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Sun's used-car pricing

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13 Nov 2006

Sun announced "significant discounts" on Sun hardware for startups. Problem is, they won’t say what those discounts are unless you sign up with them and get approved. So the day they announced the program I signed up.

I got an email Friday (about a week after applying) indicating that Sun is buried under the response. It’s likely that many, if not most, of the applicants simply wanted to see pricing and have only a passing interest in actually buying hardware. So the "hidden pricing" restriction is causing undue work for Sun.

Sun’s taken several enlightened steps by opening their software and hosting Startup Camp as a way of learning about their potential customers. Then they pull this used-car dealer trick of hidden pricing. Before you give them a price, make sure you get a name so you can give 'em the hard sell.

When I get the pricing, I’ll blog it. There’s nothing in the terms of service preventing it.

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