No... it matters not what the cost of development is. It matters the perceived value in the marketplace.
Thats the only thing that matters.
Absolutely correct! If I invent something that costs me 47 cents to invent, patent, manufacture, distribute, promote, and sell - but I manage to sell out all I can make at 100 trillion dollars - why is that wrong?
Get over your sense of entitlement.
My sense of entitlement? What are you talking about man? Are you daft? I'm talking about simple manufacturing economics, something which you obviously know nothing about.
Yes, if you can make a trillion off 47 cents, its your right and privilege to do so! Thats not entitlement, its economics.
Let me 'splain once again. The final price of anything, is only what the market - thats you and me - are willing to pay. Thats it. The cost of manufacturing has NOTHING to do with the final price. Absolutely nothing. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is also clueless.
The old convention, of saying "it costs me X to make" so I'll mark it up "this much" and the price will be Y is totally out the window with mass production, especially highly automated mass production. In modern manufacturing, we approach the product backwards. We take a concept, market the concept, determine its value to the market (what we're willing to pay) and then manufacture it to the most cost effective way possible, while still keeping the feature set that retains the value in the market. Thats how it works. Jeeze.
One more example. The industry I work within makes a product. It cost us about eight bucks to make. We sell it for about $250 to the distribution network. Why? Because our marketing shows that we can get realistically $400 for it. So, it MSRP's out for $675, dealers pay $250ish. They sell it for $400 (or sometimes less. The customer think they get 40 percent discount off "list". Thats how our market works. But, our cost is eight bucks. We make a sister product, cost exactly the same to make... within a nickle. Our marketing shows that we can get $550 for it. Dealers pay $345ish, and its MSRP's for $925. We love to sell those. Eight bucks turns into $350 for each one, and they go four to a case. And... and... if you dont like it - well dont buy it.
Entitlement indeed. Get real.
