pros/cons/in between for using a mac at college

Good_Game
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:04:42 +0000

reply: hisgracefillsme

really?

Perhaphs you didn’t read the part where it says “exclusive control” or “makes possible the manipulation of prices”. That alludes to the idea of no competition or no alternatives. Sure, the alternatives might be inferior goods for some, but they still exist. The ipod does not control prices for mp3 players. If the zune 80gb was offered at $150 as opposed to the current $250, you better bet the ipod price would drop.

This is similar to the reason as to why google is not considered a monopoly (yet). Although it dominates the market, there are viable alternatives such as yahoo which still attract hundreds of millions of people yearly. I’m not really sure how the yahoo/google deal will work out though, seems to me that its just an expansion of google reach as opposed to yahoo?

And I also don’t know if in this case a monopoly is as bad as it sounds. You have to realize that apple is selling hardware that will last for years. Its not a service which they force people to pay for continually. That means that apple has to continue innovation regardless of their market position in order to keep selling hardware. Its run into this problem lately as the market for new ipods has diminished since many people already have old ipods. Plus, since ipods aren’t a necessary good, supply/demand still applies. I’m not sure apple could manipulate prices to extremes, say $500 for an 80gb ipod and still expect people to buy. Anyone else want to comment on this?

Please don’t just randomly start hating. btw, I also hate ipods and think they are pos, but I won’t mind getting the touch for free in the student deal :)