[robo from AI]

It is based on a posting i made here, but i felt so strongly that i sent it to Steve (i tried steve@mac.com and sjobs@apple.com)

Anyway, here it is:

--

Hello Steve.
I want to ask you what the iPod is going to do for Apple, because i just can't figure it out.


I understand the thinking up to a point. You release the best MP3 player on the market, both in terms of technology and design, and it only works with MacOS. Great. But here's what i don't understand. You made it expensive. Why?

Isn't it supposed to lure new users to the platform?

I think that if you want to use the iPod as a tool to sell Macs, the iPod should be made really cheap, even at a steep loss to Apple. Then it would attract new users to the platform, who see this cool MP3 player that's better than everything else on the market, way cheaper, and ONLY WORKS ON THE MAC. They might well choose to purchase a Mac the next time their PC goes haywire.

Right now, consumers just see an overpriced Apple MP3 player that doesn't even work with Windows. Nothing more than a great way to reinforce the perception that Macs are limited and overpriced.


In the end, all i can say about the iPod is that it's a great product, sexy and cool: Just like the G4 Cube...


Regards,

Robin Miller


---


Not that the email will change anything, but it was nice to get my feelings off my chest. Unfortunately, i'm afraid i will still have to endure watching another great apple product die a miserable death due to billionaire lifestyle pricing.

-robo

[fisherKing]

hey, i just brushed my teeth!

Dear Mr Miller,

I have received your email, thank you for your interest in our latest product line, the iPod. As you may well know, the latest technological advances dictate the price that the consumer has to pay for a superior product. We are all interested in bringing the best and most sophisticated inventions to the Apple community. Although the prices of some of our products may seem to be in a higer price range than our competitors, I am convinced that the quality of our products warrants a slightly higher fee.

We hope that you will explore the unique qualities that the iPod is
harbouring, and are confident that you will be one of our millions of satisfied customers.


Sincerely,


SJ




(Dude, buy the iPod or don't, just don't litter other people's mailboxes)


for the slowpokes among the you, this is an humourous intermezzo
by a veteran macnn reader, who's name is NOT steve jobs

[Cooter]

I hope you didn't send him that e-mail. Its full of typos. He's gonna know you weren't using OSX with its built in spellchecking e-mail client and he's gonna come over and kick your ass!

j/k

Remember this, Apple just reported a $66million profit. Compaq reported nearly a $600million loss. Does the word beleagured mean anything to you? Apple's margin increased from 25% (ehhh, pretty OK) to 30% (hell yeah!) when everyone elses margins are SHRINKING.

How many people have you spoken to that have said "You use a Mac? I heard they was going out of bidness."

So, IMHO, They shouldn't sell any damn thing they can't make a profit on. Apple is in business to make money. And as long as they are doing that, they'll be around to sell me cool **** I can't get from commodity junk purveyors like Michael Dell. I don't need Apple to take over the world, I only need them to make a profit and make cool **** . Remember , the masses are asses. Do you really want Apple making stuff the majority of the world wants? Good lord man, the Aztec. LOOK AT THE AZTEC! See what happens when you let megalomart design a car!

So, I'm gonna give Fred, SJ, Phil, and Avie a break and guess that they know WTF they are doing.

Rock on!

edit: yeah, yeah...beleagured is a singular word, not plural

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Cooter ]

[Michaelm8000]

I think that if you want to use the iPod as a tool to sell Macs, the iPod should be made really cheap, even at a steep loss to Apple. Then it would attract new users to the platform, who see this cool MP3 player that's better than everything else on the market, way cheaper, and ONLY WORKS ON THE MAC. They might well choose to purchase a Mac the next time their PC goes haywire.

If apple lowered the pice and made very little profit off the iPod just to get users to switch platfourms that would work...but only for a wail, then apple would need to bring up the price inorder to keep making the iPod. Appl dose not just whant to make a fake gimk to get users to switch. Apple is known for it's long term vale and loyalty to its costemers. This would go against all of that.

Why are you applauding the fact that Apple's margin's have improved from 25% to 30% (Hell NO). This means we are paying exhuberant prices for an Apple. Just look at the Quicksilver pricing. Here is Australia our weak dollar puts a Mac out of reach for the majority of first time PC buyers. And on top of that they appear to make even greater margins in Australia than in the US. If Apple was so devoted to education and getting their hardware out the door to the masses why take such a high margin in such a cuthroat industry.

I know that Apple differentiates itself through quality, ease of use, and brilliant products but they are slowly becomeing the Bang & Olufsen of the Computer World - out of the reach of the masses for a cool looking and quality product.

Just my 2c or 4c in Australian dollars.

Originally posted by Cooter:
<STRONG>I hope you didn't send him that e-mail. Its full of typos. He's gonna know you weren't using OSX with its built in spellchecking e-mail client and he's gonna come over and kick your ass!

j/k

Remember this, Apple just reported a $66million profit. Compaq reported nearly a $600million loss. Does the word beleagured mean anything to you? Apple's margin increased from 25% (ehhh, pretty OK) to 30% (hell yeah!) when everyone elses margins are SHRINKING.

How many people have you spoken to that have said "You use a Mac? I heard they was going out of bidness."

