[Discuss] The Windows tax

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 03/08/2013 08:47 AM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> On Thu, 7 Mar 2013 23:22:21 -0500
> Brendan Kidwell <brendan at glump.net> wrote:
>
>> Do we know they're really being subsidized? Or are they just cheap?
> We don't "know" in the sense that Google hasn't stated as such. "Just
> cheap", however, isn't the determining factor. Compare. Nexus 4, made
> by LG, costs $299 without a contract. The LG Optimus G, almost exactly
> the same device, is $549 without a contract. Nearly identical hardware
> and operating system and no Windows tax, but a retail cost difference
> of $150.
>
Price is a function of the market, not cost. (Econ 101). LG and Samsung 
spend a lot of marketing dollars to differentiate their productsthus 
manipulating the demand curve. Additionally, AT&T and Verizon push those 
products.  Another reason a company might want to sell at a lower price 
is to get the product into the market. One drawback with the Nexus 4 is 
that you cannot get the higher 4G and LTE speeds in the US. (Actually, 
from what I have read, they have an LTE radio on band 4, but band 4 LTE 
is not used by the major carriers other than T-Mobile 3G. The Cnet 
article tells alot : 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57554574-94/lg-nexus-4-sort-of-has-4g-lte/
I will stick with contract phone for a while.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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