But why is this the case? There are plenty of essentially 'commodity' products that have monopolistic competition and don't eventually collapse to 0% margin. Coke and Pepsi sell for many many times the price that pure costs would suggest. Automobiles are functionally equivalent in that any given category has the same basic features (all 4 door sedans will carry 4 or 5 people, all pickup trucks will carry furniture and dirt, etc.). And yet BMW has clearly figured out what things to improve in their cars that will convince someone to spend twice as much or more for a 4 door sedan, even though it doesn't cost them twice as much to produce (thus raising their profit margin). So what have car and sugar water makers figured out that computer makers haven't? Is there something intrinsic to computers that resist product differentiation? Clearly Apple (and to some extent Sony) have proven that it's not completely impossible.
- Josh >> > My take on this is that most people don't care about those certain > ethereal features, such as "overall experience". Maybe it makes > sense to care about that, or maybe it doesn't, but just like > airlines are starting to feel a new hurt of competing on price and > specific features alone because of the internet and product search > engines like Google Products/Shopping, it's harder and harder for > anyone to demand a higher price without an extra number of checkmark > to justify it. The only other thing that people seem to be willing > to pay for is brand name. Besides, no one is impressed with a fancy > laptop anymore. Long live fancy phones! (for now) > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
