So I just bought the second generation iPad a few months ago, and in the past few weeks Apple has both announced and released a new iPad in record time. There are two schools of thought: those who just need a new product and buy whatever is the latest at the time, and those who religiously line up on the release dates for the hot, new item without fail. I used to subscribe to the latter when companies released “new” products. But the release of the “new” iPad has been leaving much to be desired in the eyes of reviewers and loyal customers alike. This problem goes way beyond just Apple. This is endemic of the entire industry which is starting to earn its own moniker “Big Tech” just like Big Oil and Big Pharma. It’s a double edged sword for these large companies; by achieving such heights they can be assured of their long-term viability, however it implies that their customers are begrudgingly hooked on their product. We need gasoline (for now) and we need our medicine, but we don’t need a mp3 player that badly.
We know that long ago most tech companies outsourced their customer support to companies in India. And now many companies based right here in the United States are all employers of Foxxcon, a company with a dubious track record of human rights. All because it is supposed to save the customers money in the long run. Okay, I’ll buy that for now, but what do we get in return? I’ve never heard anyone say “I just bought a new cellphone, man was it cheap.” Well, I said that once, but I was buying the iPhone 3 at a tremendous discount from AT&T. Ironically, it was only on discount because the iPhone 4S was about to come out and they were still sitting on a pile of now out-dated models. And why do we do this to ourselves? How is it that we can consistently generate such fervor over such incremental updates?
I am now going to pick on the iPad specifically. It took them one year to make all of the slight changes that happened between the 2nd and 3rd generations of their product; the only differences are a stronger rear-camera, an extra 500 MB of ram, and more pixels on the screen. This is an incremental change in the development of the product, but they are billing it as the new iPad. Automobile companies come out with a new car every year, but even they don’t think that we will buy a new car every year. Cars are expensive you might say. Well, Kia sells cars in two packs for roughly eleven grand, or so the humorous radio adds declare. “Buy one, get one free!” The most expensive iPad costs over eight hundred dollars, and then of course your cellphone and its bills, your consoles and their games and subscriptions, your computers, laptops, e-readers, netbooks, mp3 players, and on and on and on! I’m starting to think cars are cheaper than all of this gadgetry.
I mean, for the price of an iPad I can get an amazing computer that comes with a keyboard, mouse, and decent sized monitor, or an almost equally powerful laptop. Please don’t tell me I can buy a separate keyboard and mouse for my iPad or I will scream. Cost analysis done on these products show that Apple is marking up their iPad between 39% and 102% depending on if you buy the cheap or expensive model. The difference in production costs between the two models rolling off the assembly lines is roughly fifty bucks according to iSuppli, a subsidiary of the business research firm IHS Inc. But the difference between the two on the store shelves is over three-hundred bucks. Where is the alleged savings that automation and foreign labor was supposed to bring us? Furthermore, these devices are coming integrated with cellphone data plans. Remember that poor girl who got that three-hundred page phone bill? That’s something I don’t need for my tablet, too.
Lastly, all of these companies create the illusion of choice with their products. Selecting either two or four gigabytes of RAM is not a choice. Choosing between Kingston and OCZ is a choice, choosing the timings on the RAM is a choice. What these companies are doing is dumbing it down to a ‘two-or-four’ choice; it shows a lack of confidence in our reasoning skills. Maybe these companies are under contract to only offer products from a certain company, but even then there is more to a processor than just the name ‘Intel i7’ or ‘AMD’. I mean, call me crazy, but the best part of brand new car shopping is picking out all of the accessories. Imagine if your options were as limited on the car lot as they are when shopping for a new computer. Wouldn’t you immediately start thinking about other car dealerships you might visit?
Fortunately, there is hope. Smaller companies are offering higher levels of customization, and they manufacture everything within this country. Websites like Newegg.com and TigerDirect.com help you find all of the parts you need to put together a powerful computer at a fraction of the cost. If you aren’t in the mood to learn how a computer’s guts function, I recommend a new company known as Origin PC. Their leadership were the very same who started up a different small company years ago, Alienware. Under that banner, the company made a name for themselves for quality, service, and frankly for being American. People flocked to their products, which were slightly higher priced but you definitely got what you paid for, and this company deserved the credit. Dell computers bought them out and promised to expand them while maintaining the spirit of the company. Dell gave them access to their corporate supply chain alright, translation: they outsourced the tech support and manufacturing in order to increase cash in on a name that was synonymous with quality. So hey, buy American! If you are in the market for a new computer or laptop, check out Origin PC.