brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (05/30/85)
One can hardly accuse Jack Tramiel of being ignorant of financial management and margins. He only built one of the most successful and profitable computer companies around. You are right that the ST has a lower margin than the Mac. That's because you're not paying for all that valuable advertising. The MAC costs about $200 to make. With the normal 5X basic cost rule for hardware margins, it should sell at $1000, which is what it DID sell for in the consortium schools. At the $1000 price, Apple made a reasonable, although not apple-like profit. At the $2500 price, if there was a 40% markup at the dealer, apple got $1500, or $500 extra per machine. And they spent it on all that advertising. Advertising sure adds to the value of a machine, so you know you got your money's worth from your Mac. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473