In you mind sounds like people love crap. Don't forget the US gov't - Crap, but everyone is buying into it.
Pretty much...I'm not sure if it is unique to America or it's part of the human condition. But, a lot of American's seem to equate "value" with "cheap/free."
A $16 blender made in China in Walmart and lasts about a year, if you're lucky, is somehow a better value than a Braun that costs more but lasts years! (Not a criticism, just an observation.)
*Waiting for someone to tell me Braun is now manufactured in Vietnam! And is a "Canadian" company!
Agreed. Particularly when many people on welfare have iPhones.
And they shouldn't be allowed to. You and I should not be subsidizing other people's iPhone purchases.
Why? Someone needs access to a phone and email to get a job. Since iPhones can be had for free with contract. All of the US carriers are charging the same fee for data regardless of your device now, so what does it matter.
It's a… "good" thing to promote a society whereby nothing has value and no personal responsibility is required? I rather think the Apple model is better. Take care of your possessions and they'll take care of you. My only Apple product that has ever broken is my first Mighty Mouse, and that's more a testament to the past filthiness of my hands than it is to Apple's construction (though it certainly could have been easier to clean).
I'll add my only dead Apple product is an external trackpad (my Mac Plus, Apple ][ etc. all still fine). The battery leaked in the trackpad and it was a total right off as the battery compartment was fused like a demented welder had been let lose in there. Bad design IMHO. The chemicals went at the aluminum like hot water on sherbet. The battery containing area should be lined with plastic.
I was thinking more of the crap products they rushed to market and tried to "peddle" to unsuspecting customers after the iPhone was introduced. I can't remember the model names but supposedly they had "touch, just like the iPhone!"
Okay, fair enough. Those were indeed awful phones, software-wise.
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the slang term for human bodily waste, "crap", originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".[8] The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and hence predates its application to bodily waste. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.[8] Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff).[8]
Why? Someone needs access to a phone and email to get a job. Since iPhones can be had for free with contract. All of the US carriers are charging the same fee for data regardless of your device now, so what does it matter.
So a $80-$100/ month "free" iPhone 4 beats a $20 go phone and free Internet at your local library or dozens of other places. Just buy a $50 laptop off Craigslist and go to Starbucks or McDonald's to check your mail. $960-$1200 a year, or $240+$50= $290 a year. But of course, if they were making smart financial decisions they might not be in that position (not all, but plenty).
[...] A $16 blender made in China in Walmart and lasts about a year, if you're lucky, is somehow a better value than a Braun that costs more but lasts years!
I know what you're saying, and have been struggling with that "value" issue myself for the last few years.
The problem I've been having is that many of the so-called "quality" products fail as frequently and quickly as the "budget" products.
I used to buy equipment touted as being "higher quality" both for the better performance and an expectation of longer life with less frequent failures. That expectation was usually not realized. I don't mean *sometimes*, I mean more often than not. Over a period of ten years or so I found that higher-end products failed as often and as quickly as their lower-end equivalents.
Examples include Sony VTRs that were sold by their "Professional" division at premium prices that we later found had EXACTLY the same transport mechanism as their consumer VCRs; $2000 photo scanners that made several trips to the service facility across the country while the $99 consumer units used for roughs worked fine for a year or two before just burning out; and stuff used in the field that was destroyed by environmental issues long before any kind of design issue became a factor.
What I finally decided was that it was more cost-effective to buy decent consumer devices (not just no-name Wal-Mart crap but not fancy stuff either), use them for a couple years and replace them, than it was to pay much more for high-end products that didn't last. In the scanner example, the high-end unit was costing us about $1 per scan, versus about $0.05 each using the consumer units. The quality of the high-end unit was obviously better, but not two orders of magnitude better, and clients didn't seem to appreciate the difference anyway.
So, my point is that the value proposition depends as much on usage as the intrinsic "quality" of a product, and that often the claims of better quality are actually just marketing bullshit. Sometimes, depending on the situation, a buyer may get more bang for their buck buying cheap stuff and replacing it frequently than they will by trying to use an expensive device for a long time.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
I agree...but on the other hand there are many successful US companies selling "crap!"
MS largest SW company-Crap OS.
Coke largest beverage company-Crap (unhealthy) drinks.
McDonald's largest restaurant company-Crap (unhealthy) food.
Walmart: Largest US employer and retail chain. Just crap.
GM: Largest Auto maker-Crap cars.
Goldman Sach's-Crap
HP largest PC company-Crap PC's
Google-Just crap
Dell-Crap
Samsung-Crap
Pepsi-Crap
General Mills-Crap
Kraft-Crap
InBev largest beer company (I think)- Mostly crap beer.
