Guys seriously, how the fuck did we end up like this? What's the deal with the new ~2Kg piece of aluminium that Apple is selling for $999, the "Apple Stand Pro"...

How did we allow for such a company gain this much of arrogance and confidence to sell us normal goods for exorbitant prices?

I seriously cannot imagine the unit production price going beyond $100, and I'm exaggerating a lot here. I can't think of any economic model that justifies the extra $899. They're exploiting cheap Chinese labor for fuck sake! What costs do they have?

The 200 dollar for a metal plate is way worse though. That thing is just a plate to convert four holes to four other holes so its a vesa mount.

It's called supply and demand. If someone wants to pay that, let them. Remember, they have a choice, but since some people have more 💰 than they know what to do with, they buy the expensive things. It's their money. It's their choice. It's their right. If they want a Maybach instead of a Fiat, that's their right. I would hate to have to live in a world where that choice didn't exist.

@iAmNaN I'm aware of basic microeconomics and I still can't see how a demand and supply model would justify this stupid price tag.

Your point about the ability to buy expensive stuff is downright off the topic. What I'm concerned with is the unjustified price tags, not their affordability to some customers.

Your comparison between "Maybach vs Fiat" and "Apple Stand Pro vs any other stand with same quality and features" is misleading. A Maybach is a luxury variant of the product "car" with tons of expensive stuff justifying the cost. Anything that competes with a Maybach would be in similar price ranges. Apple Stand Pro on the other hand is yet another ordinary monitor stand that offers zero luxury or technological innovation that justifies the cost. Any other stand with the same quality would cost a fraction of $999. Generally, any other non-Apple product costs significantly less than the Apple product that comes with same quality/capabilities. Unjustifyingly so.

@Kyouma @iAmNaN actually Maybach is an interesting case here. It was an ultra luxury brand Mercedes Benz spun off (in its modern iteration at least) that flopped because it was too expensive compared to the Mercedes S Class at the time and didn’t offer many more features.

But the market for Maybach was supposed to be people who had grown up riding in S Classes. That didn’t work for cars, but here’s how it is an analogy for Apple that is working.

Some people have the resources to have everything one brand and not bat an eyelash. They want all the Apple products, they drink the koolaid, all the way to the last drop. 10k in the Apple store just doesn’t matter to them. And we aren’t just talking billionaires or businesses. Think of a couple of doctors who don’t have student loans or paid them off. They make upwards of 20k per month. If they want all Apple products they can get them. Got to have the Apple stand, who cares if it costs 1k?

The level down realizes they want the important parts, but don’t care about the name. They will but the nice brand stand for $200ish. These are the people who realized. Maybach was just a Benz.

Then there’s the rest of us, who’s summit car is the Mercedes A class equivalent to the base MacBook Pro 😂

Tl;dr Apple didn’t want to make peripherals but then realized they could milk the whales and the after market would take care of the rest.

High price is an actual feature people are buying.