Tim Cook Says Apple Products 'Change the World' and Aren't Priced Just 'For the Rich'

[LordVic]

My son works in appliance sales. These "geared toward" models are old tech in a new package. So, yes... you are right in a way. But, did Apple not do the same when they took the Series 2 and created the Series 1 AW that was cheaper with less options?

Yes... not everyone needs a smart watch, but they did their part to reach out to people who might be looking for the most affordable AW model. Did the same with the SE models of iPhones. It is being done. Just not with flagship products. Flagship implies "the very best thing we can create" and who is aiming for people near the poverty line with a flagship product in the electronics space? Nobody.

Absolutely and I think it's a great move from Apple's perspective. They did so with the iPad as well.


Apple's biggest problem in the recent past (2000's and onwards) is that they want a premium price point on all their products. And to get that and sales you have to have something that makes users believe there's value for that additional pricetag compared to the competition

for many years, Apple has done that. They had cutting edge, top of the line flagships.

The problem becomes what do they do when they no longer only have "top of the line" items. not everyone who wants an iPad wants a $600 iPad, when there's competition selling similar functioning tablets for $500. Not everyone wants to pay $999 for a phone when there's competition who are close enough in value at $650.

Moving to provide more affordable product offerings in their lineup is a great way of expanding their reach. the $320 iPad for example is just this sort of product. for $320, it's a premium quality product, that while not the flagship top of the line, offers 95% of what users want. Giving choice to the consumer and offering a product that is more "value optimized". this is good for business IMHO because it attracts more than the "flagship" market.

I'm just curious how the Iphone lineup is going to be redone to offer a proper "non-flagship" device for those who don't want to pay flagship prices. The SE is close but doesn't quite fill that gap for thsoe willing to buy a $500 device, but are looking for something larger than 4"

 

[Feenician]

Late to the party, but I do find it ironic that on the eve of announcing a $1,000 phone, Cook states that Apple's products are just for the rich. While there are a number of products from Apple that do represent a good value for your money, I do find the price of their Phones, and laptops to be priced so high that his statement is laughable.

I'm struggling to follow your logic. One one hand you acknowledge that there are Apple products that are, in your opinion, good value for money. On the other you say there are others that aren't. How does the existence of the latter invalidate Tim's statement that Apple make products that aren't just for the rich then? He didn't say that all products aren't.

 

[atmenterprises]

Tim is right, you just need to get into major debt to get one

Daft comment to make given tomorrow he will announce a + $1K phone , and increase prices globally, while paying no tax......

Would you pay tax if you didn't have to pay them? Or do you send in extra now?

 

[Stella]

Don't think Apple can recover 25%(less margin) from more sales.
Shareholders will take action after a substantial profit loss.

Depends if Apple can justify the price drop... if they can, Apple answers to know one. where did that 25% come from btw?

 

[jonnysods]

I'm thinking when you earn $100m a year $1200 for a phone seems cheap and reasonable?

 

[maflynn]

I'm struggling to follow your logic. One one hand you acknowledge that there are Apple products that are, in your opinion, good value for money. On the other you say there are others that aren't. How does the existence of the latter invalidate Tim's statement that Apple make products that aren't just for the rich then? He didn't say that all products aren't.

There are some apple products that are priced at a point where they are affordable, there are other apple products such as the iPhone and MBP that are not. Furthermore, I pointed out that in my opinion Apple has cut corners further eroding the idea that its a great long term investment.
[doublepost=1505153177][/doublepost]

they are not toys!

Then why are there so many games being sold?

Clearly the iPhone is a toy in many respects, regardless if an adult or child is using it.

 

[apolloa]

I literally read this title and couldn't stop laughing for 5 minutes!!!!!!

What a salesman he is.... NOT

Pure, unadulterated, damage control...

With a bucket load of pure arrogance thrown in for good measure...

