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Apple Gives $100 Store Credit To iPhone Customers
MooRogue writes "In an open letter to all iPhone customers, Steve Jobs responds to hundreds of emails from upset iPhone customers. Apple will be giving early adopters who are not receiving rebates or any other consideration $100 store credit at the Apple store.
Details will be posted on the Apple website next week"
God Smack Your Ass !!
iphone hyoed too !!
But given the context here on slashdot, you can already see the jokes coming.
Having to tell your parents you're gay.
$100 store credit at the Apple store.
Didn't early iPhone adopters pay $200 more? This means people still loose $100.
I just found 1300 iPhones in a dumpster. That's $130,000!
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Since when does Steve care? When I bought my SE/30 for $5k, in 3 months it dropped to $3k. Steve has never cared about competitive pricing. This is the "market will bare" guy. So what is the real reason Mr. Jobs?
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
Perhaps, but now many more people will know about the iPhone's price drop.
Say what you will, but what other company figurehead in recent memory has came out and apologized for other people's willingness to spend their money?
Maybe it was all planned out from the day one though, and if that's the case, I wish Steve would run for the next presidential election. Talk about planing for every contingency...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
To all iPhone customers:
I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.
First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.
Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
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. Stay tuned.
We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.
Steve Jobs
Apple CEO
wtf is wrong with these early adopters who complain about paying more? they knew from the beginning that apple will drop prices. whiney bunch of pussies
"Please provide apple with your phone number, address, receipt from the place of purchase, original UPC..."
*slaps forehead*
sigs... don't talk to me about sigs....
At $599 with a 2-year contract and no rebates, early adopters HAD to know they were paying a hefty premium. By now Apple fanboys should be so used to this Steve Jobs could've stuck his entire fist up their asses, without lube, while reaching for their wallets, and they'd be chanting "Thank you sir! May I have another?"
If you buy new gadgets on Day 1, especially from companies that charge a premium for brand, expect to get reamed.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
The dumpster hungers.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
When the SE/30 was released Jobs was not in charge. That was Sculley's reign.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Funny how that's vastly different from refunding $100, or even the $200 the phone users are out -- Apple will simply lose the production costs of the items sold under that store credit (not to mention gaining profits from any accessories bought as a result beyond the $100 credit). It's not to say such hardware prices wouldn't normally fluctuate, but a month or two is a bit quick for something that's seemingly so successful. I wonder where to draw the line between truly normal price decreases, and jacking the price on something you know will sell like hotcakes...I'm not all that business-savvy, so feel free to educate me if there is indeed such a line.
Quiz: True or False -- On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your middle name?
Yeah, Dell owes me too, big time. I can buy this laptop from them for much cheaper now, pay up, err gimme *in store* credit.
I hope this sets a precedence. I will give Apple products much more consideration in the future if a few months after buying it I can get credit towards my next techy purchase from them.If everyone that purchased an iPhone, goes out and purchases an iTouch for $100 less, how will Apple ever make any money?
If you give $100 Apple Store credit to the sort of people who bought an iPhone on iPhone Day, that's all the excuse they need to buy a new iPod, or a MacBook or another iPhone.
What would you have bought with a credit for your SE, a IIe?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
your iPhone would stop working, and you'd get a $2 store credit! -ichabod
Damn you apple! Now I have no more excuse to not buy that 160GB iPod classic... Somehow I feel like they will actually get a net profit from this move.
I, for one, welcome our new karma-whore sig writing overlords
....but you've probably seen theregister.co.uk lately?
My web domain.
No one has mentioned it but it is a great move by Jobs, $100.00 "Apple Store Credit" probably costs them $40.00 and in addition it is that incentive mentioned earlier. So,in no way does it cost Apple 100.00 to look like they are meeting Joe "early adopter" halfway.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
Really? Steve sat down and personally read hundreds of emails that all boiled down to "I paid $200 more than I could have so you suck."? Really? You don't think that after 35 or so he'd have gotten the idea?
(My GF's response when I showed her the article)
Years ago, when the HP LaserJet 4 first came out, I bought one at Fry's for $1600. Three weeks later, they were selling it for $1200. I didn't whine.
Who hasn't bought a computer, a flat screen tv, or a car where there wasn't a discount or price reduction a few months later? Why would anyone expect the iPhone to be exempt from economics?
Clearly, Apple is doing the right thing as far a public relations are concerned, but the idea that you are entitled to a refund for something you bought two months ago is ridiculous.
There wasn't a 16GB Model at the $599 price point.
I was annoyed, but not 'urge to kill rising' simpsons style or anything. Just seemed cheap that I've barely gotten my second bill for it and yet somehow they can drop the price $200 for no reason other than because it makes sense.
I'm no stranger to buying tech, I paid $499 I think it was for the Treo 300 when it came out day one. It didn't get a discount until probably six or so months later. But 10 weeks? Bit much but meh.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
I'm myself bordering the state of Apple fan boy, but this is scary. People crying fool yesterday now praise the company for being responsive. I'm not into conspiracy theories, but if Apple had had this planed, this would be pure genius. Lowering the price and then getting the people who payed more to cheer you. Just scary how perfectly they play their crowd.
I don't think this was planed. But I think Apple knows that we now live in an attention society and that people highly regard companies who admit errors and change. In fact people overvalue this since they do not expect it (yet. Microsoft will obviously copy it someday). They did it with "greener Apple", they do it again with credits for iPhones which will generate more money for them due to people buying stuff in the Apple store.
memomo: free web based language trainer DE-EN-ES-FR-IT
To All You Pathetic Technology Whores,
I have received hundreds of emails from you whining little fucks, and in between guffaws and testicle waxing, I have decided to send you an in-store credit of $100, thus assuring that you continue to worship at the Altar of Apple.
Perhaps in the future you won't be such simpering, slobbering retards, though I doubt it, as it's the nature of "first adopters" to live their lives like a headless chicken on an interstate at rush hour.
In conclusion, lick my waxy balls, you fucking buffoons! Take that in-store credit and shove it up your asses!
