I worked on a mortgage search engine start up for a couple years. Mortgages are a wonderful example of how well intentional pricing complexity can succeed. Mortgage companies supply money - the most perfect commodity around. In order to avoid a pricing race to the bottom, the mortgage shopping process has become one of the most confusing possible. Obtaining an accurate price quote involves filling out a several page application which most people can't do accurately without the help of a broker. Pricing is a combination of interest rate and fees which can range into the tens of thousands of dollars. Fees are calculated in multiple steps and include certain closing costs which are only known weeks into the process - often when it's too late to switch mortgage brokers and still make your contractually-agreed close date. In the small surveys I've done, more than half of mortgage applicants only learned the total amount they'd be charged the day they close the mortgage. And many were surprised to learn of unanticipated charges amounting to >$1,000 above what they expected.

This strategy was very successful in extracting differential payments from consumers. Prior to some recent regulatory reforms, the most successful 5% of mortgage shoppers negotiated fees of $6,000 on a $200k mortgage. The least successful 5% were charged fees of $18,000. These are borrowers with equivalent financial circumstances and credit rating.

Much of this is due to the complexity of mortgages. So I'm dubious that this sort of apocalypse will prove true for all types of products. But I do expect to see it increasingly in categories where there is high product complexity, the product isn't easily compared based on technical specifications, brand reputation isn't important, and/or there is little value in cultivating customer loyalty (for example, I may purchase a couch once every 15 years).