For those who want a specific dollar figure on how much people are willing to pay in order to be cooler than their friends:
iPhone Price Reduced by $200
Well, it's been about 3 months since the release, so that comes to $67 a month, or about $2.25 per day.
While the early adopters of this technology could have waited a few months to save $200 as well as avoid the risk of being beta testers, they'd rather pay the money to be the "first on the block." I think I could reasonably conclude that Apple priced the phone $200 more during the first couple of months to exploit those people who are willing to pay money in order to show their technological dominance over their friends. This same concept applies to all new, but only marginally more useful, technologies (like flat screen / plasma TVs when they first came out, and spinning rims for your car's wheels.) The main reason people buy these things while they're so expensive is to impress their friends. Once they become a lot cheaper, that's when the people who want them for their utilitarian purpose will buy them.
How many friends and casual acquaintances does the average person have? 20? Including work and all the people you'll see in a three month period that might reasonably see you playing with your phone, maybe 30? Let's assume it's about 30, on average. This means that the average iPhone owner is paying about $6.70 per jealous person.
This seems like an interesting opportunity...
I'm going to start a company that you can hire to "advertise" your qualities. I'll charge significantly less than the natural market price (apparently around $6 or $7 per person-made-jealous), and it'll be completely customizable.
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How many people would you like to envy you? 50? 1000? In your home town, or in your apartment complex? You decide! For the low, low price of $2.99 per target, I can guarantee an "envious response" from the entire target audience!
These responses will be videotaped, recorded on an audio CD and also transcribed to a leather bound book, so you're free to bask in your friends' and acquaintances' jealousy as often and for as long as you desire!
Just imagine: For only $60.00, everyone in your office will be jealous of you! For less than $999, everyone in your neighborhood will wish they were you! Oh, how they'll look up to you!
Sure, you could spend the night waiting in line to get an iPhone the day it comes out, or rent a limo, or buy some new rims, but your friends' jealousy will only last a moment. With our program, you can look back on their envy for your entire life, forever basking in the glory that came from that one, brief instant in which you were truly, truly better than everyone else.
We also send a commemorative plaque that states, "You're #1!" as a token of our appreciation for doing business with us. You're welcome to shove this down your friends' throats, as well.
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What do you think? Next time a new piece of high tech uselessness comes out, I'm going to start advertising my business... If anyone wants in on the ground floor, let me know. I'll print some fancy business cards for ya...
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
No, You Can't Play With My Business Opportunity
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9 comments:
Why stop at the latest technology?
Why don't you also consider cars - the next new Lotus, or Lexus...the customer can star in their own commercial to revel in all of the glory! Boats and other motor vehicles could also have the same benefits.
Flooring, with a mirror shine. Cleaning Products that you only have to use once, or that vacuum by themselves! Or slip resistant coffee, so when it spills you don't fall and hurt yourself. There is a huge market in the geriatric community for that!
Anyway - you get the point...it goes on and on! The market opportunities would be endless!
With that sort of market, you can count me in!
Dave, I have a request. Or question. Something of a quizzical nature, basically.
How does someone invest when they have very, very little to invest with?
How can I turn slightly more than zero into something?
It turns out Steve Jobs is a wiener and is offering a $100 rebate to all the turds that bought iPhones early on, so that splits the possible charge for "people-made-jealous" in half. So now $3 is the upper limit, and to compete effectively we've got to charge less than $2, I'm guessing.
So, Fred, that means for a commercial that potentially reaches 1 million people, we'll conceivably be able to charge 2 million dollars. The real question is - and here's a research assignment for all those concerned - how much would a TV network charge us, per person, to advertise our "product"? Hopefully less than $2 million...
(Logic would dictate that a TV network would know vainness better than us, and thus it would "price it out of the market" due to time constraints, so I think it's a lost cause.)
And Zane:
I think you've figured out how to get my giblets all bouncy (to paraphrase Greg Dodge).
However, I can't decide if I should defer to everyone else for advice, or if I should do a post. I'll start off with this, though:
The most basic idea involves spending less and getting two bank accounts (one online - for the interest rate - and one branch bank for easy access [+ ATMs]), but it really depends on the starting amount, your time frame, your income and discretionary spending.
Starting with $500 is a different story than $50, and significantly different than $2500. After that, though, it's all pretty much the same.
So, I'm deferring - First, Zane, how much, exactly, is "slightly more than zero"?
After you answer, I invite everyone to offer their personal methods on how to go from "broke" to "not-so-broke," mostly because I'm curious how every one else looks at this problem...
$50 would be very doable. $250 might be a little harder.
As far as the deference of the question -
I think Zane is already on the right track. He has started marketing his product - which DID start from nothing, I think the old fashioned American way is the best option. Pure entrepreneurial grit.
Which as I said before, buy a shirt, support a cause worth supporting. As long as Zane keeps providing quality product (www.LloydZeffler.com, and Lloydzeffler.blogspot.com), then he is already on the right track. If you ask me it takes entrepreneurial creativity, which he is doing, but it is still the droplet of water from the snow flake, it hasn't made it to the river, and thusly the ocean.
As he approaches that river he will then have the means to start doing small investments, CD's, Bonds, maybe even a more liquid Scottrade type of account to really start making the money work for him. As for now I would have him put everything big or small into a savings account until he can do a beginner option.
Right now, he is in development for greatness, and the fact that he is asking these questions now, I have no doubt that he will make it from 0 to infinity.
Zane - a great reference guide, (which has/is helped/helping me greatly in the last few years) -
The Total Money Makeover - by Dave Ramsey.
Fantastic book...easy read too! I know it's a bit elementary for the Foreecon, but it's great for starters such as us!
So put in 50 here and 50 there, and eventually you'll have a small nest egg to cushion you for to start looking into other types of investing.
Almost forgot -
Dave - I was watching a 'history's moments of television', VH1 style tidbit about infomercials, and they suggested that for the average infomercial is some $2000 per second! Can you believe that! That's insane...and to think that it pays off!
The interesting thing was that the first infomercial was for blue blockers, and it was actually ran as a PSA (Public Service Announcement). In fact most networks ran it often for free because the stupid blue blocker rap was so popular in 'Pop' culture and brought ratings. Of course, that was back when networks cared more about ratings and viewership than dollars and cents - but I'm sure that in economic terms you can also compare the number of networks in the 80's to now and realize that choices were limited, and ratings could actually be more valuable in the long term than that of money.
But, think of that profit margin in 00's (21st century) terms - wow!
Agreed - Before major networks had the ability (or desire) to measure a minute by minute viewer count, I'd bet they were more inclined to keep people interested in the network rather than the individual shows.
At some point, they decided that people have very little loyalty to individual networks - I'm guessing - and started selling advertising based on the expected number of viewers at any given minute (or half-hour.) The more flippant viewers get and the more options they are given, I'm assuming, the lower the total advertising costs. So yeah, I think you might be right about that... But then again, there are a lot more people watching a lot more TV these days...
There are a lot more TV's per household too, but I would not doubt that the hours of average tv/per person per week has changed too much. There is just a larger choice of channels.
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