Why haven't graphing calculators gone down in price?

I remember when my parents bought my TI-83+ calculator in 1998, they paid about $90. Now, office supply stores are advertising the same calculator, with the same features (except new fluorescent colors...wowie) for $85.

I realize that TI has a pretty big monopoly on the grade school calculator market (most math books ONLY give steps for TI-83s), but wouldn't newer technology bring prices down?

TI has the 85, 89, and 92, but the 83 is still selling for waaaaaaaaaay more than it's worth. As each year goes by, TI is undoubtedly making greater and greater profit off the sales of these calculators.

 

[isekii]

Buy em online pug~

you can get the TI83 + for like 40-50 bucks on ebay.

 

Originally posted by: isekii
Buy em online pug~

you can get the TI83 + for like 40-50 bucks on ebay.

But that doesn't answer my question. I have a graphing calculator already. But why are they still selling for so much in the stores?

 

[Skawttey]

Originally posted by: jumpr

TI has a pretty big monopoly on the grade school calculator market (most math books ONLY give steps for TI-83s).

its all about the money

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: isekii
Buy em online pug~

you can get the TI83 + for like 40-50 bucks on ebay.

But that doesn't answer my question. I have a graphing calculator already. But why are they still selling for so much in the stores?

because store has overhead.

They gotta maintain profit margins to keep the investors happy.

 

[novon]

TI-89 + Calc = Breeze

 

[Schadenfreude]

Well you can download a buncha programs for those things that do the work for you . . . how do I know? Fancy luck, I guess.

I used to literally type out all the equations and how they are used on my Ti-85 . . ..

Then it kinda became useless since I memorized it while I was typing it in . . ..

 

[Buttzilla]

cause the ever growing hs population is suckered into thinking that they need them.

there's a growing asian population and since we're all over achievers and good at math there's a ready market for the TI.

 

[Buttzilla]

and our parents would pay for anything if its school relatated.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: Buttzilla
and our parents would pay for anything if its school relatated.

 

[SuperTool]

It's supply and demand. If Ti can sell Ti-83's without lowering price, they aren't going to lower the price.

 

[ViRGE]

I think it's safe to say that it's all about competition and monopolies. HP dropped out of the calculator race, so there's really no competition(sure, there are other brands, but lets face it, HP and TI were the 2 big names), so a monopoly has resulted. As a result, why should TI lower their prices? No one is selling something better for the same price, and they won't sell significantly more at a lower price.

 

[oniq]

Its supply and demand..

I mean, whos going to go buy a small tiny calculator when you can lug around your 20lb case and a 20lb monitor?

 

[Marauder-]

It's more b/c a lot of AP calc classes in high school recommend a TI-83 and so it has a constant chain of buyers each year. I'm sure if that was slowing, they could drop it down another 20 or something.

 

[phreakah]

Originally posted by: novon
TI-89 + Calc = Breeze

I did that in calc I and when i went to calc II the prof didnt allow calculators.. so i had to try

 

[BillGates]

Math really isn't evolving, and now that a calculator was created that can basically handle 90% of all mathematical equations, neither is the calculator industry. However, demand remains about the same year to year.

 

[SuperTool]

That's why American kids suck at math. Calculators. I never used calculators until I came to the states, and I never had a multiple choice test either.
Instead of graphing with a calculator, graph by hand, you'll learn a lot more about functions and calculus.

 

[Babbles]

Again it is supply and demand, but since your calculator doesn't have that concept built in, it may confuse you.

 

[vegetation]

Actually, they have come down in price, or at least reached a higher level of refinement for the same price. You can buy a TI-89 at the same price today than a TI-85 ten years ago. Granted, the base price hasn't changed much, but you have to remember graphing calculators is a really small market. I applaud TI for even staying in the market, considering HP abandoned and left its users hanging.

 

[Bryan]

Originally posted by: jumpr
I remember when my parents bought my TI-83+ calculator in 1998, they paid about $90. Now, office supply stores are advertising the same calculator, with the same features (except new fluorescent colors...wowie) for $85.

I realize that TI has a pretty big monopoly on the grade school calculator market (most math books ONLY give steps for TI-83s), but wouldn't newer technology bring prices down?

TI has the 85, 89, and 92, but the 83 is still selling for waaaaaaaaaay more than it's worth. As each year goes by, TI is undoubtedly making greater and greater profit off the sales of these calculators.

It's mainly because of the lack of competition. TI is the de facto standard, and no one else really comes close. Do you think Palm Pilots would have come down in price if there were no Handsprings or Pocket PC's?

 

[wyvrn]

Well for one thing most people don't buy em. You have EE majors and I am sure a couple of other majors, but most profs ban them on tests and quizzes anyway. If you aren't an EE major, what do you do with an expensive calulator after your 1-2 math classes? Most likely resell, so that means even less new calcs are being sold. For my two Calcs, we had to do the graphing by hand on paper, and yes we had graphing probs on every exam. I did learn a lot more that way.

 

[yellowperil]

I think it's because of all the games available to play during calculus class. Like the PS2 the hardware may be relatively overpriced but the software makes up for it