Once you start lowering your prices, you lower the value and it-factor of your brand.
Häagen-Dazs ice cream was the **** in the 80s. Expensive, exclusive, people needed to have it. And as several studies have shown, drinking/eating more expensive stuff tricks the brain into thinking it's better.
Then they released Häagen-Dazs in stores so everyone could buy it, and more affordable. this killed a lot of the good will of the brand. People didnt just eat Häagen-Dazs because it was good ice cream, but because it made them feel good.
Human beings are broken to the core, and our minds are easily tricked. If you think Apple is somehow better by being some global marked leader who controls the majority of the marked, then you are a fool. Then they will eb Microsoft. Always compromising to appeal to the lowest dominator.
Apple is great, exclusive and no compromises. Filling their ranks with lousy low cost products is a very very bad move. I say, keep quality across every single piece of electronic they produce.
Look at other brands - Sony Vaio has excellent computers. Their top of the line are engineering marvels. The S 13 Premium, is a ultrabook thin notebook that packs 640m LE graphics, optical drive, 1600x rez matte screen, oversized trackpad and has sheet battery for 8-10 hour battery. But do you see this product in stores?
No. You see the lower crappy plastic sony vaios. these are the ones that fill the majority of stores. And thus consumers end up going home with a stupid laptop, which in the end tarnishes Sony's reputation.
Sony used to be exclusive and high quality too, remember.
Apple has more good will than any company. This is not a good idea!!
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Why not just reduce the price of the *ridiculously* over-priced, over-rated iPhone? This is a joke. I currently own an Orange "San Diego" (Intel 'Medfield' x86) Android 'phone which cost me £99 (actually, they refunded me for it, after a few problems, so it cost me £0 on pay as you go!), and is AMAZING:
http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/san-diego-from-orange
why do you think? Aluminium is much more expensive to work with than Plastic.