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Save $49,000? Stephen Van Esch May 22, 2000 What happened to $49,000? I'm at a loss. Last Monday Apple announced a price cut for a popular web software package. That in itself is not unusual. Software companies routinely drop prices on software. Nor is it surprising that Apple dropped the price to extend its presence in the web server market. What is pretty surprising is that the price drop is $49,000, give or take a few hundred dollars. If the original package had retailed for $150,000, I might not raise an eyebrow. But considering the fact that the software retailed for $50,000, a $49,000 price drop is pretty substantial. Of course were talking about WebObjects here, and this kind of price drop begs a few questions. Who set the original price? Someone seems to have made a major goof here. Maybe there's a decimal out of place or something? Maybe a dart board in the marketing room? What could possibly lead Apple to justify a $50,000 price to begin with? Granted, the price may have been fair, but a price drop of $49,000 makes me wonder if it was worth $50,000 in the first place. Who set the new price? Looking at the new price and the old price, I can't really understand how they settled on $699. Why not $30,000? Or $15,000? Or even $5,000. If people bought it at $50,000, they'll really go for it at $5,000. The pricing model seems to be fairly arbitrary. What about recent customers? I'm sure that there's some poor guy or gal out there who bought WebObjects two weeks ago at the full price of $50,000. Will Apple give these poor souls a break, like maybe deliver a brand new Mustang to their door? They'd still be $25,000 ahead of the game if they did that, right? And what great PR! Is Apple now losing money on WebObjects? Let's be serious for a moment. If $50,000 was a fair price for WebObjects, Apple is taking a very serious loss here. How can it justify this loss? They may want to gain market share but does a loss of this magnitude justify the goal they are trying to achieve? If they are not taking a huge loss on this software package then it's clear that the software was not fairly priced to begin with. Is it appropriate for Apple to set such a price on a software product? Is it fair for Apple to take early adopters for a ride and then implement a huge price drop? Which is it, a huge loss or an unfair price? I'd sure like to know. <this article available in a printer-friendly format> Stephen Van Esch is the founder and president of the E-learning Foundry, an online training resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual, since he's also fluent in Windows and French. Recently on Mac Scope Connecting with the broader Macintosh community, 04.06. "But beyond the very minor celebrity status that came with being published on Low End Mac, it gave me a real opportunity to participate in the Mac community." Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache, 07.09. Macs are usually pretty reliable, but a hardware failure after just two-and-a-half years is still disappointing. Still waiting for iTunes Music Store Canada, sort of, 06.23. While the pay-per-tune model makes sense, Apple's post-purchase copy management flies in the face of Canadian copyright law. PearPC's slow Mac emulation - What's the point?, 05.26. "For all those Windows folks who are gussying up Windows to look like OS X and getting excited over PearPC, please just buy a Mac." More in the Mac Scope index. Links for the Day Mac of the Day: PowerBook 170, Oct. 1991 - At 25 MHz, the PB 170 was at the top of the original PowerBook line. List of the Day: The iPhone List Low End Mac's forum for discussing and supporting Apple's iPhone. August 30 in LEM history: 99: The truth about USB speed - 00: Could Eazel kill the Mac? - Mac OS 8.1 on a IIci and LC III - 01: Beyond MHz and GHz - Getting a handle on email - Thanks for the IBM PC, Dad - Apple's anniversaries - 02: Mac OS X v10.2 - iBook video out - 04: Things that freak out my students - 06: Nvu and SeaMonkey can't replace Home Page - 07: DVD-RAM support Recent Content on Low End Mac Looking for a Content Management System That's as Easy as Mac, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 08.29. Low End Mac needs to move to a content management system, but the few we've tried just don't cut it for people used to the simple elegance of the Mac. First 3 Million Mac Quarter, Skinny on Mac mini Pricing, Mac-like gOS, and More, Mac News Review, 08.29. More plan to buy Apple products than ever before, complete reset can fix MobileMac synch problems, Apple boosting computer and smartphone share, and more. 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