Apple CEO says company "making moves to make things more affordable" - Page 2

Great. Now how about you make the rMBP form factor standard across the line, but separate them into two tiers: one with the same screen as the MBA line, and one with Retina displays. I want the lighter, thinner form factor, but couldn't give less of a damn about super high quality graphics if it raises the buy in price by almost a grand.

 

You do know that Foxconn only adds between $7 and $8 to the whole iPhone cost?  Hardly "A big chunk..."

If you're going to criticize, you probably ought to stick to the facts.

The 13" MBP with regular screen is $1199. With Retina, it's $1699, but the Retina has twice the RAM and SSD. When you equip the 13" non-retina the same as the Retina, the price is $1499 - so the difference is only $200.

The 15" MBP with regular screen is $1999. With Retina, it's $2399 - a difference of $400.

Sorry, but $200-400 is not "almost a grand".

 

I agree with extinguishing hyperbole, but I'm not sure everything can be adequately broken down like this with cto upgrades. Typically cto means higher markup. Customized configurations are often this way. They  may bundle a certain number of things to a configuration to maintain higher margins without making people feel as though they're getting gouged. The cto markups on ram and ssds from Apple are quite high, making this kind of reverse engineering of costs to predict future price points a bit hit and miss, even if it can be used to adequately refute the almost a grand spin.

I think you lose the iPhone-ness without the apps and browser. Young people dont wear watches anymore. iPods could be smaller because its a music player primarily.

Hahaha I like your description of my statement. Anyway you have to realize that the iPhone is overpriced off contract. If we Americans weren't buying phones with subsidies from carriers do you think that people would be buying the newest iPhone in droves? I don't think so.

 

About time someone mentioned Apple's very weak user base and how Apple needs more profit to pile higher those 10s of billions of dollars in cash. 

 

The conversation is now over, cheap phones for everyone. 

 

WAIT, I GOT IT!! That is why Cook is with the Obamas. Free iPhones for everyone!!! YEAH!! 

 

 

Yes, and that would be one way to go 'cheaper'. But remember, to change anything cost R&D and manufacturing changes. Also, any cheap parts tend to wear and fit worse so you will have increased support issues which will damage the brand. 

I forgot to respond to this earlier. I disagree on making things even more expensive. Their biggest financial successes have been in expanding markets. This doesn't necessarily align with top quality and top tier pricing. I thought the ipods were made like crap.The battery life both per charge and in terms of usable cycles were both pretty bad. The earbuds sucked. I like the iphones though, and they're the very definition of a mass market product. What you're suggesting seems like the exact opposite of their product strategy. The biggest points of growth have been in the idevices where the average sale is less across hardware and software set over a broad audience. It's hard for me to picture them reversing that strategy. What is interesting is that while the focus is on very generalized devices, they're still leveraged into a lot of specialized markets, sometimes even with the added expense of retrofitted hardware (remove cameras, remove discrete bluetooth components). What would be the advantage? I don't think they're viewed as a luxury brand over most of the world. There are brands that have to choose their clientele to a degree where they're specifically reliant on enterprise clientele or private individuals who make >$200k USD annually. This is not really Apple. They've never marketed themselves as a status symbol.

Yes, take it to the extreme. That's what I meant anyway. /s

Good, I hope apple makes a cheaper macbook

To be honest, what I think Apple can't make a cheaper device without substantially degrading the design
- the iPhone's design incorporates glass or metal, this is to wick away heat, so these can't really be compromised without making the device larger
- All current phones being sold have a Retina display, hence removing it would break compatibility with software that presumes it.
- Likewise, removing or downgrading the parts would sacrifice build quality or features

Notice how the previous (now cheaper) models are only available in the smallest capacity?

With the Mac, the only way a cheaper mac is being built is either Intel capitulating on CPU prices, or Apple using AMD A-series CPU/GPU's. The parts aren't bad, but because of AMD creating parts that suck back more power, Apple probably won't ever consider it.

So I don't think we'll see a cheaper "iMac" but it's certainly possible to make a cheaper MacMini, because all things considered, the hardware hacking community has done it repeatedly. It's not a question of how, but why. The reason the Macmini costs as much as it does is because all the parts fit together well. Try doing that with a handful of parts you buy separately. Most of what you see as "macmini clones" out there are using Atom, Celeron, or AMD E-series APU parts, not i5's and i7's. And the reason is power requirements. If Apple want's to lower the barrier into getting into the Mac OS X ecosystem, all they have to do is licence a community-supported version for Whitebox/OEM PC's (any non-apple parts do not come with drivers.) I don't see that happening anytime soon, if ever given what happened with the Mac Clones. Given how much people hate Windows 8 right now, this would be a way to provide an alternative.

 

It's a platform war, however. And the developing world is getting richer much faster than the developed world is .....stagnating.