Oh and see you again when we release the new iPod, where we'll be charging a few hundred bucks more than the people with an ounce of brains.
Steve Jobs
Yo Mamma
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Ha hah!
"If you give $100 Apple Store credit to the sort of people who bought an iPhone on iPhone Day, that's all the excuse they need to buy a new iPod, or a MacBook or another iPhone."
Even better if most of them spend it on Apple software. Such as, I dunno, maybe Leopard? Due out next month?
Teh Steve is laughing all the way to the bank, and this time I'm laughing right along. This is so brilliant it almost has to be on purpose.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
Selling more songs on iTunes. Getting more people on iTunes that otherwise wouldn't have. Lock the iPhones in like the iPods.
the price of the iphone gets below 120 US dollars and I can use the iphone with any provider including the no-contract providers like tracfone or gophone...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Certainly not the normal "Please piss off, and have a nice day." response of:
"We're sorry to hear of your disappointment with our product.
Unfortunately, we have a very large volume of customers who
are very satisfied with our products, at the the prices
we offer. We do our best to please every customer"
.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
Pft, as if there's anything under $100 in the entire store anyway. What are you going to get with it? A power cord? $89.95
Cool! Amazing Toys.
...who wants to sell me their apple store credit for $50?
As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
This is the "market will bare" guy.
I thought that was Larry Flynt.
(You don't mean "bear," do you?)
Baby, meet bottle.
With this rebate, the price goes down from $2000+ to $1900+ ($60x12x2+the purchase price+charges for use beyond your plan). The rebate (and the price drop) don't seem so significant anymore.
Don't buy stuff from naked people...
... what they charge in other countries. If it looks like the price is going to drop dramatically after a couple of months, who's going to buy? On the other hand, if they don't charge so much and don't drop the price, people will complain that they were expecting a refund.
Heh I knew someone would point that out, but the pricing model (imho) has always been Steve's (until Spindler and the clones about 95).
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
It isn't a refund. It is store credit.
So customers who feel jipped by the $200 price drop can pick up $30-40 worth of additional apple merchandise.
Of course to get your full value on this offer you will have to pick up something that is at least $100, but will probably be $120+. So you still end up paying $20 for a product that costs Apple $40-50 to produce. They just soothed your $200 feeling of injustice for $20.
Or, very likely you will use it to buy a $250 iPod for $150. So you will fork out another $150 to Apple for a product that costs $125- to produce. Apple will end up making money on this little conciliatory offer.
Another way to look at it is that instead of saving $200 on your formerly $600 iPhone (a 33% savings), you instead get a $100 discount on $850 ($600 + $250) worth of merchandise (an 11% savings).
This isn't a criticism of Apple. I'm just observing how the game is played.
APple has publicly stated they are lowering margins for the next few quarters - did you not notice that in addition to the iPhone drop, the new iPods are cheaper than the old or offer significantly improved features?
Beyond that since they did not even really have to do ANYTHING to start with, why can't it just be great for Apple and the iPhone customer that we get a rebate? Sounds like a win-win.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... you're just as moron.
The Raven
In the phone world, I've found that other companies stop right at step 2, except perhaps to add "3. Repeat" right after. So why shouldn't we like Apple more? Are you upset that rather than a constant ball kicking there is some relief to let you notice there once was pain?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
For me, they lowered the price of my phone $100.
$100 over a 2 month period, while a fair amount, isn't crazy high.
I'll take it.
I see the mental retards that spent small fortunes on a stupid web-surfing phone are feeling a little inadequate, but rather than looking the mirror to look at the half-wit really responsible, they like to blame those that point out the severe lack of intelligence they exhibit with their pathetic Apple groupthinking mindfucking ways.
I laugh at you, sir. You're a sad, sad human being.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Anything beyond this month doesn't really exist. Besides, a lot of people already have big cell phone bills, so it's not really fair to account the cost of service to the iPhone.
Does that mean Apple's target market consists of strippers and nudists?
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Think about it - if this had really been planned, the best timing would be to announce the credit a week or two AFTER the new iPods go on sale. That way a lot of customers buy new iPods, then head back to the Apple store for accessories after they get the rebate. If Apple was as devious as people claim, issuing an announcement about a rebate ahead of the actual rebate is a terrible non-profix-maximizing idea.
Like everything else in life, the reality is probably between the two extremes - Apple probably thought recently about deep price cuts, and held in reserve the strategy of a rebate if complaints about the price drop from current owners were loud enough (which they were). Apple is a company yes, but Jobs is not a Ferengi (or Mother Teresa in a turtleneck).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple keeps receipts electronically - they just email then to you. Proof of who you are is generally enough (along with the serial number on the back of the iPod).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Me, I'm against Global Warming and Global Whining.
It doesn't matter to me what Apple's costs are, it's still something $100 cheaper to me. I plan to use it on Leopard which I was going to buy anyway, as I'm sure a lot of people will - how is that not a direct and pure loss for Apple since every dollar of purchase went to paying off R&D on the new OS?
Some things might go for things Apple paid less for, but I just call that Win-Win. Since Apple didn't have to do anything, something is way better than nothing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
When the iPhone launched, it sold out at both the nearby Apple Stores. If you weren't in line on Friday, you couldn't get one on Saturday. One of my co-workers waited until the middle of the next week, called a couple of stores to check inventory, and just walked right in and bought one.
Those people standing in line weren't just standing in line to get an iPhone. If that's all they wanted, they could have waited a week or two for the second shipment to arrive. What they stood in line for was the opportunity to have it first. They "paid" extra by waiting around for several hours when they could have been doing something else so they could get an iPhone before anyone else did.
Whatever the motivation -- bragging rights, enthusiasm, impatience, etc. -- there is a cost to getting there first. Conversely, there is an opportunity cost to biding one's time: Anyone who waited for the price to come down has gone the last few months with no iPhone.
If everyone that purchased an iPhone, goes out and purchases an iTouch for $100 less, how will Apple ever make any money?
