[Macworld]

Post your comments for How Apple sets its prices here

[danmusician]

This pricing approach does level the playing field for smaller retailers. A number of years ago I purchased a synthesizer module from a large music dealer. The price was discounted 50% from MSRP. The store had stacks of them on display. Several weeks later, I was in a local Mom and Pop music store. He was proudly selling the same unit for about 20% off. When I checked out with my current purchase, I mentioned that the large dealer was selling the item for the lower price. The owner was furious. "They're selling it for less than I can buy it from the manufacturer!"

I've since learned that the larger dealer would go into a distributor's warehouse, look at the stock on hand and declare "I'll give you $X for what you've got on hand." Like Walmart, he was selling in such high volume that he could set his purchase and selling price.

Apple's policy can be frustrating at times, but it does have it's merits depending on your perspective.

[redgeminipa]

This also translates into another bonus for consumers: resale value. It's the initial "cost of entry," as I like to call it. If you plan your resale and future upgrade purchase right, it doesn't cost much to keep on top of the Apple game with the latest hardware.

Think about Honda and Toyota. Part of the reason they retain such high resale value is because they don't run huge discounts at the end of the model year compared to domestic manufacturers.

[PeterGuidry]

There are actually benefits for the customer as well.

Because deep discounts on Apple products are rare, resale values stay very high.

High resale values are great if you like to upgrade fairly rapidly. In that case your upgrades might end up costing you less than upgrading a PC notebook with low resale value.

[PaulBrians]

Stores have for years tried to get around Apple pricing by bundling printers or other items at deep discount with new Macs. This year at Christmas time Target was giving each buyer if a new iPad a $50 gift certificate. That's almost as good as a cash rebate.

[whitedog]

Quote

This also translates into another bonus for consumers: resale value. It's the initial "cost of entry," as I like to call it. If you plan your resale and future upgrade purchase right, it doesn't cost much to keep on top of the Apple game with the latest hardware. Think about Honda and Toyota. Part of the reason they retain such high resale value is because they don't run huge discounts at the end of the model year compared to domestic manufacturers.

This same advantage - high resale value making upgrades relatively affordable - applies to other products as well, like high-end DSLR cameras. Thus one can buy the newest model Nikon or Canon camera today and sell it at a modest discount on Craig's List 18 months later, largely offsetting the cost of the next new model you buy.

[drdreric]

A nitpick... Wouldn't "How Apple Maintains its Prices" be a better title?

[SockRolid]

If you really, truly want to get Apple gear at a discount, there's always the Apple Certified Refurbished option:
http://store.apple.c...pecialdeals/mac

[dfs]

Let me second SockRolid's comment. I have repeatedly bought stuff refurbished from Apple and have never had a bad experience (after all, their refurbs come with the same warrantee as a new unit). And sometimes they aren't entirely truthful about what you're going to get. Once I got a Mac with twice the RAM I had ordered, and once I got an iPad with cellular as well as wi-fi connectivity although I didn't have to pay for it. Apple can lie to me that way any time it wants!

[zaychb]

I know the owner of a mac reseller and he says he gets them 10% off and if he doesn't sell them by a certain date apple starts charging interest on the product and lowers his margins even more the only way he stays open is from the repairs he does and cases he sells

[rmaunruh]

I don't know if the margin numbers are that big of a secret. When I worked at Best Buy we got items at cost plus 5%. I always looked at pricing on apple products, and the discounts ranged from maybe $25 to $100 depending on the model. Minus that 5% and you've got a good idea of what the margin is (not much to be sure, but it allowed us to match the edu discount).

Nikon also has a pricing policy on its DSLRs and ILCs called Maximum Value Policy where every retailer in the US must sell them at the same price and Nikon decides when to put them on sale.

[Nargg]

"On the other hand, it’s also hard to come across an inferior Apple laptop—and this is true of every other product that leaves the company’s manufacturing facilities"

FALSE

Apple's failure rate is as high as almost every other computer maker on the planet. Why do Apple articles have to be so full of B.S.?

[fourthletter]

It's amazing how the very people who admire and love Apple actually seem to praise a borderline questionable ability to price fix a supposedly open market.

It is ridiculous that Apple get to protect a massively high profit slice in a competitive market by price fixing their retail price with their wholesale price.

[Nargg]

Quote

This also translates into another bonus for consumers: resale value. It's the initial "cost of entry," as I like to call it. If you plan your resale and future upgrade purchase right, it doesn't cost much to keep on top of the Apple game with the latest hardware. Think about Honda and Toyota. Part of the reason they retain such high resale value is because they don't run huge discounts at the end of the model year compared to domestic manufacturers.

It's also about perception. Toyota had the most recalls last year of any auto maker. Yet there is still an odd incorrect perception of quality in their product. When in reality Toyota doesn't make a car any better than any other maker on the planet today. Same for Apple, where their failure rate is as high as Dell, HP or Sony. Yet there is a false sense of higher quality that's by the number, just not there.