Luke Hahn
In our society today, many people with a cellular device use an iPhone from Apple. Statistics say that in 2017 around 223 million people, in the United States alone, had a smartphone and well over half of them were an iPhone. Apple is a worldwide technology company that makes many products ranging from phones, laptops, or watches, as well as accessories to go with them. Apple has just recently released a new red colorway for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus called the (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition.
The release of a new iPhone is nothing new for Apple. Typically, this company has been known to release new products to the market on a yearly basis. They consistently make changes to their products and add new aspects to each phone to appeal to consumers. However, over the past years the iPhone has only been released in a few general colorways. The new red iPhone was released to help raise money for the testing, counseling, and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS. They also released a red leather folio for their latest and greatest product, the iPhone X, which also contributes to the cause. PRODUCT(RED) is an organization founded in 2006 thats goal is to raise awareness and money to help fight against HIV/AIDS. Apple has donated over 160 million dollars to PRODUCT(RED) making them the largest corporate donor for this organization. The PRODUCT(RED) iPhone will be available in different GB models starting at $699 as well as the iPhone X Folio for $99. To make the phone and case more wanted by consumers, Apple announced that the products will only be available for a certain time. They are limited edition items and will not be on the market again, therefore increasing the demand substantially. Despite the good cause I personally think that apple overprices many of their products. The iPhone X red leather folio is priced at $99 and is simply just a leather phone case. Many large corporations these days think that their label alone on products increases the value substantially. If they made charity products like these less expensive for consumers and more affordable to everyone in the market, they could raise much more for PRODUCT(RED). Apple itself is already over a 200 billion dollar corporation, and as a consumer, I don’t think that the Apple logo should automatically make a product incredibly expensive. Although their products are very top of the line and some should be highly priced, I don’t think they will raise much by selling a phone case for a hundred dollars. If large multi-billion dollar corporations do more special products like this we can raise billions for charities. Overall, it is a good message to other corporations and hopefully can influence them to do something similar for other charities.
Works Cited
“Apple.” Apple, www.apple.com/.
“Home.” (RED), www.red.org/.
“(PRODUCT)RED™ - IPhone 8 Special Edition.” Apple, www.apple.com/product-red/.
I agree that it is for a good cause but for a leather case over a phone, honestly shouldn't be $100. Its a bit ridiculous how much major phone company brands charge for accessories now a days. Cases range anywhere from .99-over $100 to help give your phone a little bit of a new look but how long until the phone is outdated or the case is worn down over time.
ReplyDeleteBeing a strong advocate for Apple myself, I like that the company is trying to raise money for a great cause. However, I do think that they are significantly overcharging for these two products. (RED) partners with many of the world's most iconic brands, but I've never seen the prices as high as what Apple is charging for the red iPhone and phone case. If Apple is going to charge an amount of money that large, they should at least be donating over 50% of the profits, which they are not doing.
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ReplyDeleteI think that it is good to see large companies donating a share of their profits to charities like this. When you have a company that is bringing in this much money, it is a great idea to offer a product like this where the consumers can get a new design on the phone, and also you are helping people across the world with a terrible disease. I hope that we see more from apple with products like this, and that it will influence other companies to start doing this like this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that large corporations should be raising more money for charity but I don't believe that they have to raise money because they are already very large. Since Apple is a $200 billion corporation, a donation the donation of $160 million is more for the publicity than for the cause. Along with that they are raising the money when they shouldn't have to. Since they are so large, Apple should be easily able to donate that money 5 times over without making a dent in how their company runs. Other large corporations should be able to do the same but I believe that they don't because the CEO, or president is a little bit greedy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the prices shouldn't be that high especially if they are raising the money for a good cause becasue more people will want to buy it and help out the cause. The red iPhone 8 costing $699 is ridicules I spent that much on a laptop that works amazingly. Apple shouldn't be charging so much to raise money for a good cause.
ReplyDeleteThe (RED) products released by Apple is a very effective way to spread awareness to the cause. Apple has an incredible outreach to customers, and having profits contribute to such an important cause can only be good for Apple. However, just like any other Fortune 500 company, all they think about is money. If Apple really wanted to help raise money for AIDS/HIV research, wouldn't they make the phone available for a longer period of time? Putting a time limit on supporting AIDS/HIV research is not a good call by Apple. The reason they make it a limited time only product is to get more people excited about it, and it makes customers feel that they have to buy it immediately. I also agree with you on the overpricing. But what is Apple without unreasonably high prices?
ReplyDeleteI agree with that Apple overprices their products. Apple continually steals ideas from other companies and then try to sell them as their own marked up ridiculously from other brands. I like to see that they are donating as much as they have to this cause but when you are basically robbing the customers I don't think it's a good way of going about it.
ReplyDeleteI think that while many might complain about the exorbitant prices that this and other accessories to technology cost, I think that many must take into consideration not only the good that this awareness campaign is producing but also consider the fact that this accessory is obviously optional and will most likely only be bought by individuals who can afford it and wish to spend the money to support the cause. I think that this is a good and welcoming development to the company and its publicity.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with a campaign like this is the extremely high price of Apple products. While it is a good cause, a person will spend way too much on a product that gives a few hundred to charity. There will most likely be a percentage of sales going to Apple, lowering amount donated, but most people who want the phone already have the phone at this point, because nobody is going to buy a phone they bought months earlier just for some to go to charity.
ReplyDeletePeople will ultimately spend more money on name brand products, No one is going to pay a lot of money for a brand no one knows about, they basically just want people to know they have the money to buy the expensive, name-brand products.
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