The tens of millions of other people that also purchase an iTouch will help out greatly in that regard.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The iPhone was an overprice piece of junk in the first place.
This just encourages whiners and the worst kind of whiners. The people up in arms about this are not the people who were unwilling to pay $200 more. Clearly, they bought the phone at that price. What they are up in arms about is that a cheaper phone may mean that other people will be able to afford them, therefore their status symbol is not as exclusive and their feeling of superiority is diminished. The rebate doesn't solve this problem at all and will not please them anyway.
Psychology aside, from a business perspective, there's absolutely no justification for Apple to give a retroactive discount past the return period (see below). When you buy something, you buy it for a price at a particular point in time. If you want to wait and see if the price will go down, you may do so. If it's worth it at the set price at that time and you buy it, short of manufacturing defect, you have absolutely no claim that you should later get it at a lower price. It violates the social contract to demand otherwise. Would if Apple said you should pay them $200 more for the phone you already bought?
The only reason that some merchants have retroactive prices is that the product is still within its return period and it's not worth processing all the returns as people re-buy the product. This is the only case where it makes any business sense to retroactively price a product like this.
I gained two months of phone use over someone who has waited; and I have made good use of the phone in the last two months, it's been way more useful to me than the previous phone I had. Well worth the slight extra amount I paid.
After all, any electronics purchase is a gamble - you never know when prices will be cut. But it's a gamble you cannot lose if you like what you bought and you buy at a price that works for you.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
But hey, look at the bright side: For those early adopters who shattered their glass screens, you can actually get a new 4GB phone with your $100 store credit for less than the cost of replacing the glass screen!
OsX 10.5, probably, as always @ 100$
Live Electronic Music
How about a replacement for Microsoft Office. Oh wait. That's $20 less than $100.
Sammy / still loving, loving, loving my iPhone and now look forward to seeing more people with them!
So they bought their phone on eBay, 'cause they were all out, or 'cause they got it for $559 ("cheapest price on the Internet!"). Now they have no recourse to "their $100" and just to rub salt in the wound, the guy who bought it at the store gets another $100.
Or, the guys all trying to sell the iPhones for $559 just had "their market" bottom out. To sell, they have to get price-competitive. There's a $100 pantsing they have to suffer.
Whoops! Speculation has its price!
[Error 407: No signature found]
I laugh at you, sir. You're a sad, sad human being. Have you considered that are people for whom $400 isn't a small fortune? You can mock people for making a good living if you want, but it seems kind of ineffective.
"You have a lot of money and can afford nice things, you LOSER!" doesn't have quite the sting you seem to think it does.
One can only imagine what Zune owners think of this....
Website Hosting
Mwo? Malsum mani turossoyo...
I'm thinking:
"Stretch Armstrong" and "Bullwinkle" (Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta mah hat...). You kinda make it sound as if he's got a HUGE fist. Butt, JUST how big IS Jobs' fist.
Pangapsumnida.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
You completely missed the point. GP was implying that the iPhone isn't a nice thing, not $600 worth of nice anyway. Even if it isn't a stretch for your budget you still shouldn't give that much money for such a product.
ResidntGeek
No, the GP made the point to cover any phone that costs >=$400. If he meant the just the iPhone, he would have just said "Hell, if you paid for an iPhone, you're a moron."
Well, in his comment before that he said "Hell, if you pay $400 for a phone, you're a complete moron.".
There's a name for it: iFucked.
Name: Mr. Anon E Mouse; SSN: 555-55-5555
Get a grip - its only $200. The ability to be smug for the last 2-1/2 months is priceless ...
Well, I'd have to say they totally missed out on their chance to get conversations started with hot babes by whipping out their iPhone and showing off. If they'd been on that train it never would have occurred to them that they paid too much for the thing.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
An item will sell for exactly what both parties (seller and buyer) believe is a fair price at the time of sale.
Please refrain from introducing basic economic concepts into this discussion. You could start a dangerous trend.
But seriously, for priding ourselves on our supposedly rational behavior, geeks can often be just as irrational as anyone else.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
I bought my iPhone on my American Express Card.
I called their dispute claim number at 1-800-297-8019.
They said they would process the claim for my 200 bucks.
No guarantees, but they will let me know if I get a refund through them.
Worth a try if you bought on a credit card.
There seems to be a large disconnect in this thread between long term apple customers and other early adopters.
The reason this is a big deal to apple customers is that in terms of apple's history this much of a drop after such a time is unprecedented. In other parts of the tech sector a 33% drop in price after 2 months may not be uncommon, but just for apple it is. There is another reason this is a big deal for apple customers, in the past with their ipod line, except when the first 20gb model, when a capacity of ipod has gone down in price, it has also been revised so that there was a discernible difference between people with the last gen high-end model, and people with the current gen cheaper low-end model. With this price reduction there is no early adopter badge.
You are clearly the most benevolent person who ever lived on the face of the earth. Please let me know when I can spend even more of my money so I can replenish your shrinking corporate coffers. Now if you excuse me, I need to go see if there are any other items somewhere that I can overpay for.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"Hey, sorry our stuff didn't work! And that you can't get your money back! Here's virtual money to spend on more of our crap!"
~Eien no Inori wo Sasagete~ Searching for my Hatsumi...
Supply and demand works in reverse too. Say for example, you only had a capacity to produce say 100,000 widgets a month. If you were expecting to sell out on opening day, but have a new shipment ready the next day, wouldn't you set the price at a point where by the demand would be limited so that you never had to tell someone "sorry, come back another day"
While this is probably the most prudent thing Apple could have done, I must say, I was enjoying the strange turn of fate bestowed upon all those folks who just couldn't wait to buy the latest and greatest.
Hey Steve,
I'm pissed. I didn't buy an iPhone because I was waiting for the price to drop. And, now your'e refunding a big part of the price cut.
I missed out on all the ohs and ahs of showing one off. You owe me big time.
I'm still not going to buy one. I have a laptop that gives me a great internet experience and email and third-party apps and all that other great crap and I have a perfectly good cell phone to make calls with. Since the duties of my employment pretty much require me to have these items on me at all times, what would be the advantage of purchasing an iPhone other than to prove I have the biggest iPenis? Brand whores unite!
