Question: Gadgets for Sale or Not How come the prices of some gadgets, like the iPod, are the same no matter where you shop? No, the answer isn't that Apple illegally manages prices. In reality, Apple uses an accepted retail strategy called minimum advertised price to discourage resellers from discounting. The minimum advertised price (MAP) is the absolute lowest price of a product that resellers can advertise. Marketing subsidies offered by a manufacturer to its resellers usually keep the price at or above. Why might the MAP strategy be against the social interest and benefit only the producer?