Fortunately, I have had no problem resisting the blandishments of BMW's
because, whether good or bad, and in my view they are bad, they are
unbelievably ugly cars. Lotus, Lamborghini, Ferrari - these are all
vehicles of impressive artistic excellence. They are like Crays in this
respect. The only BMW I've ever seen that was truly not ugly was the old
507. BMW even managed to make the Dixie uglier than the Austin 7 for
goshsakes. It seems to be another expression of the idiocy that makes
MicroSoft a household word.
On Thu, 2 May 2002, Chris wrote:
> >> Because people WANT a Mac. How does BMW get away with charging a price
> >> premium when they only have a 5% market share. People will pay the price
> >> because they want the item.
> >>
> >I wouldn't go there ... BMW's are infamous "hangar queens." Having worked in
> >more than one group with several BMW owners, I've often driven people to the
> >shop in my Maxima. One time I noted that every BMW needed a day in the shop
> >every week. While I'm sure that was the exception rather than the rule, I'm
> >sure I'll never covet one of the things.
>
> Yes, but you are just re-inforcing my point. Sure YOU might never want
> one... but despite the fact that they may be built like crap (I can't say
> personally, but your experience seems to imply they might be), people
> will STILL buy them. BMW is no where near worried they will go out of
> business due to lack of sales. People will buy them, and they will pay
> the higher price for them, and they will take all the good and bad that
> comes with them, and do it with a smile... because they WANT one.
>
> If BMW doesn't suit your fancy as an example, replace it with any small
> market share high priced vehicle. Like maybe the Lotus, or Lambrogini, or
> Ferrari.... or for more mainstream, the Jaguar. People aren't buying
> these cars because they need them, they are buying them because they WANT
> them.
>
> That is what is going on in the Mac world for most of Apple's sales. They
> are sold for no other reason than people want one. It might be because
> they prefer the Mac, it might be because they think they look cool, it
> might be because they hate MS... for most of the sales... it is simply
> bought out of desire, NOT out of neccessity. Once you have an audience
> that buys from desire, you can safely raise your prices to the highest
> point that audience will bear.
>
> And for the most part... this is perfectly fine with Jobs... he isn't
> interested in ruling the PC world, he is interested in making stuff
> people desire. He WANTS to be the BMW or Jaguar of the computer world.
> MS, Dell, Gateway, et al can be the Ford or Chevy, let them deal with
> having the bulk of the sales churning out the same old tired but reliable
> designs at cut throat prices.
>
> -chris
>
> <http://www.mythtech.net>
>
>
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
Received on Thu May 02 2002 - 14:36:35 BST