I bought my iPhone on 8/24, which is 12 days before the annoucement on 9/5. It's great that I can get a $100 store credit, but do I qualify for the full $200 rebate (the standard Apple offer)? Is the window for that rebate 10 days or 14 days?
As others have noted, there was absolutely no need or duty for Apple to do anything. They did, though, and the fact that we can see it is in their best interest should not, IMO, automatically nominate it for criticism. For some folks there seems to be an assumption that if it's good for a business, it must be really bad for everyone else. But the whole point of private markets is that they create value for everyone.
This is a net gain for all parties. Apple will gain in both brand loyalty and direct revenue (most people go over the store credit amount when using it). And the customers gain $100 in Apple credit, which is a win because clearly this is a group of people who like Apple stuff. Both sides are gaining a benefit they wouldn't have otherwise had.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
um, slashdot is supposed to be all knowledge, but yet, i see nothing on precedent...
apple is known for doing stuff like this, e.g. aperture. the situation was somewhat different, but the response was generally the same, offer refunds to early adopters.
this is almost 100 million dollars in good-will... and pure apple. in fact, expect some lawyer to devise a class action suit on behalf of aggrieved shareholders -- angry about apple being too gracious with customers.
If I wanna buy a new iPhone, should I wait until Christmas for prices to drop?
Even better if most of them spend it on Apple software. Such as, I dunno, maybe Leopard? Due out next month?
Teh Steve is laughing all the way to the bank, and this time I'm laughing right along. This is so brilliant it almost has to be on purpose.
Something you learn in basic economics, is that opportunity loss is a loss as any. I know what you think: "haha, software costs $0, so they didn't give you anything at all".
Nope, piracy of the OS itself is almost non-existent on Macs, and those early buyers would purchase Leopard for $100. Those are $100 lost for Apple, never mind how they are going to be spent.
The benefit for Apple here is that it's not cash but store credit, from then on, what they do with it is doesn't matter.
$100 store credit is a slap in the face. $200 STORE CREDIT would have been a nice gesture. As is, Apple is only digging themselves deeper in my estimation. Attempting to lure customers to spend MORE money in your store after such an ridiculous pricing debacle is disappointing... I would expect better of Apple.
Ahhh yes, the guy who was ousted because of his management style was in fact setting the prices that whole time. Good call.
how many times did i tell you that you were getting fucked by jobs?
Everything Spindler tried to do was too little too late. He was faced with a hostile, arrogant, and oppositional work force that was so caught up in the culture it sabotaged all the efforts. Rebuild a working modern OS - forray into consumer devices - move to open document formats and standards - all under Spinder. Sure, Copland, Pippin, and OpenDoc failed - but if you look at the market 5 years after - what do you see?
Amazing how many fan boys and x-apple employees lurk on slashdot.
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
Awwww, you're just jealous. You might be supprised at how many people make more money than you and like gadgets. We don't go around calling you a "mental retard" because you can't get a better job.
I will not buy an iPhone until:
1. Apple and ATT pay ME $599
2. Randall Stephenson's mom sucks my dick
3. Steve Jobs licks my nut sack
Beat that.
True, true. Apple will miss out on, oh, let's call it 400,000[1] credits used * $100 = $40,000,000 of potential unrealized revenue.
However, they don't just give that money up and get nothing for it:
* They get great publicity that makes them appear responsive to customers - the story is all over the non-tech news.
* They restore a lot of goodwill among early adopters, who are an important crowd for Apple.
* It's a great loss-leader to get those people - known big spenders - back into the store to spend more money.
* If it's used on Apple software or hardware, it will increase their installed base and marketshare.
So yeah, they're going to miss out on $40 million, but they get value for it that's probably better than the same amount spent on advertising in any media.
[1: Assuming they've sold 800,000 eligible units and 50% of buyers acquire and use their credits.]
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
They must be worried about the iPhone in order to do something as crazy as that. Dropping the price of the phone 2 months after it's released by 33%? It's bad for several reasons but mainly because it pisses off the early adopters big time as evidenced by the emails/rebate. The $100 will appease them, however, they will be extremely gunshy to jump on the boat again, that's for sure. One of my friends who bought the iPhone said exactly that, he will wait a few months now and won't be fooled by Apple a second time.
And they know all this because they are savvy business people at Apple. Compare the iPhone to the PS3. More people bought the iPhone than did PS3 at the same price, yet it took Sony 1 year to get a $100 price drop as opposed to Apple's price drop.
So the only reason to me is that it's desperation. I'm guessing that report about how only 136k people actually signed up must have them pretty worried and they need to reach a critical level sooner.
Me personally, I smell blood in the water. I'm waiting for the price to drop even further before I begin to consider buying it. It would be interesting to see how many people feel the same way and if that will actually curtail pickup of the iPhone until closer to Christmas.
Thanks to this incident, it is highly improbable that Apple will ever be able to come out with something innovative and new that is a success ever again... because if they try to, a lot of people will hesitate to buy it right away, thinking that perhaps Apple might lower their price in the not-too-distant future. The result will virtually inevitably be a marketing failure.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
One wonders if the $500 suckers have learned from the folly of their impatience? Apple's tricks on people's perceptions of value could return to bite them in the ass. I can easily see lots of people (me included) never purchasing an new apple product until they slash (\ ha! ha! the pun...) the prices by about 30% about a month or so after the launch.
Fair enough, I was gonna anyway. Thanks Steve!
I'm willing to bet that just in time for the holiday shopping season a new iPhone will be released (iPhone nano, anyone?) and that this was the best way to liquidate the current inventory in preparation for that.
Don't blame lord Jobs. If the fanboys want to waste $600 for it, with a 2-year lockin, Apple is ready to rake in your moolah. You could get other phones on the market with the same features for much less. Blindly following your leader lord Jobs does come with some drawbacks.
