Wake Up, Apple: Your Prices Are 'Absurdly High'

Apple proved once again yesterday as it unveiled the iPad Air and other upgrades that it still knows how to produce snazzy products. It also proved that it remains clueless when it comes to putting a price tag on those products, writes Troy Wolverton at the San Jose Mercury News. Sure, the Air is at least "defensible" at $500—though Google and Samsung rivals come in at $400 and $360— "but the pricing of the company's iPad line as a whole is absurdly high." The iPad2 and the Mini are $400? Please. It's not like Apple reigns supreme over the tablet market.

Then there's the "absurd" $3,000 price of the Mac Pro, and the still too-expensive laptops for $1,300 and $2,000. Apple has long pitched itself as a "premium" brand, but it has previously made better efforts to stay competitive. Witness those affordable iPods, or getting AT&T to subsidize the iPhone. Those days seem gone. "So while Apple may know a lot still about how to make cool devices, it seems to have lost its way on pricing," writes Wolverton. "Here's hoping it relearns its lesson. " Click for his full column. (More Apple stories.)