But then again their are plenty of dumb people like me, who will buy their products.
I was attempting to tell my brother in law at the weekend how the Note 8, in a few months when it's price drops will be fantastic value.. the iPhone will not because it's price will remain the same.. oh the excuses he came up with for Apple were laudable... and then he continues to moan about how slow his 6 Plus is

 

[Olganech]

Serious question: who prices major electronics of any kind "for the poor?" Nobody! You can go into an appliance department and the only really "budget" models of refrigerator (which we all need if we have a house and like our food not to get spoiled) are really just the older versions that suck power and are repackaged in prettier case. They're not cutting edge refrigeration tech. We have an LG that pulls almost no power whatsoever, but it's only 2 years old. If you look at the tags on the cheapo models, you see that they pull way more power.

So, no... nobody makes stuff for poor people. Period. They assume poor folks will buy old models on sale, refurbs, scratch and dent, or off Craigslist.

All very well but you can buy a A++ rated freezer for not a lot brand new that could last you 30 to 40 years or at least they used to last that long.

People will pay £1,000.00 plus for this phone and flaunt it like it is something special.

Yet there are people like nurses in other parts of the world who earn less than half that a month.

Each to his or her own. The real rich would not waste their money on an iPhone.

 

[PG(Austin)]

I have to drop the full cost up front or else pay way, way more by using the carrier financing (which I would never do.)

It's the same price either way...all out cash or 24 months to pay on your bill. Frankly contrary to what people say, it's stupid to pay cash when they are offering to let you use their money for free. You can put your $1000 to use somewhere besides a quickly depreciating device. Ask any billionaire.

 

[Dave245]

Then why are there so many games being sold?

Clearly the iPhone is a toy in many respects, regardless if an adult or child is using it.

Games are not just limited to children, but yes I get your point, I just don't think children should be using smartphones, just like I don't think children should be using social media like Facebook.

 

[macs4nw]

I recently travelled overseas and visit what many would consider poor countries. But then I saw all the people happily using their iPhones, iPads and even Mac Pro's even though they haven't been updated for so long, they still enjoyed using them. So anyway, I thought well here it is, the proof that Apple isn't just for the rich! I mean these people barely had enough to eat or proper housing, but well that didn't stop their love for Apple products!

Some of these people will make do with less, just to have that status symbol, something which btw is not limited to 'poor overseas' countries.

 

[Feenician]

There are some apple products that are priced at a point where they are affordable, there are other apple products such as the iPhone and MBP that are not.

Right, that's what I said. Therefore Tim's actual statement, not just the paraphrased, out of context snippet in the title

Well it's not high margin. I wouldn't use that word. There's a lot of companies that have much higher margins. We price for the value of our products. And we try to make the very best products. And that means we don't make commodity kind of products. And we don't disparage people that do; it's a fine business model. But it's not the business that we're in.

But if you look across our product lines, you can buy an iPad today for under $300. You can buy an iPhone, depending upon which one you select, for in that same kind of ballpark. And so these are not for the rich. We obviously wouldn't have over a billion products that are in our active installed base if we were making them for the rich because that's a sizable number no matter who's looking at the numbers

Seems perfectly reasonable. Nowhere did he actually say all Apple products are inexpensive.

Furthermore, I pointed out that in my opinion Apple has cut corners further eroding the idea that its a great long term investment.

\

Well I didn't make that point and I don't intend to. I just find the out of context paraphrased headline and the jumping on it a bit of a cheap, baseless shot.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Don't particularly want to see the banhammer the day before the keynote.

 

[Dave245]

People will pay £1,000.00 plus for this phone and flaunt it like it is something special.

Yet there are people like nurses in other parts of the world who earn less than half that a month.

Each to his or her own. The real rich would not waste their money on an iPhone.

That's very judgemental!

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Here's the dirty little secret here; if people are willing to pay (who cares by what means, hook or crook, fair or foul) then said provider of that product is not going to say it's too expensive.

 

[Thalleshmm]

"But if you look across our product lines, you can buy an iPad today for under $300"

Where I live the cheapest iPad costs $ 810 USD. So yeah...

 

[Olganech]

That's very judgemental!

It is true though. I would not waste £1,000.00 on any phone. I am not rich and nor am I poor.

I have far better and more worthwhile things to spend my money on.

 

[Dave245]

It is true though. I would not waste £1,000.00 on any phone. I am not rich and nor am I poor.

