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From: Jim on 23 Jun 2010 05:52 On 2010-06-23, Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:08:59 +0100, jim(a)magrathea.plus.com (Jim) > wrote: > >>Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: >> >>> They worked out the original price based on production costs which were >>> known in advance. Demand did indeed massively outstrip supply - that's >>> unquestioned fact. >>> >>> Standard economic market theory, the very basis of it, is that when >>> supply cannot meet demand, price goes up. >>> >>> So what was claimed at the time matches what economic theory predicts - >>> I can't see any reason to doubt this `allegation'. >> >>According to the March 1982 edition of "Computing Today" it was due to >>increased costs, not demand. >> >>Also, take a look at the iPhone and iPad - both have had demand that >>vastly outstripped supply, yet prices have not gone up. Inded, the >>origninal iPhone had a rather controversial price -drop- soon after its >>launch. > > That's slightly different - the scales involved mean that the > temporary scarcity was actually just a breathing space allowing Apple > to bring on more production lines as they could be confident they'll > be able to sell the output - and with the new, higher economies of > scale the production price per unit has dropped. > > (and it was only controversial to a bunch of whhhaaaaah self-important > idiots, too. Prices *always* go down on new toys) True, but I seem to recall that the price drop was qute large and happened within...3 months, was it? Something in that scale. I agree that if you're going to be an early adoptor you need to have some fairly thick skin, but even so it was a tad wince-inducing. Actually, didn't Apple give some people a rebate, or an iTunes voucher or something? Jim -- Twitter:@GreyAreaUK "If you have enough book space, I don't want to talk to you." Terry Pratchett
From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 23 Jun 2010 05:54 On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:52:52 +0100, Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: >On 2010-06-23, Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: >> On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:08:59 +0100, jim(a)magrathea.plus.com (Jim) >> wrote: >> >>>Also, take a look at the iPhone and iPad - both have had demand that >>>vastly outstripped supply, yet prices have not gone up. Inded, the >>>origninal iPhone had a rather controversial price -drop- soon after its >>>launch. >> >> That's slightly different - the scales involved mean that the >> temporary scarcity was actually just a breathing space allowing Apple >> to bring on more production lines as they could be confident they'll >> be able to sell the output - and with the new, higher economies of >> scale the production price per unit has dropped. >> >> (and it was only controversial to a bunch of whhhaaaaah self-important >> idiots, too. Prices *always* go down on new toys) > >True, but I seem to recall that the price drop was qute large and happened >within...3 months, was it? Something in that scale. I agree that if you're >going to be an early adoptor you need to have some fairly thick skin, but >even so it was a tad wince-inducing. Actually, didn't Apple give some people >a rebate, or an iTunes voucher or something? Yep, two months after hitting the shelves, the iPhone got a price drop of $200 - and Apple gave out $100 Apple vouchers to everyone. Cheers - Jaimie -- Pain is nature's way of telling you that you are in terrible agony
From: Peter Ceresole on 23 Jun 2010 06:58 Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: > > > The early BBC Micro prices were proven by the marketplace to have been > > > too cheap for the demand that it produced - and so the price went up, > > > /because demand was so high/. > > > > Allegedly. > > They worked out the original price based on production costs which were > known in advance. Demand did indeed massively outstrip supply - that's > unquestioned fact. > > Standard economic market theory, the very basis of it, is that when > supply cannot meet demand, price goes up. Bill Cotton was in charge of the channel at the time and signed off on the BBC Micro project. For what it's worth, he told us that they were expecting to sell maybe 5000, all told (I can't remember the actual number he gave us- it was in that order of size), and that they saw it as an expensive and risky project. When sales went sky high, they were absolutely gobsmacked, but happy to have a source of cash for the project. The BBC themselves used B micros for all kinds of jobs, including clocks and leaders and all sorts. When I was there, until 2000, you'd see them in every video edit suite, although I'm sure they've mostly disappeared by now. But they were dead reliable. -- Peter
From: Graeme on 23 Jun 2010 07:58 In message <1jkjfet.1fb3rjb42w4rpN%peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk (Peter Ceresole) wrote: > Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: > > > > > The early BBC Micro prices were proven by the marketplace to have been > > > > too cheap for the demand that it produced - and so the price went up, > > > > /because demand was so high/. > > > > > > Allegedly. > > > > They worked out the original price based on production costs which were > > known in advance. Demand did indeed massively outstrip supply - that's > > unquestioned fact. > > > > Standard economic market theory, the very basis of it, is that when > > supply cannot meet demand, price goes up. > > Bill Cotton was in charge of the channel at the time and signed off on > the BBC Micro project. For what it's worth, he told us that they were > expecting to sell maybe 5000, all told (I can't remember the actual > number he gave us- it was in that order of size), and that they saw it > as an expensive and risky project. When sales went sky high, they were > absolutely gobsmacked, but happy to have a source of cash for the > project. > > The BBC themselves used B micros for all kinds of jobs, including clocks > and leaders and all sorts. When I was there, until 2000, you'd see them > in every video edit suite, although I'm sure they've mostly disappeared > by now. But they were dead reliable. They ran teletext in most BBC and ITV regional stations. The Acorn RiscPC could be found in BBC OB units and in Central TV's master control. The former apparently handled vision control on radio cameras, the latter controlled the automatic transmission feed, including running pre-assembled commercial breaks. Acorn A3000s and A3030s handled the graphics on various gameshows. -- Graeme Wall My genealogy website <www.greywall.demon.co.uk/genealogy/>
From: Rowland McDonnell on 23 Jun 2010 10:53
Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: [snip] > The BBC themselves used B micros for all kinds of jobs, including clocks > and leaders and all sorts. When I was there, until 2000, you'd see them > in every video edit suite, although I'm sure they've mostly disappeared > by now. turns out that railway station displays (some of them) were driven by Beebs up until that sort of date - late 1990s, ISTR reading. > But they were dead reliable. At about that time, my wife noticed that a lot of her new students couldn't use the BBC Micro powered lab gear. Up until then, they'd had no problems - but `modern' students seemingly get baffled if you ask them to follow written instructions to drive a non-GUI computer... So her uni had to start retiring its BBC Micros, simply because of student inability - they're still working fine. <cough> We've got three of 'em in the cupboard. Technicians got most of the rest - some of them installing them on the lovely mahogany workbench that they've got, made out of the `obsolete' lab bench that had been there for decades, just replaced on management diktat by something laminated that'll need replacing inside 10 years. (One of them has an old manual telephone exchange at home. Not sure he's married) The only thing that'd make a Beeb unreliable in the general case is all those not at all gold plated chip sockets - although I gather later models had most parts soldered directly to the PCB. Home computers of that era tended not to crash due to bugs in the software - although I did once write a game for my ZX81 that could reliably hang the machine, for reasons that couldn't be anything but some kind of OS bug, insofar as a ZX81 has an OS. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking |