Unethical... Immoral...
You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
Totally agree. People here have never seen an episode of Shark Tank it seems.
When you go to a movie and pay $10 for a ticket per showing when you could buy the Blu-Ray for $20, is that unethical? Is paying $20 for two drinks and a large popcorn when it costs the theater < $2 for that immoral??
Those complaining here are the same lot that complain that the 5D3 should sell for $1200, or that they didn't get all the features of the 1Dx in a body 1/3 the cost, or gee whizz the 6D does not have the same AF as the 7D. Unrealistic whiners who would fail as corporate leaders.
They also would probably cry that BMW puts in restrictions on the US versions of the M5 that limit it's maximum horsepower and still charge you over $100k for the car.
Your car analogy is totally erroneous! Btw I've owned both the BMW M5 and the BMW M3 (one I chipped to over 400BHP with fun but detrimental results). There are 2 genuine reasons to limit the performance/horsepower of a BMW M5 sold into the US market:
(1) Cars in the USA are subject to different homologation criteria, thus exhaust system (affects HP) and catalytic converters are different
(2) BMW Motorsport automobiles in Europe are designed and optimized to run on RON 98 gasoline that is simply not widely available in the United States. Both my M5 & M3 had a sticker on the inside of the fuel cap door with the recommendation; "Warning 98 Octane Fuel Recommended", with an additional explanation that you could use 95 Octane when 98 was not available. In the US, most gas stations sell 87, 89, 91 or 92 octane fuel!
You could add ethanol to US gasoline to boost the octane level, in the same way that you add an additive to 2-stroke engines but nobody in a suit driving an M5 in NY is going to be sitting there at a gas station mixing 'stuff' into their fuel as they fill up their tank, having paid a hundred grand for the car.
The point you're all missing here, is the difference between genuine product differentiation, coupled with a differential (marketing) pricing policy, where there is an apparent dislocation between product/priceIf any of you want a really informative lesson on business ethics, then read
"Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre, a journalist and a Doctor who has trained medical students. You'll soon see how Canon is no different to Big Pharma or indeed other multinationals who milk their customers for every last cent of profit, and where
MARKETING budgets dwarf
R&D budgets in all of the large corporations around the world, including Canon
