Genos $1,000 price drop

[BogdanH]

hi Yama,

...The price of Genos + speaker bundle is even lower now. Just Music shop in Berlin offers the Genos plus speaker bundle for €3698. 

...now we're getting toward more reasonable prices 
Thank you for pointing on "Just Music" store!

Bogdan

[mikf]

I suspect the widespread price reductions may be coming as support from the manufacturer. When you have already recovered your development costs from previous sales, price reductions are something all manufacturers can consider.
I also wonder how much exchange rates influence pricing. When the Genos was launched the Yen was much weaker than it is today. That actually makes the $ price reduction even more than it seems.  But it might also indicate much higher pricing when and if a new model arrives.
Mike

[BogdanH]

I suspect the widespread price reductions may be coming as support from the manufacturer...

I think so too, because I can hardly imagine retailers to have such margins.

... When you have already recovered your development costs from previous sales, price reductions are something all manufacturers can consider....

-but only if there's competition.

If it happens that Yamaha introduces new TOTL arranger anytime soon, price is expected to be higher, of course. But I think it won't be even near that high as that was the case with Genos, because market has changed meanwhile. For example, Korg Pa5X (76-key) launch price was about 4700€ and has dropped to 4400€ within a year.
Yes, I'm looking from my wallet and so I think TOTL arranger shouldn't be above 4000€... "professional" or not, at the end it's a consumer product.

Bogdan

[mikf]

As I said it's something they 'can consider', not that they will act on it. That depends on many other factors, competitive position, exchange rates etc etc.
But if there ever is a replacement I really doubt it will be way lower than original launch Genos. Note the value of the Yen at original Genos launch, and value today. A 4000 U.S.D. price would be an enormous price reduction for Yamaha compared to Genos when turned back into Yen.
Mike

[pjd]

I also wonder how much exchange rates influence pricing. When the Genos was launched the Yen was much weaker than it is today. That actually makes the $ price reduction even more than it seems.  But it might also indicate much higher pricing when and if a new model arrives.
Mike

Hi Mike --

Thanks for your comments. As to influence of exchange rates and Yamaha products -- a lot!

Yamaha's annual report from two (?) years ago cited currency fluctuations as a major issue and source of lost revenue. I don't have to tell ya, when this kind of financial issue gets CEO/CFO attention, it's gonna get fixed. The annual report indicated that Yamaha would immediately adjust pricing and hedging.

I think those decisions drove the regional "inconsistencies" in pricing as observed by forum members during the last year.

Two unexplored areas (for me) are VAT and import tariffs. Since the USA doesn't have VAT, I lack basic experience with it. I tried investigating how USA import tariffs might affect pricing, but gave up. There's a lot of "friendly" nation vs. whatever and I never did get very far.

All the best -- pj

[mikf]

Import tariffs are normally referred to as "duty" in the uk, and like the USA, is probably fairly trivial on these kind of goods.
VAT is akin to sales tax in USA, but the two big differences are that
a) because sales tax varies between states prices in the USA are always quoted before sales tax is added while by law quoted prices have to include VAT in the UK
and b) VAT at around 20% is much higher than even the highest state sales tax in the USA.
So true price comparisons between US and Europe should include sales tax and VAT.
Mike

[ton37]

If there was a certain logic in the retail prices, there would be a formula for it. But there's just no logic in it. It's just a matter of supply and demand. And everyone (producer and dealers) wants to earn as much as possible from it. Yamaha knows that there are a lot of customers waiting impatiently to give them their money for a new top of the line keyboard. Yamaha responds to a much delayed need and will therefore be able to cash in nicely. In other words, the price will be quite high and well above the current market price of the Genos (1)/ Korg or Ketron. So that Genos 1 will not drop in price much for the time being. The price will drop slightly as more Genossen 1 trade-ins come onto the market. But then we are certainly 1 or 2 years further.
The bottom line is that you decide for yourself what you are willing to pay for to be among the first owners. And in fact there is nothing wrong with that if it makes you a happy keyboardist ...