Friday, June 5, 2009

iPhone price elasticity=-2

Cheaper iPhones are being introduced by Apple:
Citing a firm survey of consumers, Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty said that a $50 price cut could increase demand by 50 per cent and a $100 cut by 100 per cent.
For a $199 iPhone, this would imply a price elasticity of demand of about -2.  If so, a price cut would increases profit if the actual margin, (P-MC)/P, greater than the inverse elasticity, 50%.  Remember,

MR>MC  if (P-MC)>1/|e|

in which case you should sell more, which you do by reducing price. 

4 comments:

  1. to cut the price by 50% you would also have to cut the monthly price by 50%.

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  2. Richard is right. The iphone is a 2-part tariff. They cost more to produce than the list price. The $$ is made by the subscription revenue.

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  3. For the profit calcs, what's missing is the very large subsidy per phone from AT&T. Consumers pay only a part of the revenue received by Apple.

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  4. When it comes to iPhone, it is very crucial for people now days, so I am also working in Forex trading where I am using this iPhone to do trading and it works perfectly especially thanks to high class broker like OctaFX, it’s one of the top companies in this industry and have all the features that makes us winners and that’s why I really love and enjoy working with them while in case of any trouble, I am able to get 24/5 support from their customer service.

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