I didn't say it's insignificant to them, I used a "backyard oil refinery" analogy to illustrate that it's irrelevant to the end customer. You have a disadvantage in OS production volume? Well boo hoo,
Nevertheless, because the 'backyard oil refinery' does have higher expenses and has to sell at a higher price just to break even, you judgementally claim that this is being "greedy".
then use iPod revenue to subsidize it or something, we're all out of tears here. Apple's own prices are what keeps the production volume more limited than it has to be, the customers never forced them into that catch-22
So you wouldn't mind paying an extra $1000 on your next VW so that you and 9 other VW buyers can knock $10K off the price of my next Porsche?
I still fail to see the "cheap" part, had I been frugal I wouldn't have bought AppleCare to begin with. It simply posed a practical problem at a time when I was working up to 16 hours a day to get a project finished, occasionally slept on my studio couch and was stressed out to the max. When you're minute-pinching like I was at the time, molehills can be insurmountable. Even setting up so I could fax receipts to Apple (sorry but I haven't used a fax since the 90's) would have been too much of an interruption, and that would only have been one small step towards getting it fixed. But the project was finisihed a while ago so it's not crazy crunching time anymore -- now you can just call me lazy.
Its understandable how we can get in a hectic situation and not able to hold up our end of a requirement...
but to call a Spade a Spade, we then have to take responsibility for our actions, instead of trying to blame our problems on otehers.
Now you're twisting my words just to be Mr. Opposite (not the first time I might add). I never said they were fairly priced, I just said that those sums match my budget.
My apologies, I do see how that can also be interpreted from what you wrote.
Being willing to pay a lot and wanting bang for buck are not mutually exclusive.
Of course. And our difference of opinion is essentially precidated upon the relative magnitude of "value" that a change in OS is worth to each of us.
Of course, this will invariably be a YMMV, so there is no ultimately "right" or "wrong" answer.
The "übergreed" comment referred to their peculiar habit of selling premium products and being defiantly cheap at the same time. High prices alone do not constitute übergreed. You know how when you buy a Bentley, there's an umbrella in the driver's door that slides out elegantly if the rain sensor says it's raining? They make sure to add little details like that to make you feel shamelessly spoiled. Whereas Apple would just remove the spare tire and the electrical windows and eliminate all color options, and then ask for whatever the Bentley costs + 10%.
As was just expessed above:
"And our difference of opinion is essentially precidated upon the relative magnitude of "value" that a change in OS is worth to each of us."
Thus, it is quite possible for others to see the Bentley feature as useless and not worth paying for, just as it is possible for another to see some feature in OS X that's "wonderful" ... or in Vista that's "lousy" ... etc, etc ... and upon these individual insights and preferences, conclude for themselves if XYZ is worth $ABC. Afterall, that Bentley uses the same gasoline and drives on the same public roads as a VW Polo.
Thus, you're welcome to your own personal opinion as to how much OS X is worth to you, but your right to swing your fist ends where the other man's nose begins.
...When the gas prices skyrocketed and the economy went down the toilet on top of that, Americans were suddenly very interested in small cars again so now Audi USA has brought the A3 back...
Except that "Effect" doesn't ever happen before "Cause" without a time machine.
The facts are that the A3 was brought over to the USA in 2005, which was 2 full years before last summer's fuel cost spike.
...In other words, they sell whatever cars that any given market is asking for at any given time. That's the opposite of Apple, who try to dictate what customers want rather than adapt to the demand. Audi would've delivered that xMac tower ages ago.
Nice spin attempt. However, the facts are that Audi most certainly
"...dictated what customers wanted..." by denying the A3's availability in the US market from 1996-2005.
Sure, you may
claim that it was because the marketplace wouldn't want the car, but particullary you have no firm proof of that, you can't simultaneously try deny all possibility of similar business marketplace concerns as a possible reason why Apple made in their business decisions.
And in the meantime, you similarly overlook how BMW literally has imported the 3-Series sedans for years, yet very clearly
"...dictated what customers wanted..." by constraining what motors they would offer in the USA market --- and BMW consistently chose just their most expensive motors.
Audi does the same thing as BMW: over here, the 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and all of the TDI's are all cheaper (and more fuel efficient) motors, but they simply are not offered at all to the USA market. Over here, Audi only sells just their top-of-the-line (petrol) 2.0 turbo and 3.2 motors.
So why is Audi forgiven when they dictate to the customer only these most expensive choices, but Apple is not?
And it doesn't stop at just the engine on the A3. For example, a leather interior is now standard in the USA...we can't get cloth at all, even as a no-cost option. Similarly, the smallest wheels are 17 inch, even though the standard wheels in the UK are only 16"s. And the interior HVAS is only Audi's automatic one, while they still make & sell a manual one in other markets.
Ditto Mercedes.
But when Apple does it, you claim that it is somehow ... immediately unjustifiable.
And unlike Apple, for whom you're insisting that they make completely new models (figuratively: such as the xMac) which Apple doesn't sell anywhere in the world, I'm literally talking about Audi/BMW choices that are currently in production and currently available in other markets, so its not like we're asking them to set up a new manufacturing line...so if its all about pleasing the customer (as you insist for Apple), then why don't Audi, BMW, et al, simply offer what they already make & sell in other markets in the USA market too?
To be ethical, one has to be objectively consistant, and thus either damn
none of them or damn
all of them; by trying to straddle the fence, you only damn yourself.
-hh