So, IMHO, They shouldn't sell any damn thing they can't make a profit on. Apple is in business to make money. And as long as they are doing that, they'll be around to sell me cool **** I can't get from commodity junk purveyors like Michael Dell. I don't need Apple to take over the world, I only need them to make a profit and make cool **** . Remember , the masses are asses. Do you really want Apple making stuff the majority of the world wants? Good lord man, the Aztec. LOOK AT THE AZTEC! See what happens when you let megalomart design a car!

So, I'm gonna give Fred, SJ, Phil, and Avie a break and guess that they know WTF they are doing.

Rock on!

edit: yeah, yeah...beleagured is a singular word, not plural

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Cooter ]</STRONG>

[Cooter]

Who said Apple was for the masses? SJ already stated flat out that Apple had lost the OS battle. Why wage an expensive war to regain some sort of ground on Windows? MSFT and Apple are getting along swell. MSFT is finally making great software for the Mac again, and Mac prices have dropped enormously from back when I first started using them, 1986.

High margins ensure Apple's future. I'm for the future of Apple products, if that means I pay $70 extra for an iPod, I pay it.

As a CFO from Hell, I'd think you'd understand that.

BTW, Apple has always been the B&O of the computer industry. I used to seel the things (and did very well at it). But back then it was still ab ig chore to convince people to drop $4000 on a Mac when PC's where $2000.

Apple has always had a large price premium over PCs. And its much smaller now than it was.

I still have my first sub $1,000 Mac (no monitor of course). It was a Umax C500/180e. 4 years later you can pick up an iMac for $799. Good lord man, how much more do you want?

I know, you want it all. I don't blame you.

Originally posted by Cooter:
<STRONG>Who said Apple was for the masses? SJ already stated flat out that Apple had lost the OS battle.</STRONG>

Really? The current slogan is "5 down. 95 to go." What do you think it means?

Originally posted by &lt;CFO from hell&gt;:
<STRONG>Why are you applauding the fact that Apple's margin's have improved from 25% to 30% (Hell NO). This means we are paying exhuberant prices for an Apple.</STRONG>

Dear CFO.

Please check your credentials. Unlike its hardware competitors, Apple's margins don't include any cost of licensing an OS. OS development at Apple is drawn against current account not product costs. Writing their own OS allows them to control costs better. By the way, how's Hell's business doing?

Originally posted by Cooter:
<STRONG>High margins ensure Apple's future. I'm for the future of Apple products, if that means I pay $70 extra for an iPod, I pay it.
</STRONG>

So I guess you'd jump off a cliff if Steve told you to do so? What's the cutoff point for your allegiance?

[nana2]

Originally posted by Cooter:
<STRONG>I still have my first sub $1,000 Mac (no monitor of course). It was a Umax C500/180e. 4 years later you can pick up an iMac for $799. Good lord man, how much more do you want?
</STRONG>

So your first sub $1,000 dollar Mac was a clone? The clones were priced very competitively with PCs, especially the SMP machines which provided superior performance to what was available from x86 at the time.

Borrowed this post from someone else:

"Let's see
Apple Corp. had everything in the beginning
Mouse, Graphical interface, SCSI
and Jobs a true visionary that made his stuff run on a chip called a 6800 conjured up by a Co. called Motorola.

and Microsoft
Some crappy OS called DOS bought for 50K
and a way nerdy looking Dude called Bill
who made his stuff run on something called
an 8080A made by some obscure Co. called
Intel.
All these years later,
it's easy to say who won.

MSFT
Financials
Last 12 Months 5 Year Growth
Sales 25.6 Bil 22.6%
Income 6.4 Bil 24.3%
-----------------------
INTC
Financials
Last 12 Months 5 Year Growth
Sales 30.4 Bil 10.6%
Income 5.4 Bil 11.7%
Dividend Rate .08 19.8%
-----------------------
AAPL
Financials
Last 12 Months 5 Year Growth
Sales 5.8 Bil -6.9%
Income 67.0 Mil NC
Dividend Rate NA NC
----------------------
Motorola
Financials
Last 12 Months 5 Year Growth
Sales 32.7 Bil 4.6%
Income -2.6 Bil NC
Dividend Rate .16 1.7%

Heck Softy made more in profit than
Apple sold all year."

[Immortal K-Mart Employee]

Originally posted by &lt;Steven R Jobs, III&gt;:
<STRONG>As you may well know, the latest technological advances dictate the price that the consumer has to pay for a superior product.</STRONG>

Right, just like the Cube.

[sderaj]

Do you guys want to know how much my father paid for his Nomad Jukebox that has 6GBs? A year ago the Jukebox was 500 dollars! Yes 500 dollars! Can we call that over priced? People bought them.

My father was looking at getting the new Jukebox with the 20GB drive but now that the iPod came out, he changed his mind and would rather get Apple's MP3 player, even though they are they same price...]

[ 10-24-2001: Message edited by: sderaj ]

Originally posted by sderaj:
<STRONG>A year ago the Jukebox was 500 dollars!</STRONG>

"A year ago" is the operative clause here.

The iPod is a year late and a gigabyte short.

Then again, it's Apple, what the hell do you expect?