I’ve written about the downward spiral of Amazon before.There are many ways to tell when you’ve finally lost your customer base, but this is the most blatant. A consumer antitrust lawsuit in U.S. court. If you read that article you will learn the Feds have a few suits of their own as well. I have said it many times and it looks like the investment (and government) world is finally catching on.

Apple is not a technology company, it’s a cult.

Roland Hughes

Pricing Stupidity

It’s amazing just how many people will pay $1200 for an iMbecile phone consisting of a few hundred dollars in parts. Yes, I still maintain the “i” in iPhone stands for imbecile, not Internet. The latest price tag proves that out. Not only did you pay that, the phone is fragile, so you will probably need multiples each year. Shop around and you can find one of these

for under $100. Brand new they are around $450. If someone honks you off you can beat them with this phone, it will still work when you have finished.

Despite how Apple tried to spin it, some people have caught onto this fact. Yes Mr. Cook, you lost your customer base. They got wise to the “different charger for each phone to screw the customer” scam.

I really thought all of Wall Street would run screaming when Apple announced the new Mac Pro in December of 2019. Starting price $5,999 and fully loaded it goes for $52,199. I love my toys, most guys do, but I won’t drop $50K on a car let alone a computer. Currently I own about a dozen computers, many being desktops, some I use for Yocto build work. I don’t have $2K tied up in any of them. Remember, I’m an IT consultant so I use these to make money, not play video games. Anyone who spends $52K on a gaming computer needs to check into an addiction center!

Dynamic Pricing

Personally I thought people would go to prison over Dynamic Pricing. Even MIT found that these algorithms collude. Many years ago I had an Alibris account. It was supposed to be a good way for book sellers to sell books. I got rid of it. They kept only promoting high volume book sellers, not the book publishers. The last straw for me was when I asked an online site, Better World Books or something like that, why they were listing a used copy of this book for $300

When they could sell brand new from me, the publisher, for $90.

It’s dueling algorithms! We get our prices and many titles from Alibris. They scan the Internet, find a higher price, and raise the price of the book. Amazon and others do the same.

Online Book store worker

Because of the policies, the brand new copy available for less than 1/3 of the used price was never presented to the outside world. Do I believe the consumer antitrust suit has merit? You betcha! I’ve seen this movie before!

It Wasn’t Until the VR Headset

Trade press and “the industry” didn’t decide Apple had jumped the shark until the AR/VR headset. $3,499 for a product nobody wants. Big Tech keeps pursuing this financial black hole of a product line. Hopefully it will finally put Apple, Google, and Facebook out of business.

Nobody wants a headset. We want a Star Trek Holodeck.

When we walk in we want it to “be real”

Until you can do that, these headsets are industrial training devices and nothing more. That is your niche with a headset.

An antitrust lawsuit from your customers is a big red flag that you lost your customer base. Investors should be fleeing Amazon and Apple because these are the people who spend the money telling both companies they won’t continue to spend that kind of money.