NEC to Raise Prices...

[arn]

On the heels of MacWorld Tokyo and Apple's iMac price increase...

According to this CNet report NEC is raising prices of their next product line due to rising industry costs.

According to another report: Fujitsu and IBM Japan will be following suit with 10-20% increases starting in April.

 

[Beej]

It was always going to happen. It's just unfortunate that Apple was the first to do it - they cop most of the flak.

 

[Ensign Paris]

I am pleased that Apple were honest and came clean with its followers, the other Windows computer makers take advantage of Apple raising prices so that they could!

Ensign

 

[G4scott]

Dell is also rasing prices of their memory upgrades.

But in order to try to save their reputation, they're hurting the consumers by offering only 128 mb of Ram with their low end computers, which is less than Microsoft reccomends for XP, which comes with the compuer.

Dell just doesn't realize that the purpose of his company is not just to make his wallet (and the wallets of the employees) fatter, but to make computing easier, and more trouble free. But instead, Dell is trying to screw over its low-end customers.

Just remember the best way to accelerate your pc...

 

[eyelikeart]

gee...

who would have seen a price increase across the board?!

it should make more sense now to those who were flaming Apple for raising the iMac price by $100....and that's not even a 10-20% increase like these other companies...

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Re: gee...

Originally posted by eyelikeart
it should make more sense now to those who were flaming Apple for raising the iMac price by $100....and that's not even a 10-20% increase like these other companies...

I wasn't concerned about the price increase, for the record.

But it should be noted that a lot of these machines that are going up 10 - 20% are significantly cheaper than the iMac. But 20% is huge compared to what Apple is doing.

 

[sjs]

Hold your horses!
This price increase form NEC and IBM is not a certainty.

Remember, Dell started this price war because it could sell at a price that would cause their competitors to eventually get out of the business, while Dell remained slightly profitable themselves.

So, others TALK about a price increase, but it may just be a "toe in the water" to see if more companies will follow. The danger is that they will lose market share...

So, Apple did it...why? They have brand and product differentiation advantages. To put it another way - everybody else is selling the same ol stuff with practically no difference from one company's product to another company's product. "IBM raises prices? Fine, buy a Dell...it's all the same, anyway."

Apple sells different stuff, AND it is perceived to be better and have value. So people feel that they are still getting a great deal (and they are!)

 

[crassusad44]

Originally posted by sjs
Apple sells different stuff, AND it is perceived to be better and have value. So people feel that they are still getting a great deal (and they are!)

Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally posted by G4scott Dell just doesn't realize that the purpose of his company is not just to make his wallet (and the wallets of the employees) fatter, but to make computing easier, and more trouble free. But instead, Dell is trying to screw over its low-end customers.

On the contrary, the purpose of Dell is to make money. If Dell stops making money, they wither and die - same as any company.

Apple, is the same way - they, however, are more-or-less successful in marketing their product as easier and more trouble free. They demand a higher price for that product and, usually, have found a market for that price. The G4 Cube is an example of where they messed up on that. IMO, another is the blasted ADC monitor connector. That silly thing's only purpose in life is to sell Apple monitors, the value of one cable is not worth the price premium on their monitor to me. (But that's a whole other arguement!)

Other industries have parallels - take, for example the airlines. One of American Airline's current campaigns is "More room in coach - only on American". They also charge a little (or a lot depending on the cities) more than their competitors in many markets. They are successful because business people who fly a lot find the extra leg room worth the money.
It comes down to this: Apple sells ease of use - Dell sells cheap PC's. Just like American sells (relatively) comfortable seats and Southwest Airlines sells cheap ticket's.

Sorry for the long winded message - gotta do something on a Monday morning besides work! ;-)

 

[G4scott]

Ok, let me just clear up what I mean...

Dell sells computers by their price more than the features. Dell is not very 'industry leading' when it comes to new technology. They are very careful about what they use (like wireless networking and DVD-R drives) because they are concerned about their profits more (yet not entirely) on the belief that price sells computers, not features. Although, michael dell may claim to have put 802.11 in notebooks first, he's full of hot air, and can't stand it when he's not first (also, he's not in a position to be first in leading technology, so his complaining is futile.)

Apple, on the other hand, while still concerned about profits, cares about their features and customers more than Dell. Apple is willing to take risks in order to make better technology more popular. Apple standardized color, the CD drive, USB, no floppies (which will come soon , optical mice, LCD's, 802.11b, firewire, ethernet, and a whole slew of different technologies. Even though Apple may not make as much profits as Dell, Apple believes that they can make people's lives better and easier by using these more advanced technologies. If Apple sees a major loss coming from using a certain technology that they didn't see before, they may increase the price, or cut some features.

In this case, dell computers aren't good for technology as a whole, but are good for people with tighter budgets.

Apple takes risks, but usually has greater benefits from them than Dell does, because Dell rarely comes out with something before someone else (except a lower price.) I don't believe that dell has the R&D capacity to introduce new, cutting edge computers that defy tradition (like Apple does), because they operate on that idea that their lower prices will cause their competitors to go out of business. In this case, you really can't compare dell's and Apple's marketing on the same level, because they are radically different.

Anyways, that's what I have to say about dell and Apple.

Just remember, you pay for what you get...

 

[pkradd]

Dell Is Also Raising Prices

According to MacMinute, Dell is opting for lower memory in their configs as a way to keep the price the same.... but Windows XP will not run properly with only 128Mgs, which is what Dell will now include standard. Upgrade another 32 or 64 Mgs and they get the extra $ they need to keep margins. Apple's increase comes to about 8% average for the iMacs. That is not too bad considering what you get. Dell's eqivalent PC without software as good as iDVD, iPHoto or iMovie, etc. still tops the iMac Superdrive model in price.

 

[sjs]

When I checked a couple of weeks ago a 15" flat panel at Dell was under $400 ($390 I think).

Now it's $450.

 

[G4scott]

I don't think that dell wants to admit it, but they are going to have to raise prices to stay in the ballgame. If they don't, then they're sunk.

Unfortunately, they'll just secretly raise prices, and not tell anyone, because that's the way they are, sneaky...

 

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by G4scott
I don't think that dell wants to admit it, but they are going to have to raise prices to stay in the ballgame. If they don't, then they're sunk.

Unfortunately, they'll just secretly raise prices, and not tell anyone, because that's the way they are, sneaky...

kind of sounds like a software company in washington state

the imac is still a great machine and has more power than most of us will ever need

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Sony's raising their prices too...

http://www.insanelygreatmac.com/news.php?id=220

 

[CHess]

A recent Tech article pointed out (middle of last week) that Dell is "raising prices" but in a rather back handed way by eliminating old configurations and creating new PC configurations using pricier components whith higher margins. I'll see if I can dig it up if anyone is interested.