wow many negatives for this post. .. why? the goal is to make profit. everything on sale! why is that some people are OK (in fact adamantly defending) with a corporation making profit and not a small/petty re-seller/vendor? why the discrimination?
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Reselling Apple Products on Launch Day: "This whole game is over"
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wow many negatives for this post. .. why? the goal is to make profit. everything on sale! why is that some people are OK (in fact adamantly defending) with a corporation making profit and not a small/petty re-seller/vendor? why the discrimination?
Here are 2 links from the iPad 2 launch, Titles and All:
iPad cads scalping buyers
Asian Scalpers Are Wiping Out Apple's Supply Of iPad 2s In New York
And, as pointed out numerous times in this thread, these "opportunists" are creating the scarcity themselves. By consistently buying any available stock they ensure that their marked-up prices are the only game in town.
The only "value added" argument that can be made is if they sold them overseas, in which case they would be providing a service to those foreign buyers who don't have the device available to then.
Corporations make "profit" by adding value to what they sell.
A good analogy is - what do you mean the house costs $500k, there's only $50k with of material in it! Talk about a ripoff!
while I don't necessarily agree with the practice, I think we all participate in this practice at some level. To put it simply, it is supply and demand. If a tornado is about to hit, stores get raided and gas stations get emptied. That gas goes up. This is pretty much life. Someone is simply trying to make some money.
The only way it is going to stop if it is regulated in some form. Starting from the top, apple is the easiest to try and prevent this with enough supply. The thing is, even if there is enough supply, with a product this "hot" it is still hard for someone to lose terribly on it. How much can they possibly lose, just tax? That isn't to bad of a risk considering they could sell it at a huge profit?
People do this with car parts, sporting tickets, camera equipment, etc. You may not be a photographer but look at leica stuff over the past couple of years. People have put in pre-orders for just this purpose alone! A niche company that hand assembles lenses and can't keep up with demand, at least not yet.
I would rather have products in demand that over saturation that kills off the "I have to have it" factor. The mystique is gone because it is then available.
The only way it is going to stop if it is regulated in some form. Starting from the top, apple is the easiest to try and prevent this with enough supply. The thing is, even if there is enough supply, with a product this "hot" it is still hard for someone to lose terribly on it. How much can they possibly lose, just tax? That isn't to bad of a risk considering they could sell it at a huge profit?
People do this with car parts, sporting tickets, camera equipment, etc. You may not be a photographer but look at leica stuff over the past couple of years. People have put in pre-orders for just this purpose alone! A niche company that hand assembles lenses and can't keep up with demand, at least not yet.
I would rather have products in demand that over saturation that kills off the "I have to have it" factor. The mystique is gone because it is then available.
What corporation are we talking about?
I find it a bit laughable to compare a corporation with a douchebag buying 5 iPads and turning around and selling them for more to make some extra money.
There were many people on this forum last year who TRIED and failed to get iPad2's last year. We also heard from MANY store employees here who said they had people wanting as MANY iPad's as possible to resell (assuming to resell that is)......so these people DID in fact cause a supply shortage for many here.
Sounds like WALL STREET to me!
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Easy solution:
Each individual, when returning an item, (must show their name, phone number, address, and photo ID with address, or Passport with a piece of mail with address), is allowed to return up to 2 of any product they bought during the first 2 weeks of launch
What is however really embarrassing is being another ga-ga crazed and mindless consumer of some disposable and non-essential electronic gadgetry. The real mob is the street camping "I must have the toy now, or I will die" trend compliant imbecile crowd. Apple has been successful in turning masses into waiting lines for nothing more than a toy. The absurdity of making the populace into a hysterical line of waiting buyers on command is equally genius as it is pathetic. Specifically both the iPhone and the iPad are non-productive passive devices, of no critical need, thus without excusing the speculator, I would be more ashamed to admit to wait for some modern toy in line rather then simply living real life of real senses.
- purchased an iPad without planning, by accident on colorado blvd, a bit intoxicated, while walking with a scantly dressed woman with whom I just had sex. When asked if I wanted a model with "a service" plan, we both laughed and engaged again in front of the freaky geek at the apple store asking the poor man to hurry up with the credit card...
- purchased an iPad without planning, by accident on colorado blvd, a bit intoxicated, while walking with a scantly dressed woman with whom I just had sex. When asked if I wanted a model with "a service" plan, we both laughed and engaged again in front of the freaky geek at the apple store asking the poor man to hurry up with the credit card...
