🚀 go-pugleaf

>I agree completely with Chuq on his observation that Apple never intended >the 
Mac to be the computer for the rest of us in terms of price.  Macs have 
>always been more highly priced than their competitors.  The point, like 
>Chuq made, is that the manner of operation made it possible for the Mac to 
>be the computer for the rest of us because it would be easy to learn, and 
>easy to use.  It is the philosphy that is for the rest of us - using a 
>window/icon/mouse interface, not the command line interface.

You mean the rest of us who are not involved in the design and manufacture
 of other computers. $*)

>In 1984, when the Mac was first released at a list price of $2499, everyone
>said it should've cost $1999.  From day one, people complained about the
>price.  Apple has been consistent, the complainers have been consistent.

>Kevin Fong
>Technical Staff (and Mac user since 1984)
>MITRE Corporation
>kf@mitre-bedford.arpa


I'm not sure that Apple is being consistant this time. They have never
 significantly raised proces before {this statement will probably come back
to haunt me}.  Apple has always released new products for what they think
 the market will bear. The reason, we have been told is to recoup the R&D
 costs. We are told that Apple tries to recoup the entire R&D cost of the
 product the first year. Knowing this, the gota-have-the-latest-technology
junkies dump their old machine and run right out to be the first on their
 block to have a new beastie. Students use their cheaper-than-anywhere-else
discounts to purchase the new beastie. Those of us who do not have access to
the student discount, and have to worry about making rent patiently wait
{and maybe drool a little} until the first year has gone by and Apple
 traditionally starts to lower the prices to where we can afford to purchase
 the entry configuration than add bells & whistles as we can afford them.

After waiting patiently for a year for the MacII prices to start coming
 down, they go up. Those of us who are marginal high tech purchasers, who
 waited, are left holding our now woefully inadequate funds. Those who can
not afford a new Mac but have become a Macjunkie are out too. The used Mac
 market is supplied largely individuals that have purchased a new system &
 no longer want their old.

As everyone on this newsgroup frequently points out. The Mac interface is
far and away better then those of the big blue camp. And the more one is
 exposed to the Mac interface the less tolerent they become of the big blue
 camp's interfaces. I submit that the Mac interface is highly addictive, and
 as such has created Macjunkies who would not readily tolerate a differenet
 interface in their homes. And, having boughten into the American dream,
 MacJunkies can not possibly be satisfied with anything but the latest &
 greatest.

Raise the prices, especially at a time when everyone has been expecting them
 to drop and of course the MacJunkies who cannot afford the new prices
 scream in anguish. And of course, their more affluent counterparts {or
 desperate who morgaged their lives away}, who have their new
 machines{Macfix} look at the have nots in disbelief, saying 
" The Mac isn't for just anyone you know"


TeriAnn
(yah, I've been strung out on Macs since '84 too)