Obviously "people keep buying it" is enough for the price to go up. People keep buying for the reasons already mentioned. I don't have much else to add to the conversation.
But in this case, the price-point is highly sensitive. The reason there is so much demand is because it is insanely cheap. It's exciting because of what it signals, and even modestly raising the price changes the narrative.
Many owners are not upset because they understand that with any tech product, prices drop over time. I would venture to say most owners, but over time the clue level will be diluted so it’s hard to say.
A lot of it is because eventually production will catch up, and in the meantime companies want to catch consumer attention with the actual intended retail price while still big in the news rather than scaring them away with a higher launch price and then dropping it later and risk not catching the attention of uninvested customers.
There is also some marketing value in having a product sell out quickly.
First rule of pricing: price to value, not to cost.
People are used to the prices of things going down as economies of scale kick in. That doesn't mean it actually _happened_ here, but if you were already a happy customer at $100/month, when next month comes around and it's $20, you're just more happy.
Firstly, this type of practice is fairly common in certain markets, hotels and airlines being key. We believe there are more scenarios to which it could be extended.
Secondly, it's a matter of perspective. Each person has a price they're willing to buy at, and that generally reflects an individual's willingness and ability to spend. Yes, you may hate paying more, but your decision to purchase it anyway means you valued that item enough to buy it at what we offered it to you at. Theoretically if we surged too high, people would stop purchases and the price would go down.
Actually my experience is almost the opposite. Raising the price of the product made more people buy. There is something to be said about price/value perception.
Couldn't that apply to just about anything the moment anyone anywhere says "Buying X is a good investment!" so long as it's possible that the promotion resulted in X selling at a higher price?
reply