I have far better and more worthwhile things to spend my money on.

It's true to you! You can only decide what's worthwhile for you, it's a personal thing.

 

[fumi2014]

People in the UK can safely say the next top-of-the-range phone from Apple is going to be more like £1100.

 

[morcutt11]

You pay a premium for Apple products, there is no way around that. There are reasons for that; it isn't arbitrary. Apple engineers its products for the human experience. It is about that experience, not about just slapping the latest technology into a piece of plastic and seeing what people do with it. That means that there are a lot more engineering hours into their products and the supporting ecosystem (which relates back to per-item costs). I also get better customer service from Apple. I've taken a MBP into an Apple store twice (one in-warranty and one time out of warranty). Both times my machine was fixed at no cost to me and one of those times was a screwup that was completely my fault can crashed the OS, requiring a re-install. I haven't used Microsoft support lately, but I vividly remember having issues in the past with Windows following a monthly "Microsoft Security Update" that caused issues and being told by customer service that I had to pay $150/hour (1 hours minimum) or something ridiculous like that to get assistance from them for the problem they caused.

I'm not saying that Apple couldn't run leaner - that new campus sure looks expensive and they seem to have an awful lot of cash-on-hand.

 

[compete12]

It's YOUR choice in the end.
I used to enjoy getting an iPhone every other year.
Tomorrow (or whenever it's released), I'll be upgrading my iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 11 (not even necessary since I don't really care about poop emojis and other 3rd-grader features), then I'll continue working on my 2008 Unibody MacBook (El Capitan) and/or my 2009 27-inch iMac (Sierra) and for leisure I'll be watching a movie in 1080p on my 3rd gen ATV on my 2008 LCD Television.

Haven't missed out on one thing as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Rob_2811]

So you're saying the iPhone X should be the $649 iPhone.

Obviously Apple didn't do that.

I'm not "drinking the Kool-Aid" here... my comment was simply to explain what Apple did do.

You should send an email to feedback@apple.com if Apple's decisions bother you so much.

Would be better off urinating into the wind..

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or in other words we just ignore anything sent to this address, particularly suggestions of what we should do differently.

 

[apolloa]

People in the UK can safely say the next top-of-the-range phone from Apple is going to be more like £1100.

Yes, not long till we find out now..

 

[kingtj]

He is, but we're entitled to criticize it too, when we believe it's wrong.

I don't think anyone with a functioning brain in their head would look at the Apple product lineup and not conclude that they're "high margin" products? Just look how much you have to pay for a lousy USB to Lightning charging cable for your phone ($10 more if you want a little bit longer piece of flimsy wire on it?). Look at the cost for all of the little "dongles" needed just to connect things up to the typical Mac laptop these days.

And just go into any Apple retail store to buy a laptop bag and see what they've got at say, the $30 price point. You'd be LUCKY to find a crappy zippered sleeve that doesn't even have a pocket sewn into it for a charger. They seem to think all the bags they sell should cost upwards of $79 or so. Never-mind I can get a really serviceable and functional Targus bag for about $25-30 all day long at other stores.

And we all know how overpriced Beats headphones have been since day 1. But Apple gladly bought that company and retained the same price points on everything.

Tim is entitled to his opinion.

 

[apolloa]

I do agree with their renewable energy policies though, they seem to work hard at that. I like that about them
As for change the world.. hmm not so sure about the world, but I use my iPad Pro almost exclusively now and haven't touched my MacBook Pro, but it's a bit knackered anyway. But I'm not rushing out to replace it, I am going to look into upgrading my iPad and set it up as a laptop replacement as others have already done

 

[Rob_2811]

Right, that's what I said. Therefore Tim's actual statement, not just the paraphrased, out of context snippet in the title



Seems perfectly reasonable. Nowhere did he actually say all Apple products are inexpensive.


\

Well I didn't make that point and I don't intend to. I just find the out of context paraphrased headline and the jumping on it a bit of a cheap, baseless shot.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Don't particularly want to see the banhammer the day before the keynote.

Here are some pictures of Tim absolutely not disparaging people who make commodity products