Mac vs PC: Targeted advertising could cost you more?

[Thorin]

So Orbitz, the online travel booking company, has come out and said that they check to see what kind of computer you're browsing on when you're looking for deals, and that they will highlight more expensive hotels over cheaper ones if they see you're on a Mac:

http://www.king5.com/news/Orbitz-showing-pricier-hotels-for-Mac-users-160466595.html

I dunno how I feel about that.  I do understand their point that _on average_ Mac users may tend to spend more, however, I hate targeted advertising and profile-driven advertising.

[Tom]

Its not like they are forcing the higher prices. I don't really see the downside in this case, since they are just giving people what they tend to like more first than a bunch of options they don't like first.

It can be taken too far though.

[Thorin]

Well, but, people tend to not look around that much, so probably wouldn't notice the lower priced hotels on the next page.

[Tom]

Well, but, people tend to not look around that much, so probably wouldn't notice the lower priced hotels on the next page.

Maybe, but maybe not a majority.

[Mr. Analog]

There was a recent article about a site that was charging extra for users still connecting with IE6, but that at least made sense.

[Thorin]

A site that charges users?  How quaint.  They probably don't even sell their user's profile data to anyone!

[Mr. Analog]

A site that charges users?  How quaint.  They probably don't even sell their user's profile data to anyone!

No they were selling services and adding an "IE tax", which given how much more it costs to support old crap like IE6 isn't that surprising.

[Tom]

Yeah, I think they said they are spending  significant chunk of their development time just on supporting IE7, let alone IE6. So they added this new tax on people using IE7, and make it very obvious that shoppers can avoid it by using another newer browser.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2012/06/retailers-tax-on-ie-7-users-opens-new-front-in-browser-wars.php
http://www.kogan.com/au/blog/new-internet-explorer-7-tax/

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, I think they said they are spending  significant chunk of their development time just on supporting IE7, let alone IE6. So they added this new tax on people using IE7, and make it very obvious that shoppers can avoid it by using another newer browser.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2012/06/retailers-tax-on-ie-7-users-opens-new-front-in-browser-wars.php
http://www.kogan.com/au/blog/new-internet-explorer-7-tax/

That's the one.

Pretty smart if you ask me...

[Darren Dirt]

A site that charges users?  How quaint.  They probably don't even sell their user's profile data to anyone!