pricing

Mark Cuban thinks 'the album is dead'-- I hope he's wrong

From the earliest days of rock 'n' roll in the 1950s up through the early 1960s, kids bought "45s."

The albums of the period typically had just a few good tunes, and the rest was crap. Then The Beatles changed the rules. Their albums were so chock-full of great stuff, you wanted to hear every tune. Sure, singles were still important, but most of the bands that mattered didn't rely on singles, and even The Beatles stopped putting out singles tied to a specific album (there were no singles released from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club … Read more

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

In a study that could make marketing managers and salespeople rub their hands with glee, scientists have used brain-scanning technology to shed new light on the old adage, "You get what you pay for."

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford's business school have directly seen that the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price. And that's true even when, unbeknownst to the test subjects, it's exactly the same Cabernet Sauvignon with a dramatically different price tag.

Specifically, the researchers found that with the higher … Read more

Apple forced to lower price at U.K. iTunes store

According to an Apple statement sent out yesterday, Apple will equalize the price of music on its iTunes Stores across Europe within the next six months.

It seems the peeps at Which? weren't satisfied that us Brits were being charged more for music in iTunes than the rest of Europe, so they filed a formal complaint with the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading, which then contacted the European Commission, which started antitrust proceedings. Apple's decision has satisfied the EC, which will take no further action.

At the moment you have to pay 79 pence (about $1.… Read more

Would you pay more for a greener car?

Consumers won't pay more for cars that would meet new, stricter emissions standards.

That was the message sent last week by Susan Docherty, Western Region general manager of General Motors, as a handful of automotive journalists (including yours truly) sat scattered at a very large table in a private room in the back of one of Santa Monica's poshest hotel restaurants during a GM-sponsored holiday dinner.

The proclamation erupted out of a somewhat heated debate with one of the print journalists at the table, sparked in part by news that a U.S. District Judge had dismissed a lawsuit … Read more

Big price hikes for peak power likely for Californians

If you run the dryer in the daytime and live in California, expect to pay for the privilege in the future.

Peter Darbee, CEO Pacific Gas & Electric, said the utility is currently running a smart meter trial at 25,000 homes and one of the goals is to figure out how to price peak power. Electricity demand is highest in the afternoon and PG&E is trying to figure out much the utility will have to charge for the power to curb demand. By curbing demand, PG&E can cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and, possibly, … Read more

New entry-level Xbox 360 model imminent?

Now that the long-rumored "bargain" PS3 now a reality (in Europe, anyway), how will Microsoft respond? Over the past few months, the company has refreshed the bulk of the 360 line: the $450 Elite debuted in April with a large 120GB hard drive, HDMI port, and (finally!) black color scheme; the Pro (a.k.a. "Premium") 20GB model got a $50 price cut and HDMI upgrade; and there's even a limited-run $400 Halo Edition (basically, the Pro with a military camo paint job) for $400. But what of the lowly Xbox 360 Core System? The … Read more

The real price to pay for the new PS3

For the longest time I've yearned for a desire to want to purchase a PlayStation 3. Like many other gamers, the hefty price tag and lack of blockbuster exclusive games has kept me far away from the big black box and enjoying my Wii and Xbox 360. And yes, even the lack of rumble had me second guessing a purchase.

The latest rumor-turned-reality comes from Europe and has a 40GB PS3 priced at $400 (when this deal inevitably comes stateside). Sure, there's an argument to be made that $400 is a great deal for Blu-ray player, but apparently … Read more

Sony confirms cheaper 40GB PS3 for Europe; U.S. version to follow?

The rumors were true, almost to the letter. Sony Europe has confirmed the existence of a new entry-level PlayStation 3. Scheduled to hit stores on the Continent on October 10, the new PS3 has been stripped down to hit a lower price point: it's got a smaller 40GB hard drive, no built-in flash media reader, and two (rather than four) USB ports. But the biggest change appears to be the loss of backward compatibility with PS2 games. Sony's release specifies that "[t]he new model is no longer backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 titles, reflecting both the … Read more

Making sense of the million-dollar iPhone lawsuit

When Apple announced that it was dropping the price of the iPhone by $200, some jumped for joy and immediately headed out to their nearest Apple store. For others--early adopters who had already purchased Apple's gadget--the price drop was nothing short of a slap in the face. Some were satisfied when Steve Jobs said that these loyal customers would be provided a $100 credit toward their next Apple purchase, but many felt the credit didn't suffice. One of these unhappy shoppers has filed a lawsuit against Apple to the tune of $1 million dollars.

It's unclear how the litigant, Dongmei Li, plans to justify a million dollars in damages over a $200 price drop, but Li's argument is that "the price reduction injured early purchasers like herself because they cannot resell the product for the same profit as those who bought the cell phone following the price cut," according to CNN's account. So I guess that comes out to $200 in actual losses and $999,800 in pain and suffering.

And on day 68: $100 iPhone credit

And, in case you hadn't heard, in a letter posted on Apple's site, Steve Jobs claims to have read "hundreds" of irate emails regarding the iPhone price drop and is therefore issuing $100 worth of Apple credits to us early adopters. Did he really read all of those emails? Hrmmmm.

While Apple is not under any obligation to do so, it was still nice of them. Now, I know some people will be like why not $200, or why not cash-money. May I repeat, not any obligation to do so. Besides, only us geeky types who … Read more