And how does Apple repay you? By getting you to buy *more* apple stuff with that $100. Nice.
a minority of fanatics who believe that iPhone costed every single dollar of those $600 they paid.
I'm not sure those people are wrong.
I've seen lots of stuff that focuses on the cost of the parts. These people seem to act like it was inevitable that if you dumped enough of the specified parts into a vat together that they'd eventually inevitably produce an iPhone.
I've only seen speculation about costs for manufacturing/assembly, software development, and hardware R&D. Probably because only Apple really knows. But I'm sure those costs are there. Perhaps others that aren't immediately obvious.
This isn't to say there wasn't a good margin built into the iPhone on top of that. However true it actually is that Apple actually is a damn smart company that is in fact driven as much by a desire to produce quality products as the desire to reap profits, it and its shareholders also probably desires to reap profits. They probably knew they could command the price of early adopters and many would pay it.
It's also possible that high price helped them recover development costs, and with that done, they're free to drop the price.
It's also possible the high price likely keeps it in the hands of people who want one so badly they're willing to overlook some Rev A problems.
It's also possible the price itself was intended as a quality/caché signal.
Tweet, tweet.
For example, the guys at Will it Blend blending that one iPhone. They bought the iPhone, but no longer have it. Will they be able to get the $100 credit, even though the remains of the iPhone were sold to someone else? (And thus blend the new product?)
Also, in a more reasonable situation, what if someone bought the iPhone only to resell it, or was unsatisfied with it and dumped it? Who gets the $100 then?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 SU CK IT MP AA
Have you considered that are people for whom $400 isn't a small fortune? You can mock people for making a good living if you want, but it seems kind of ineffective.
I don't consider the folks up the street (who have an obnoxious home, a Gallardo, two Hummers, and a Cayman) stupid.
I consider their purchases stupid.
Take a lesson, GP.
Maybe Apple just didn't sell enough iPhones for there to be enough angry people.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
This story was carried by everyone all morning including the popular press and every tech blog out there - except this one.
Were you concerned that Apple might look "bad"?
Who the fuck is running the show around here?
The reason that Jobs announced a $100 rebate to people that bought the iPhone within 14 days is because AT&T allows people to return iPhones within 14 days for a refund minus a 10% restocking fee.
Lots of people must have started returning the phones and buying them for the discounted price (which is very expensive for Apple), so they figured that if they offer $100, and you're only going to get $540 back for a return after the 10% restocking fee, and you have to deal with the hassle of returning and buying again, you'd rather get the $100 refund from apple. It's pure economics.
Here's a quote from AT&T's site: "Apple branded equipment is covered by a 14-day return policy and must be returned to the original point of purchase. If the Apple branded equipment is returned unopened and in the original shrink wrapping, it will be refunded back to the original payment method. Opened Apple branded equipment that is returned within 14 days will be subject to a 10% open box restocking fee. All products must be packed in their original, unmarked packaging including any accessories and manuals that shipped with the product." See: http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/leg al/return-policy.jsp
Incidentally, all other phones have a 30 day return period and no restocking fee, so perhaps the price cuts were planned, or Apple was afraid the phones might have problems that would cause them to be returned.
Jobs doesn't care about the users, it's all about the benjamins. Once again he's sucked everyone into the Apple spin zone.
That's an interesting observation. I've seen a lot of people give their used cell phones to shelters, or to students or friends. I think the "market" for them exists, but its lubricated more by social currency rather than dollars.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Having maps and email and web browsing on hand, has in fact been worth $100 over two months (since I was going to buy Leopard anyway, the $100 credit is real enough to me). I have made excellent use of it over the last two months.
And I do not "flash it around". I hate even admitting I have some expensive phone. I generally try to use it when it's not obvious I have one (except answering calls of course, you don't get to pick exactly when a call will come).
Your mistake, as has been the mistake of Apple haters since the dawn of time, is in think any Apple product is about looks when it's all about features and usability.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's not like nobody warned these people. In the comment section of every iPhone story (and there were a lot) people were saying that the smart thing to do was wait for the next revision and/or the price drop. Hell, most of the reviews said as much. But no. They marched to the Apple store, fingers in ears, singing the "I can't hear you" song.
You can feel cheated all you want, but don't make me listen to it. It's like when you're boss complains that he has buyers remorse from his brand new Mercedes. Great. You're rich. I get it. Now don't sob about being taken for a fool when you spend your money on frivolous things.
Usually when Apple announces something like this in a special event they get tons of free press describing their new product becuase their events are interesting enough to be news. Just look at the recent iMac announcement and the articles on cnn.com and other places. But now what made the news was this price drop that was uncharacteristic for Apple and how the drop made the early adopters mad and how it must be a sign that their not selling enough iPods. All this and barely a mention of the iPod touch outside of the tech websites like ars....
:)
But C'mon the iPod touch is freakin' cool, and way more newsworthy than the iMac. The Steve really f*cked up by announcing the price drop at the same time as the iPod touch. This $100 rebate is his effort to try an recover from this and hopefully get some positive press.
Yeah, the rebate is good customer relations and preserves the brand... but I think the main benefit is in squashing the 'disgruntaled iPhone people' meme before it got out of control.
I'm not saying this to be critical of his motives, but to admire him for doing a good job protecting shareholder value. As a little-guy shareholder I am really greatful that he works so hard to protect my investment's value even though most of his personal wealth comes from his other business (Disney/Pixar). This rebate is really good (and timely) damage control. Next step: he has to give Pouge and Mossburg free iPod touches
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
iTunes Gift Cards.
http://www.apple.com/legal/sales_policies/retail_u s.html
Should Apple reduce its price on any Apple-branded product within fourteen (14) calendar days of the date of purchase, you may request a refund of the difference between the price paid and the current selling price. An original purchase receipt is required, and you must request your refund within fourteen (14) calendar days of the price reduction.
Um, except Apple is offering a rebate to anyone who has bought an iPhone, ever. Not just within the last 14 days. You can still return an iPhone if it was purchased within the last 14 days, then buy a new one, if you like.
Why should people expect rebates if they willingly buy some stuff that's overpriced and it gets cheaper a few months later?
