concentricity

supadav03 said:

While I don’t think a cheaper version is neccasry to compete, I’d still love a Dot/Mini style version. Right now I have a patch work of Echo Dots & HomeKit devices. Too expensive to put a HomePod in every room of my house but there’s plenty of instances where there is no other Apple device around so I have to resort to asking Alexa...bleh 

I think there's some confusion here. This is NOT simply a case of Amazon stating $50 MSRP, Amazon price $25, "you save $25!". I have personally noticed on many occassions where the price Amazon is basing the discount off of is actually HIGHER than the MSRP, not to mention higher than any other place has ever sold the item. So, hypothetical example, Amazon sells something for $50, says discounted 66% from $83.33, but the actual MSRP is only $75, and every other online store you can find the item in is selling for $50 or less. This isn't done across the board by any means, but I've noticed it many times of many years, and often point out how absurd it is to my wife, or coworkers. And to be clear, I use Amazon a lot, been a prime member for MANY years, but there's some really shady sh!t going on with their pricing. I'm surprised how few people know how frequently pricing changes, and differs between different shoppers, regions, etc. And I'm not talking about the pricing from the various different sellers, I mean Sold and Shipped by Amazon items. Put about 50 different "Sold by Amazon" items in your cart/save for later. Then go to the cart every day for a week or two, and it notifies you at the top of all the price increases and decreases. Prices definitely go up a lot more leading into Prime Day, etc. Pricing will also vary for me vs my wife, at the same time, on the same item, both sold directly by amazon. They have all sorts of data on their customers, and are constantly playing with algorithms to test people's price elasticity, impulsiveness at different times of day/night, etc.

Samsung Retail Chief: We need our stores to be just like the Apple Stores, only HOTTER!

I wore my Apple Watch Sport (original) in the shower literally every single day for more than a year, and never had the slightest problem. I'd slip it off, wash it with a little soap, rinse it under a very strong shower head, and put it back on. I wore it to the beach on multiple occasions, went in the ocean, etc. Likewise with my Series 2 Sport. I've never had the crown or any button stick, and I've never had any problems. Incredible build quality. It's just kinda sad that Apple under-promised on that aspect. I'm shocked how many people just assume they can't even get them near water.

So, let me first state that I'm not a fan of BestBuy in general, and will only ever buy from them if there's a substantial discount relative to my more preferred vendors.  But BestBuy has been running some of the steepest discounts around (by a wide margin) on Apple hardware this season.  And until a day or two ago they were listed in the price guides here on AI.  For instance, their iPad prices are by far the best right now, and have been for the past week or two (at least), but they're suddenyl gone from the price finder.  If other vendors who are still in the price finder are pressuring AI to remove BestBuy because they can't compete, that's some bad sh!t.  The price finder (and AI staff) loses all credibility if it's being manipulated by outside forces.  Please fix this.  The collumn of eBay non-listings does no good for anyone, and removing the vendor with the best pricing is pretty ridiculous.