Bruce Johnson writes: >Dan Knight wrote: > >> It amazes me that Apple thinks the same people who bitch about no >> discount for upgrading from OS X 10.1.x to 10.2 wouldn't also bitch about >> paying $100 -- or even $50 -- to keep an email account in service when it >> had been free. > >Actually, Apple doesn't think that. The number of people bitching and >whining about paying for the OSX 10.2 upgrade were all pretty much the >same cheap b******d's who were kvetching about iTools and .Mac.
My point exactly. Over 2 million iTools users and about 2.5 million Mac OS X users were affected by these twin bone-headed decisions. >Apple has sold a bucketload of 10.2 boxes (100K their opening weekend at >$129 per, that's revenues of 12.9 million right there, easily surpassing >the 5M they've gotten from .Mac so far.) So only about 4-5% of X users jumped on Jaguar -- about the same percentage willing to pay to retain their mac.com email address. Think about it. >> Apple got 4-5% of iTools users to sign up for .Mac at $50/year, putting >> $5 million in Apple's coffers and generating untold ill will. I'm >> guessing the value of the ill will outweighs the value of the income. > >Only among the people kvetching about it, and if they're too cheap to >pay $50 /year for the service, if it means that much to them, they're >certainly too cheap to be buying new Macs. I bought a new Mac in January 2001 -- the third new Mac and fourth new Mac OS computer in over a decade as a Mac user. I'm not too cheap to buy a new computer when there's a reason to do so, nor am I too cheap to buy an OS upgrade or pay for .mac if the benefits outweigh the costs. It seems that 90% of iTools users and OS X users have not yet decided that the cost of .mac and/or Jaguar provides sufficient benefits. By offering more affordable options (email only accounts, Jaguar upgrade packages), Apple might have doubled or tripled the number of people willing to upgrade. >> As an Apple stockholder and mac.com email user, I wish Apple had given >> the two million plus iTools users a $10/year email only option. At that >> price I and maybe 500,000 others would stick with it, adding $5 million >> more to Apple's bottom line and creating good will -- Apple, a company >> that listens. > >That would have probably been a better option than cutting them off >completely, but I wonder if it would have been cost-effective. Considering how many companies (Microsoft, for instance) offer free email, I'm sure Apple could find a way to do it for more than nothing but much less than $49. >> I love my Macs and both types of Mac OS, but I'm not particularly pleased >> with the way Apple runs their business. They show a low regard for their >> customers when they offer a new version of the OS with no upgrade option >> and turn a free service many had used primarily for email into a high >> cost service. > >ROFL!!! Go buy a peecee and see how most computer users are treated. What a bunch of crap. That's like my complaining how long it takes to get a Leica repaired (because they so often have to go back to Germany) and you telling me to be glad it's not a cheapo Kodak Advantix camera. What in the world does the way Microsoft, Dell, or Gateway treat their customers have to do with the way Apple should treat theirs? I should be happy because Apple tries to screw me less? >Moreover, if you don't get on the wagon now, you're gonna be off any >upgrade pricing at all in the future, with MS. On the other hand, the new Apple "upgrade" policy tells me that I'm better off sticking with 10.1.5 as long as I can and then paying for a full-cost upgrade to 10.3 or 10.4 somewhere down the road, since Apple apparently isn't ever going to offer discounted upgrades to Mac users. Maybe these aren't concerns for iCEOs with $10 million jets and his board of directors, but for those of us in the trenches who scrape to buy RAM upgrades, bigger hard drives, new Macs every 2-5 years, and software updates, $49 for .mac and $129 for Jaguar is real money. -- Dan Knight, president, Cobweb Publishing, Inc. <http://cobwebpublishing.com> <http://lowendmac.com> <http://digital-views.com> <http://digigraphica.com> <http://lowendpc.com> <http://reformed.net> "As for Unix being 'inflexible,' 'expensive,' and 'complex,' we feel those are terms much better suited to the closed and proprietary world of Windows." Sun -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
