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Become a Six Colors member to read exclusive posts, get our weekly podcast, join our community, and more!By Jason Snell for Macworld
As Apple’s prices keep going up, where will the value come from?
There’s a line I like to use a lot when I’m responding to people who expect Apple to release low-cost products that appeal to the widest swath of the masses: “Apple’s never going to be the low-price leader.” While people frequently complain about the prices of Apple products, in general, they confuse being unwilling to reach down to the lowest price categories with being a bad value.
Yes, you might pay a little more for an Apple product than a product from the competition–but you also get more. Still, there’s no denying that Apple’s products are on the pricey side. As it has become one of the most profitable and valuable companies in the world, its skill in maximizing revenue growth has served it well.
But as Apple sees slowing revenue growth in most of its product categories, I have to wonder just how willing Apple might be to raise prices on its products in order to wring even more money out of its customers. The recently increasing strength of the dollar has given Apple an opportunity to experiment with what happens when the price of Apple products increases.