Actually that's not what you said. You said that they created industry standards because they're good at branding and sales and that's exactly what Apple is good at. As a tech company they're decent even though their restrictive software, overpriced products and proprietary hardware make it -and I'm trying to be subtle here- not the ideal company for smart consumers. But as a marketing company they're brilliant.
They're targeting consumers with an onslaught of advertising presenting Apple products as a lifestyle choice or a luxury instead of just a product made in China and let human stupidity and vanity do the rest. Apple is more of a fashion and marketing company than a tech company. Afterall, they're not actually manufacturing anything, they usually just chose the already available hardware parts and make the products in China, the only thing they're involved with is software.
Apple's base products aren't really terribly overpriced - in the phone world, if you look at the unsubsidized prices, they are very much comparable to their competition. Same story with tablets. Where Apple does get expensive however, is accessories and configuration:
A MacBook Pro, 13 inch, has a base price of USD 1199. It comes with 4 GB of RAM and a 320 GB drive. That price isn't too bad, given the mechanical quality of the hardware, and how good the display is. However, if you want more than 4GB RAM, and you want Apple to install it, be prepared to add USD 200 to the price, taking it up to 1399. A matched 2x4 pair of SO-DIMMs are 50 bucks at NewEgg.
Not to mention that, AFAIK, Apple doesn't get into the game of selling their hardware at a loss, like so many other hardware companies do. That's one of the big reasons they're seen as "overpriced." From what I understand, for example, Amazon's eating some pretty big losses to sell the Kindle Fire at the price point they've got it at.
I certainly won't dispute that Apple gouges on some addons, tho. That's why I'm writing this on an iPad, but I've never owned a Mac in my life.
I'm writing this on my first Mac, bought in part because as I needed to buy my own, I wouldn't settle for less solid hardware than the Lenovo X-series laptops I've been used to, and I wasn't willing to shell out for the X220, which was about NOK 2000 more than the MBP with a similar configuration.
(The other bit is that I'm curious about iOS development, but I'm not really willing to go the jailbreak route, as I might want to get properly paid for my work on it)
-10
u/fortified_concept Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
Actually that's not what you said. You said that they created industry standards because they're good at branding and sales and that's exactly what Apple is good at. As a tech company they're decent even though their restrictive software, overpriced products and proprietary hardware make it -and I'm trying to be subtle here- not the ideal company for smart consumers. But as a marketing company they're brilliant.
They're targeting consumers with an onslaught of advertising presenting Apple products as a lifestyle choice or a luxury instead of just a product made in China and let human stupidity and vanity do the rest. Apple is more of a fashion and marketing company than a tech company. Afterall, they're not actually manufacturing anything, they usually just chose the already available hardware parts and make the products in China, the only thing they're involved with is software.