If it was faulty or you got less than what was advertised then sure.
WRT rebates for punishing companies, I personally don't think fines/rebates are that effective. Bosses being sent to prison is definitely more effective...
I just bought a new Nokia last May that had just come out for 990 euros. And now they are selling it for 700 euros down the street! - I want my money back!
Nokia should have told me that they will drop the price later, and the cost of manufacturing the phone is less than 990 euros! They should have told me that they are making profit on me buying the phone early. It's just wrong! Someone should tell me these things, because I didn't know the price of the phone would drop. I thought a 990 euro phone will always be a 990 euro phone. The price would even rise, because the value of the money always drops. So in two years when I'd sell the phone, I would get over 1000 euros for it...
If all else fails, pull the plug and get out...
The Life is out there...
I just wanted to add to your praise of AppleCare. It's more of an insurance than a guarantee, really. I broke a PowerBook taking it apart (don't ask). Called them on the last day of my AppleCare year. They fixed it for free, and also replaced the slightly scratched bezel.
My friend broke the screen of his iBook which he had in a backpack while skateboarding. Free replacement from Apple. My brother broke his iPod in a biking accident. Apple replaced it free of charge. A friend of mine stumbled over a pre-mag-save PowerBook cable and the cable ripped out of the plug. Apple sent me a new charger, no questions asked.
I would tell anyone to extend AppleCare to three years for portable devices. If anything happens, Apple will fix it.
So you're saying that you think the markup on Apple's products is high because you know somebody who runs an Apple shop who told you that he has high margins on Apple's products? The term "pants on fire" comes to mind, considering that resellers have been complaining about the low margins on Apple's products for years.
Apple does usually have margins in the 20-35% area, but the resellers don't see anything like this, and Apple's margins are so high because Apple generally doesn't pay for software (such as Windows). In fact, Apple's products aren't really more expensive than comparable products from companies like Creative or Dell.
(...)
The only way to purchase a new Mac computer is through Apple Online or an Apple Store...
WTF are you talking about? Where I live, we have dozens of Apple resellers. No Apple store, though. Even normal electronics stores and some upscale grociery stores sell Apple systems. New ones, by the way.
Do you have any sources for your absurd claims?
So what did those early iPhone fanboys think? That the normal ways of commerce don't apply to them?
When I bought a combined harddisk/DVD recorder less than 2 years ago, it cost me $1500. Recently I spotted one for less than $250 (OK, it did have 'only' a 250GB disk, while mine had a 400GB one).
Am I getting a refund or extra store credit for not wanting to wait until the price dropped? ZILCH. NADA. NOTHING.
Did I ever expect any such thing? NO.
Jesus Jobs! Don't you know you've been ripped off by Apple?
I'm really loving all the whining going on here! Apple didn't have to give a $100 rebate, but they are, because for some reason they seem to care about the customers who slag them off at any given chance...And now you're still not happy because it wasn't the full $200 price drop. Goods change value over time, anyone who expected the iPhone to stay at the same price is quite silly. They dropped the price, deal with it!
It seems that the rebate in the UK will be 50 GBP. It is re assuring to see apple realise that the 2 to 1 exchange rate is there (particularly when giving money back). Sadly MS and many others (apple too) oddly ignore this when setting prices.
Wonder why?
But Google refunded 200% of the wasted money, not just 50%.
This just goes to prove what we already know, Steve Jobs is cheap.
I think they realized that they had set the opening price a little too high. If the top end had sold for $499, they would have sold more at the opening, and then nobody would have objected to $100 price cut. What do the early adopters think, they bought real estate instead of a rapidly-devaluating piece of personal electronics? A $200 drop, so soon, made the upper classes feel ripped off, instead of bravely paying off the development costs for the rest of us. Show a little damn noblesse oblige, iPhone nobility. Keep paying the premium price for your phones, so they can lower the price to $299, at which point, I bite. The lower classes will thank you brave price pioneers. Scratch me behind the ear and I will tug my forelock for you. No, it doesn't mean that. The forelock is the little tuft of hair in the front of your head that the serfs would tug at to show obeisance.
Because Apple wants people to go buy the new touch iPods and not wait for three months to see if the price drops. It's not the feeling of entitlement of the early adopters, it's Apple's marketing and their desire to take care of customers.
this isn't really unprecedented. I know of many retail chains that will give "price adjustments" within a certain number of days after a purchase. I think that they mostly limit it to 14 days, maybe 30 days.
Instead of the story being "Apple lowers price, because of dismal sales", the story is about how people who paid too much are pissed and are getting a rebate.
Maybe when it hits $200 and works with t-mobile out of the box, I'll consider buying one.
Leopard = tiger +5 cute new features
I think the people that rushed out and bought one of these over-hyped devices got exactly what they deserved. I am so sick of hearing about these things, they are phones with mp3 players in them basically and they have a cool screen you can touch. I get the same result with my Zen Nano and my Samsung phone. Maybe next time they come out with a new toy, wait a while before you buy it. It's just like shopping for cars.
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
That the terms of the store credit have not been decided. How much would you like to bet that certain products will not qualify for this store credit. Steve may have dropped the price sooner than expected but he is by not means an idiot. I would expect there to be some rules that govern the purchases you will be able to make with said credit. Maybe like $100 off anything over 200 dollars.
The quad-core 3.00GHz Xeon does *not* cost the same as the dual-core 3.00GHz Xeon.
...if you actually think that Stevie is just a good person and that Apple didn't plan this, at minimum, weeks in advance. The RIAA has the stripper mentality. Apple has the pimp mentality - how many people can we get to suck our dicks in adoration? What can we do to make them suck harder? I know! Calculated PR moves like letters about how much we actually hate our proprietary monopolistic DRM policies and about how we really want to hook up our customers with $100 credits to buy more shiny white shit in our overpriced stores with archaic return policies! Marketing is marketing, even if it's coming from Apple. If anything, Apple's marketing is more sleazy than that of other corporations.
I'm a geek girl. Seriously.
