Why People Buy $30 Power Cords Against All Reason
An informed theory
Maybe you’ve heard of Occam’s Razor? It’s the logical principle that holds that the simplest answer to a question is usually the correct one. And the simplest answer, according to Occam’s Razor, is the one that requires the fewest number of assumptions or jumps in logic to reach the correct conclusion.
With that in mind, a question recently came up in conversation: Why in the world would anyone buy Apple’s $30 6.5-foot Lightning-to-USB cable? A couple of answers arose:
- All of the seating the potential buyer possesses is comically far from an outlet, and they have an aversion to extension cords.
- The extra 3.3 feet of cable over the standard-issue 3.2-foot cable allows for a greater range of motion to allow for wild gesticulating (the imagination reels with possibility) while reaping the benefits of a charging iPhone.
Of course, neither theory rationalizes a $30 price tag. These aren’t special cables. They aren’t threaded or colored. They’re the standard-issue cable that comes with an iPhone, just with more cable and exponentially more expensive than the exact same cables you can buy elsewhere.
If Apple were the only company making six-foot iPhone cords (or iPhone cords period), they could charge whatever…
