Hi We’re Apple, Now Kindly Give Us Your Money
So you think you’re a hustler? What’s your hustle? Selling drugs, cds, dvds, clothes, etc.? Well you got nothing on this guy. This guy has not only sold you a product that will definitely not work in a year or so for a ridiculous price, but you can’t wait to get another. You hate other people who have a better one than and no one can get the product for “cheap.” And who is this person? Well, Apple of course. One of the biggest hustlers on the block of hustlers is Apple. No it’s not a street name for a drug dealer or a new rapper off of Def Jam, but it’s the computer company, Apple Computer Inc (oh I’m sorry for that strike through “computer,” I didn’t know that recently Apple removed “computer” from its company name in order to signify that they are going to take over the world, not just the computer world). Apple is such an accomplished and good hustler that rappers who rap about hustling or the people on the corner hustling are getting hustled by Apple. Aww naw Kid?!?!? I’m not being hustled, no one hustles me! Well I’m sorry to inform you Mr. Supposed Hustler, Apple is hustling you. How? You have an iPod? If yes, you’ve been hustled. The reason why there is a connection between owning an iPod and Apple’s boss or capo (depending on if you’re a Mac or a PC) status in hustling is because Apple makes massive amounts of bank off of the iPods that it sells. The manufacturing costs and the price that Apple sells iPods for are ridiculous. It costs, at a maximum, of $90 to make an iPod and they are selling them for around $250, so do the math. Of course the price adjusts up or down depending on what is inside, but on average the numerical breakdown is like that. Already there Apple is making bank, but also remember that every iPod that Apple sells opens a potential for the buyer of the iPod to buy other Apple products or products that are made for Apple products that Apple gets a cut off of. WHO DO YOU KNOW IN THE WORLD OF HUSTLING SOMEONE WHO HUSTLES LIKE THAT?!? No one, that’s who.
Admittedly I am also being hustled by Apple. My computer? MacBook Pro. My music player of choice? iPod. My phone? iPhone. How many iPods do my family and I have? 8 (mind you there are 5 people total in my family). Also I am one those people who gets really exited around January (for those of you who don’t know that is when Apple has one of its biggest functions to show new products). Everywhere you turn there is a reference to Apple. When you’re walking the street at least 1 out of every 5 people will have earphones hanging down from their ears, from their shirt or dangling outside of their pocket and surely enough at least 1 out of every 2 of those people will have the headphones connected to an Apple music product. When you go to a Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or any of your coffee houses you see douche bags working on their script on Macs. Not to mention all of those billboard ads, commercials, store fronts, and pop culture references to Apple. It’s pretty much like everyone is addicted to Apple and even thought we don’t need anything from them, they still make us want more.
Oh and by the way, Apple has just applied for a patent on a video gaming device and I can’t wait till January rolls around again
Get a grip. When you walk into a store, almost every single product in there is marked up as much as 50%. If you run a store, you buy product wholesale, then roughly double the price to arrive at the retail price. Your cut helps you pay for business overhead, salaries, benefits, insurance, and your family’s own personal food, shelter, and clothing.
So you write this blog entry and you claim that Apple is ripping people off because the components cost $90 and they sell them for $250. Yet that is how every other retailer on Earth sets the retail price. Most products you buy costs less than half the retail price to make. Are you seriously claiming that it’s not fair for Apple to charge a retail markup when everybody else does it too? (And so would you if it was your business.)
You ask if anyone hustles like Apple. Everyone, that’s who.
To hold Apple to different rules is unfair. Maybe their margins are somewhat higher than others, but not unreasonably so. If Apple did not have their margins, it would not be worth it to them to make products that have that edge people want. Without the extra dollars to subsidize their R&D, Apple could only call up China and ask them to produce the same generic player you also buy from Sandisk or Cowon or LG. Is that what you want?
People pay a fair, reasonable retail price for an iPod because it brings them something they feel they are not getting from other companies who just punch out boring, cheaply made products based on achieving the lowest possible retail price. If you don’t think it’s worth it, don’t buy it. I only have the least expensive iPod shuffle myself, because the more expensive ones are not worth it to me. But Apple sells tons of them to everyone else. That indicates that the price is fair. In this society, you charge what the market will bear. The market bears the current price of the iPod, and the evidence is that Apple sells more iPods than other companies can sell of their less expensive models!
Hey buddy. First I wanted to say thanks for the comment, you’re the first one. Second is I like your point of view, but I should have cleared myself up. “Hustling” has a couple of meanings and the one I think you’re thinking of when reading what I wrote was a negative connotation, but there is a second one that is positive. I don’t mean that Apple’s hustling is bad, I actually applaud them. They not only do it very efficiently, but they are the best at it. I was actually saying it in a positive and praising way, not negative and derogatory.
I’m usually pretty good about interpreting writing, but if completely misread your post, then I apologize. I did apply a negative association to “hustling.”