I think we should get more than $100 back for being locked into using iTunes -- the buggy, incredibly vulnerable program that led to hundreds of thousands of apple software users' personal information being stolen, etc --- Don't you?
Wow, store credits just in time for the new batch of IPods.
Coincidence?
If it's had dismal sales, then I must be really lucking out, because I've seen more people using iPhones in the past week than I'd have ever imagined. I thought Apple's sales predictions were nuts, ten times too high for something that isn't even really a smartphone *and* required the majority of potential customers to change carriers, but I was totally wrong about that. I'm even getting interested now (not gonna get one until Apple supports a real API* *and* I can get it without changing carriers, though).
* Apple should license PalmOS for it and run it in a sandbox... most PalmOS applications have completely table-driven UI and layout and can be skinned with jello widgets.
I buy tools, not fashion. To me the iPhone was worth $600 as a tool. In fact it was worth more, but that is what Apple charged.
By thinking the iPhone is about Cool, you too, are a Tool.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I'm starting to think that Apple planned this entire thing out. Sure they could have sold the iPhone at this price the entire time. They could have sold it at it's current price from the beginning. The could have even sold it at $100 more than the original price. However, with the maneuver they just pulled, these are the reactions they will get.
Soon to be be iPhone users: Wow, Apple just dropped the iPhone $200. They're such a great company. I'm going to buy one now. It's only $50 more than an iPod.
Current iPhone users: Wow, Steve Jobs is great. He's giving us $100 out of his pocket for being his loyal lap dog. Time to put that in store credit to good use. New iMac, here I come!
They're managed to milk an extra $100 out their die hards and win the loyalty and adorations of pretty much all parties involved. It all seems just a little too perfectly executed to not be preplanned.
That's just a rationalization you cooked up trying to look less like a frigtard. You were not ripped off because you bought an iPhone at a price that, in all honesty, looked like a pretty decent bargain compared to the other crap "smart" phones on the market. iPhone was not priced out of line with comparable phones, and the suck factor was a great deal lower than a Windows Mobile or PalmOS phone. The cool factor for iPhone was so high that iPhone probably could have got you laid. Since you didn't get that done before the price dropped, you felt ripped off. Oh! I didn't score a chick with my iPhone now everybody else is gonna have them too and I won't get my chance! fraktard.
piracy of the OS itself is almost non-existent on Macs
What?
Either you and I live on different planets, or it's a joke and I didn't catch it. I know exactly two types of Mac users:
-those who keep the Mac loaded with whatever OS it came with,
-those who borrow the latest OS from a friend who just bought a new Mac, or leech it off bittorrent.
I've never, ever, seen anyone actually buy a boxed copy of OS X (or 9, or 8, for that matter). I would add that mac users feel "entitled" to the latest copies of the OS since they've usually spent quite a lot on the hardware.
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
I was happy with the iphone at 599. I bought mine a month ago. I went to the apple store with my receipt to see if they would do anything. There was a line of people, all to try to get something back. Everyone that I saw that had a receipt got the difference back. I had bought two and got 400 plus tax credited back to my card. No hassle. I ended up walking out with an 80 gig classic ipod for my sons birthday and still had 120 left over.
Like I said. I've never had a problem with the phone. It's been the best smartphone I have ever owned. Yeah, the price drop was kind of sudden and not normal for Apple unless the product was being bumped down because of a new upgraded model. I'm not sure why the store I purchased them from was giving full credit to the people past the normal 14 day period but I will say that quite a few of them bought something before they left.
The magnitude and rapidity of the iPhone price drop is probably not exactly matched in the cell phone industry, but the pattern of rapid and substantial price drops in new cutting edge cell phones (and other electronic gadgets) is quite common. One well-documented example is the Motorola RAZR, which started out with a very high price and was all but unavailable even at that price for months after its release. There was a scalper market for the things in the early *months* because Motorola couldn't make enough of them. For a while people paid something like eight hundred bucks to get one. When the manufacturing ramp up kicked into gear, the price fell, and fell and fell and now they are only a step or two away from giving the things away with a contract. There was no big internet whine-fest when that happened, and the initial price drops were large and rapid. Oh, the list price maybe didn't fall that fast, but people were getting between a hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars in rebates if they bought from Amazon and signed a year contract with the carrier, by the time all the various rebates were added up. It was a big, rapid drop in price.
There is something strange and different going on here, but it's not the rapid price drop, it's the reaction to it.
I think it has something to do with the trade press. Nobody can make any money writing stories about how pissed off Motorola RAZR customers are because they bought it early and the price fell, because nobody really cares about Motorola because they so seldom do anything interesting. They look like a one-hit wonder with the RAZR. Nobody even knows anything about, let alone carries in their pocket, the newer Motorola phones. The SLVR (shortly after the RAZR) and the KRZR (more recent EDGE entry) for example were basically flops, by the standards of the RAZR. Nobody would write stories like this about Motorola dropping RAZR prices:
Poked in the i (which is still linked on their front page).
Apple Slashes iPhone Prices: slaps 1 million idiots
So the trade press is using the John Dvorak model of Apple coverage to generate advertising revenue, and work early iPhone customr up into a lather with righteous indignation for having... I'm still confused by this... bought the coolest phone ever made in the early days before the inevitable and expected price drop?
The interesting question really is whether Apple structured the drop and timing on purpose to exploit the free publicity engine, or if they were caught by surprise.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Either you and I live on different planets, or it's a joke and I didn't catch it.
Well, which planet do you live on?
It's not just the price drop about which people complain. They don't like the fact that there is no upgrade for the old phones. The new iPhone is much better because it has DTT.*
*Digital Turnip Twaddling (I'm quoting what I think you will agree is an authoritative source.)
(The problem with the old iPhone is not that it was version 1.0. The problem is that Steve Jobs is version 0.9 Beta, after all these years.)
Does anybody know any method I can use to inexpensively buy an iPhone from Europe?
Ebay is filled with overpriced auctions, by people trying to monetize their iPhone unlocking skills. I just want one brand new phone, at Apple store price.
