At least the launch lines should be shorter now
A 33 percent price cut on a hot tech product within two months of its launch? “Well, that’s what happens in technology,” says Apple’s Steve Jobs, in what is being read, depending on your disposition toward the company and the man, as either a simple statement of fact or an arrogant slap in the face. Judging by the reaction to Jobs’ announcement yesterday of a $200 price cut on the top-line iPhone, the Apple customer base is split on the point (see “And to you early iPhone buyers, thanks for your donation … I mean, your devotion“).
Across the blogosphere, the headlines ranged from “Apple screwed you: So now what?” and “Jobs to Appleheads: Drop Dead” to “Jobs Didn’t Screw You: A Contrarian View” and “Please stop whining, iPhone early adopters.”
If there’s a lesson here, it’s that Apple is once again a game changer. We’d accepted (heck, celebrated) the idea that no matter what tech toy you buy or when you buy it, there will be something better for less in fairly short order. For most products, that meant you had maybe six months to year before you started to wince when you looked at the Fry’s ads. Apple just let us know that timetable is no longer operative — upgrades or price cuts may come just weeks apart, so pay your money and take your chances. OK, fine, now we know. And if the initial uptake rate is slower for new Apple products, it will be because Apple has trained us, liked shocked monkeys, to wait.
UPDATE: The outraged cries of early iPhone buyers have penetrated to the heart of the Cupertino campus, and the head man has decided to apply some balm. In an open letter to iPhone customers, Jobs said that even though the price cut was the right move at the right time, and even though the timing of every tech purchase carries a risk factor, the Apple fans who helped successfully launch the iPhone deserve a little something. “Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these,” wrote Jobs. “Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple’s website next week.”
What’s there to complain about? When you gotta be the first on your block with a new toy, the premium you pay is for that place in the spotlight. You could have waited, you know.
We’re told to not buy autos in their first model year, or to upgrade a Windows OS until the first (or second) service pack. Why rush out to buy a piece of complex new technology like the iPhone on its initial release, and pay a premium to boot? It’s the Jazz. So enjoy the memory of that rush you felt when you laid your hands on that iPhone box, and don’t complain when you realize you got punk’d.
And now Apple is giving all iPhone owners $100 at the Apple store to thank them for their loyalty.
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
Definitely a game changer.
Hmmm, from ultra smug (I got one!) early adopters, to angry iTards, in record time. What happens if those same folks ever figure out a few more tidbits about their relationship with iTunes - how Apple and the RIAA laugh all the way to the bank everytime someone plunks down cold hard cash for platform locked, DRM laden, lossy compression (read: crappy sound) “tunes”. Ignorance is bliss for the iTards, but it looks like Steve’s reality distrotion field may be growing thin.
Ok so just how slow are current sales? Just how much does LG’s Prada phone worry Apple?
While I have sympathy for early adopters there’s a lot more behind this headline. The market seems to agree at least.
It’s not every day that Seagate, Maxtor, or any other hard drive manufacturer doles out rebate checks because johnny so-and-so got mad that his 750GB drive went from $500 to $250 in three months.
While the iPhone isn’t a hard drive, it’s made from commodity components. The RAZR, another high-visibilty phone product, experienced similarly precipitous price drops after its launch, but was MOT cutting checks to people?
Hey - at least Apple listens.
years ago (70s) Texas Instruments had a hot new programmable calculator (showing my age here) that started selling for about $800 if I remember correctly. Price kept dropping. I needed one for a professional test but waited until just after the price dropped to $400. Two weeks after that it dropped again but it didn’t bother me because I couldn’t have waited that long. So this pricing tactic is NOT new!
Yesterday I was driving to my doctor’s office and passed a couple gas stations with their signs blaring $2.77/gal. Fine, I thought, I’ll fill up on the way home. Well, I saw the same signs at the same emporiums two hours later and — $3.17/gal.! Welcome to the 21st Century!Apple’s just joined the club.
Nah, the Apple fanatics are basically masochists. “Hit me again Steve” it feels so good to be hurt”. Most Appleheads have more money than they know what to do with anyway. That is why the continue to shell out the big bucks for Macs and iPods because they are cool. It’s only the wannabe Appleheads that are complaining, the hardcore just let it roll off of them.
A paltry gesture — a coupon at a time I am much less inclined to buy any more Apple products.
I want my $200 back, period.
Couple queries from Geezervillr:
1-What is an Iphone and why would I need it?
2-Why is Apple called Apple?
3-Is this Jobs person important?
So, I’ll hang up now. You all seem so very brilliant and am hoping to get answers when I call again.
BIBI
I guess the people complaining never bought from Apple before. They aren’t used to the usually Apple post buy burn job.
After the price cut and before the rebate I was still happy to be “screwed” by Apple. I paid $800 for an LG Phenom WinCE back in ‘97. It was a half VGA touch screen, almost full size keyboard. Great form factor but syncing never worked more than once despite many reinstall retries and the built-in Internet Explorer via dial-up modem never worked at all. Eventually I gave up - it was only good for solitaire. I still pull it out occasionally as a reminder not to buy first generation Microsoft anything. Someone later told me that CE stands for Caveat Emptor. Later in ‘99 I bought a Palm VII for $800 (price dropped precipitously later) and got a lot of good use out of it doing pre-blackberry email and line-by-line MapQuest directions via palm.net - became adept at Graffiti input. Later some basic hardware issues rendered it too much of a hassle. It had a nasty habit of turning itself on and draining the batteries and syncing always worked but was horribly slow. Almost bought a Palm Treo but the company went flaky, units were fragile, and Palm got away from Graffiti. When the iPhone came along I knew the chance of a major price drop would loom. Also, I had a pent up need to get my calendars, bookmarks, addresses, ipod stuff, in one device with a phone that could quickly and reliably sync all of that. This 6th generation iPod is the best $600 I ever spent for a portable device and is as much a PDA as a phone. Solid hardware and solid software. What a concept! My pockets no longer bulge with devices. The Apple touch input works well, takes a little getting used to. Once you learn Graffiti you can do it mostly without looking. This is perhaps better than buttons or a touch input, but they could do a Jot Graffiti sytle touch entry for iPhone eventually. My thanks to Apple for the iPhone and to Steve for the rebate.
How do you ask someone to be the last American sucker to pay for a pricing mistake?