June 26th, 2009
Sony admits to PSP Go early adopter premium, are you really surprised?
The PSP Go will be launching on 1 October for $249 and according to a Joystiq article posting a quote from a Sony executive Sony is associating a premium cost for new adopters. It is not a new practice to charge a premium for new products, just look at Apple’s $200 price drop after just two months, but this is one of the first times I have heard of a company actually admitting there is a premium for early adopters.
As an admitted early adopter I have to say paying a premium on new products has not really deterred me from picking them up, but a lot of this acceptance has to do with the fact that I do see a return on my early investment by writing about these new products here on ZDNet. Now, if I was a “normal” consumer who enjoyed the latest and greatest products, I may be a bit ticked that companies are charging premiums when products launch just because they can and not because that is the selling price needed to stay profitable. Yet, I am also a fan of the free market system so if people don’t like paying premiums, then let your money do the talking and stop buying new products at launch. If people stopped doing this all the time, maybe there would be fewer premiums. I highly doubt people have this patience today though and think there will continue to be early adopters paying a premium for new prodcuts.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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