Cox cable-Crap
Verizon, ATT and Sprint-Crap!
RIM-Crap
Best
RIM is Canadian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ipen
In you mind sounds like people love crap. Don't forget the US gov't - Crap, but everyone is buying into it.
Hey, best country in the world!
After Thailand, that is...even the guys look like chicks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
RIM is Canadian.
Yep, you got me...I should've said, "...many successful companies...."
My bad!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple ][
Is there a law against mocking Android users?
Good point...it just may have been a clumsy attempt at humor!
I do it all the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ipen
In you mind sounds like people love crap. Don't forget the US gov't - Crap, but everyone is buying into it.
Pretty much...I'm not sure if it is unique to America or it's part of the human condition. But, a lot of American's seem to equate "value" with "cheap/free."
A $16 blender made in China in Walmart and lasts about a year, if you're lucky, is somehow a better value than a Braun that costs more but lasts years! (Not a criticism, just an observation.)
*Waiting for someone to tell me Braun is now manufactured in Vietnam! And is a "Canadian" company!
Why? Someone needs access to a phone and email to get a job. Since iPhones can be had for free with contract. All of the US carriers are charging the same fee for data regardless of your device now, so what does it matter.
Originally Posted by Wovel
Why?
Not to delve further into this, but the data for which they have no reason to need.
And the people to which I was referring certainly didn't have jobs.
I'll add my only dead Apple product is an external trackpad (my Mac Plus, Apple ][ etc. all still fine). The battery leaked in the trackpad and it was a total right off as the battery compartment was fused like a demented welder had been let lose in there. Bad design IMHO. The chemicals went at the aluminum like hot water on sherbet. The battery containing area should be lined with plastic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
I was thinking more of the crap products they rushed to market and tried to "peddle" to unsuspecting customers after the iPhone was introduced. I can't remember the model names but supposedly they had "touch, just like the iPhone!"
Okay, fair enough. Those were indeed awful phones, software-wise.
Crap[/QUOTE]
Origin of the word "crap"
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the slang term for human bodily waste, "crap", originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".[8]
The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and hence predates its application to bodily waste. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.[8]
Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff).[8]
[LIST]
[*] [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper[/URL]
[*]
[*]
[/LIST]
So a $80-$100/ month "free" iPhone 4 beats a $20 go phone and free Internet at your local library or dozens of other places. Just buy a $50 laptop off Craigslist and go to Starbucks or McDonald's to check your mail. $960-$1200 a year, or $240+$50= $290 a year. But of course, if they were making smart financial decisions they might not be in that position (not all, but plenty).
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
[...] A $16 blender made in China in Walmart and lasts about a year, if you're lucky, is somehow a better value than a Braun that costs more but lasts years!
I know what you're saying, and have been struggling with that "value" issue myself for the last few years.
The problem I've been having is that many of the so-called "quality" products fail as frequently and quickly as the "budget" products.
I used to buy equipment touted as being "higher quality" both for the better performance and an expectation of longer life with less frequent failures. That expectation was usually not realized. I don't mean *sometimes*, I mean more often than not. Over a period of ten years or so I found that higher-end products failed as often and as quickly as their lower-end equivalents.
Examples include Sony VTRs that were sold by their "Professional" division at premium prices that we later found had EXACTLY the same transport mechanism as their consumer VCRs; $2000 photo scanners that made several trips to the service facility across the country while the $99 consumer units used for roughs worked fine for a year or two before just burning out; and stuff used in the field that was destroyed by environmental issues long before any kind of design issue became a factor.
What I finally decided was that it was more cost-effective to buy decent consumer devices (not just no-name Wal-Mart crap but not fancy stuff either), use them for a couple years and replace them, than it was to pay much more for high-end products that didn't last. In the scanner example, the high-end unit was costing us about $1 per scan, versus about $0.05 each using the consumer units. The quality of the high-end unit was obviously better, but not two orders of magnitude better, and clients didn't seem to appreciate the difference anyway.
So, my point is that the value proposition depends as much on usage as the intrinsic "quality" of a product, and that often the claims of better quality are actually just marketing bullshit. Sometimes, depending on the situation, a buyer may get more bang for their buck buying cheap stuff and replacing it frequently than they will by trying to use an expensive device for a long time.
Why not. There's already been that magazine interactive video ad page with an LCD screen, which was basically a throwaway Android GSM circuit board.
http://mobile.theverge.com/2012/10/4/3452890/entertainment-weekly-cw-ad-smartphone-teardown