancer]

How come Apple doesn't lower price on the 2011 iMacs? Just like a lot of us agree buying the current iMac at full price is a ripoff am sure Apple does too..yet they still keep the price.

How do you feel when you buy something, anything then weeks later see it marked down 10-20% and not just on sale.

 

[Scythe5]

Do many companies slash prices each year? Could you walk in to BMW and and pay 50% of the original retail price for a 2012 X5 just because the model originally came out in 2008 and is 'old technology'? Of course not.

I've never paid full price for a previous year model that was still on the lot. As a matter of fact, that last time I bought a previous year model car (still new) I saved $7000 from what the current year model would have cost.

BTW, Terrible analogy. Cars and computers....apple and oranges all the way around. They are not sold the same way.

As an example, you and I could both buy the same car, with the same options, color, etc. Neither of us will pay the same price.

We can both buy an iMac with in the same configuration at the same store, and guess what? We are paying the same price.

 

[DarkJello]

It's so when the new model comes out the price doesn't go up. Look how much MORE you get for the SAME PRICE

 

[CWallace]

I work with large quantities of large sized image files and for me the SSD's of today are a joke.

SSDs work best when working with small files spread across the "disk". When performing sequential reads/writes of large files, the performance delta is greatly reduced.

 

[chilly willy]

How do you feel when you buy something, anything then weeks later see it marked down 10-20% and not just on sale.

If the item has been replaced with a newer model, I would expect it and wish I had been aware of the pending update before purchasing.....

I think cars are a good analogy in the sense they, like computers, are depreciating assets. They do not, except in rare cases, retain value. Aside from collectors, who'd pay full price for a 2010 iMac? The 2011 iteration is now over a year old, and while no one has form factor Apple does, several components have been superseded. Imagine if the new iMacs - whenever they come - have same GPU as 2011 model. People would go nuts, and rightfully so, if Apple tried to charge full price.

Of course, at the end of the day, Apple can do what it wants, and right now has cash and fan following to feel safe doing so. I just think screwing around too much can lead to bad consequences, and Apple, of all companies, should know that what goes up can always come down.....

 

[jmhart]

How come Apple doesn't lower price on the 2011 iMacs? Just like a lot of us agree buying the current iMac at full price is a ripoff am sure Apple does too..yet they still keep the price.

Has there ever been a time when Apple has actually lowered them on occasions like this?

It's simple: the majority of their customer base doesn't know any better and will happily pay full price for whatever Apple tells them is a "current" model.

Why charge less when people are willing to pay more? That's just bad business.

 

[Lancer]

If the item has been replaced with a newer model, I would expect it and wish I had been aware of the pending update before purchasing.....

But the current iMac has not been superseded yet and the 2011 model will be reduced by retails to clear stock when the 2012 comes out.

As for cars specials aside the RRP stays pretty much the same for the life of most models, they often spruce them up with extras and sometimes retails will give discounts or extras to move sales along for older models. IMO lately we've been having more 10% off sales than I remember in past years.

 

[iamdavekennedy]

Two reasons really, the first, and most potent, is that people are still buying them at the price they are at, they are still better than a lot of the competitors out there and of course, lower specced by present days standards, but people still buy them, I did, so they have no reason to drop the price.

The second reason 'price cuts' and 'clearance deals' lessen the luxury aspect of the company, not just apple, but any - it creates the illusion of more supply than demand therefore that is why you get a good deal, not because the company is good to you or are trying to give you the best deal, but because they have numerous units left to shift that they're making a loss on therefore they can cut the prices. If apple were to start lowering the prices between models, they would fall into this pit and they too would be casting themselves as a sales driven, rather than quality driven company (as far as the untrained consumer is concerned)

Obviously this is just speculation, but I know that some clients of my own in the past (luxury bathroom furnishings/luxury boat manufacturers) function on the same level, from a marketing standpoint, creating a luxurious, desirable item, means that those who want it will continue to want it, overall it's a very small percentage of their markets that wait for prices to 'drop' to get a bargain, therefore they don't allow for their products to be sold in discount warehouses and the like.

Quality, Performance, Function or otherwise Apples products are still 'luxury' items, very few people out of those who own them actually *need* them, I know I for one *need* my iMac for work, but do I really need my iPad instead of another tablet? No, do I really need my MBP instead of a netbook/ultrabook? No, do I really need my iPhone over a phone that has a useable battery life? No.

But, I own them, I'll probably continue to own/purchase them, and the price isn't what drives me at all, the quality of the products is enough to make me crave them anyway.

TL;DR - Price indicative of quality, Reduction in cost cheapens appearance of company in consumer markets