Android still has a ways to go to catch iPad. If Android doesn't buckle down it will be game over for them.
iPad still beats Android tablets by default, PC Magazine illustrates
http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/27/2...id-tablets-by-default-pc-magazine-illustrates
Well if they wanted it at retail price they should of got in line ahead of the resellers. The reseller got there first so they can do whatever they like with an iPad bought at retail price. They queued up like everyone else. Why didn't these people who can't get one on release day not take a week off work and queue up a week in advance outside an Apple store? If you want something that bad theres nothing stopping you from getting it if you're willing to put the effort in.
Also supply will always be replenished so those who missed out can buy retail price as long as they wait a couple more weeks.
Apple doesn't care because either way an iPad has been bought.
You said "Nope still Capatalism".
You were attempting based on previous comments to claim that the actions of a scalper or reseller are examples of Capitalism. You were in fact wrong. Products were bought and sold in the USSR as well, and they were certainly not examples of Capitalism. The exchange of money for goods does not equate Capitalism.
Capitalism isn't just an arbitrary word. It is a vast and complex economic philosophy. You attempted to qualify scalpers and resellers as being definitive examples of Capitalism by placing your misspelled and poorly structured three word response in this thread.
Your spelling was wrong. Your thinking was wrong. The way you personally define Capitalism in your own head is also wrong.
Also, the iPad knows how to spell Capitalism.
+1 for the random sex story. Something one does not see everyday on the MacRumors forum
You're wrong about the whole passive consumption thing though. That's the same as people in 1984 saying the Mac is a toy because it has icons and a mouse. To get "real work" done, one needed a text-only monitor....
Just today I downloaded the Pivotal tracker app. We use pivotal for bug and feature tracking on lots of our projects and it's a central tool, it's fantastic, web based, efficient... simply awesome. Well guess what the iPad / iPhone app is even better. Same productivity, more attractive package.
Music albums have been produced on an iPad, countries have been run from one (Norway), etc. The iPad is a new kind of computing device. It's different from what came before, it's simpler in terms of setup and maintenance, but it's just as powerful as the desktop computer.
I find it especially interesting that iPad apps often don't just "match" the PC apps, they eclipse them. iPad / Facebook is way better than running Facebook in IE9 on your clunky Windows 7 desktop. Same is true for many other apps, and more and more productivity apps are coming as well. Pivotal is a game changer for me. Wow!!!
Fact is I'm a reseller, and apple has always known that resellers would be demolished if they kept up with the demand. Well this time around they have, and potentially have the ability and resources to do in the future. Take a look at the apple stock it hasn't drastically increased as did when the iPad 2 came out. The media hype encourages investors and discourages selling your shares. In end result you have a better company.
To all the people who are upset at resellers. If you only knew the money that could be made reselling your whole perspective would change instantly. We can easily make what middle class people make in two weeks in one day. Morals or not, who passes up easy money like that?
Most scalpers do not sell locally anyways, do quit your complaining. Most of the pieces go overseas on a plane 24-48 hours after being bought from the store. We are why the economy is picking up, we earn more money therefore spend more money.
So quit your bitching we help more people than we hurt.
To all the people who are upset at resellers. If you only knew the money that could be made reselling your whole perspective would change instantly. We can easily make what middle class people make in two weeks in one day. Morals or not, who passes up easy money like that?
Most scalpers do not sell locally anyways, do quit your complaining. Most of the pieces go overseas on a plane 24-48 hours after being bought from the store. We are why the economy is picking up, we earn more money therefore spend more money.
So quit your bitching we help more people than we hurt.
I'm not even mad about your statements, but you clearly know nothing about what life is about and you are the quintessential leech on the economy and society, by no means helping it.
You either get with it, or you get lost.
Simple as that.
We make what you make in two weeks in one day.
You have all the right to be bitter about that
Simple as that.
We make what you make in two weeks in one day.
You have all the right to be bitter about that
(Way delayed response)
I kept the AT&T, that seemed to be the model they were selling internationally (looking at the supported frequencies). But it didn't look like much of a difference. Mostly the frequencies aren't compatible around the world (i.e. even if same frequency, different modulation or something).
Other than the "free" (no additional fee) tethering for Verizon, there isn't much of a difference).
And the AT&T model seems locked Domestically, while Verizon doesn't appear to be.
Gary