I've also been checking mail forwarding companies like http://www.myus.com/ and http://www.usabox.com/ but they all require you to set up an expensive account that does not pay out for just one gadget.
Does anybody know any other company that does cheap one-time packet forwarding from USA to Europe? Any other hint?
Globalized world my ass.
Yeah, but that $100 iTunes gift card (just to pick something) would still have cost ME $100, whatever their costs.
Secondarily, no one held a gun to our head and forced us to buy anything. Apple made an exceedingly cool product and we weighed the "cool" and utility against $600, made a decision, and bought it. They could just as easily spent millions making a technological flop like the Zune, in which case all of those R&D and marketing costs would have been a total write-off. They gambled and rolled the dice.
You may also notice that they made an Apple iPod HiFi dock... that just disappeared from the store. They made the AppleTV, which isn't exactly blowing off the shelves. In fact, I was just in a store yesterday and saw the new nano. Don't like the form factor, build quality, or the interface. So I'm not getting one, nor recommending them, nor buying them as gifts. Maybe other people will make the same decision and do the same. Maybe not. The point is that people don't buy EVERYTHING Apple makes just because it has their logo on it.
On the flip side, my MacBook Pro is the best notebook I've ever owned. OS X makes other most OS's look like they were designed by brain-dead committees (if that's not redundant). Aperture and Final Cut are some of the best tools on the planet. And if a truck rolled over my iPhone I'd be back in the store in a second buying a new one.
Fan? Yes. But I'm only a fan for as long as they continue to make great products.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
It's not just the price drop about which people complain. Those who bought the original iPhone paid $600 for something that after 2 months is completely obsolete. A better iPhone can be bought for $400. Apple customers didn't see that abuse coming.
People don't like the fact that there is no upgrade for the old phones. The new iPhone is much better because it has DTT.*
*Digital Turnip Twaddling (I'm quoting what I think you will agree is an authoritative source.)
(The fundamental problem with the old iPhone is not that it was version 1.0. The problem is that Steve Jobs is version 0.9 Beta, after all these years.)
MOD PARENT UP! That is certainly not an Offtopic comment. If the jokesters attack a Slashdot story in the beginning, that generally ruins any chance of a real discussion. As the parent poster predicted, the jokesters got control, and the rest of the discussion is confused.
I disagree with the parent poster that what Jobs did is "classy", however.
Those who bought the original iPhone paid $600 for something that after 2 months is completely obsolete. A better iPhone can be bought for $400. People don't like the fact that there is no upgrade for the old phones. Apple customers didn't see that abuse coming.
The new iPhone is much better because it has DTT.*
*Digital Turnip Twaddling (I'm quoting what I think you will agree is an authoritative source. Opus threw his obsolete iPhone in the trash.)
The fundamental problem with the iPhones is not that a phone that is two months old is obsolete. The fundamental problem is that Steve Jobs is version 0.9 Beta, after all these years. Now Apply customers fear that if Mr. Jobs did it once, he may do it again. Maybe there will be 3rd version of the iPhone in time for Christmas.
"Now Apply customers fear that if Mr. Jobs did it once, he may do it again. Maybe there will be 3rd version of the iPhone in time for Christmas."
should be
"Now Apple customers fear that if Mr. Jobs did it once, he may do it again. Maybe there will be a 3rd version of the iPhone in time for Christmas."
Note that I upgraded to the new version of my comment without charge.
I bought my iPhone this past weekend (dumb move in retrospect, I should have waited until Wednesday).
.NET/SQL Server development), we upgraded my wife to a 15.4" MBP last month, and they've now "suckered" me into two iPhones.
To do so, I had to break contract with Verizon for two lines, but the total monthly package at AT&BigBrother was the *same* price as my old Verizon package, but had 300 extra minutes, 200 SMS, and the unlimited data on my line (the iPhone). Also spent $100 to hook my wife up with a phone, figuring she would inherit my iPhone when v2 came out.
Today, I walked into the AT&T store, showed my receipt, and got a $200 credit on the iPhone purchase since it was purchased within 14 days. No hassles, and it was a credit directly against my bill, not toward future purchases.
So I turned around, returned the wife's cheapy-phone, and got her one of the last $300 4GB iPhones. Now I'm paying $20 more a month than I was with Verizon (since I had to add the data package for her iPhone).
Apple has, for now, won me over on service and design. After my Mac Pro purchase a year ago (a BIG switch for me, since I used to build my own PCs and my career is
Made my first Keynote '08 presentation last night, in a fraction of the time it would have taken in PPT, and Steve Jobs will have another $200 or so next month when Leopard comes out.
So, I guess that makes me a fan-boy. Anyone wanna buy my old Audiovox XV-6700?
Really?
Interesting I've only known one person who bought an iPod. The CTO at a local e-commerce company. Everybody else seems to still be demanding crackberries.
Yes, because nothing in the iPhone ancestry (that is to say, iPods) would have hinted a reliance on iTunes, now would it have? That was just sprung on you, wasn't it? You poor little victim...
New punctuation update "~" (no quotes) at the end of a line to indicate sarcasm. ~
No, not at all. Pricing is one of the main points Jobs criticized Sculley about later on--Jobs initially wanted to go with a low-price, high-share strategy on the Macintosh. (You might note that Apple since 1997 has maintained that strategy--but this was already after the issue had seemingly already been decided in favor of Windows, leaving Apple with no choice but to stay in a high-margin niche.)
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I'm with you both. I bought it for 600$ and enjoyed two months of showing off.
... half a cent per kilobyte cost. Thus two cents per kilobyte is equivalent to paying 9.6 $/minute on a voice call).
On the other hand, the experience that remains disgraceful is that of ATT's international pricing. I made the mistake of taking the phone with me on a trip to Argentina. Five days of basic email (9 megabytes EDGE usage) costed me 190$. At two cents per kilobyte, downloading the front page of the new york times costs 30 bucks, you see. I called to complain and was told that this is their price period.
(Calculation: using a 64 kbps modem, over an international roaming voice line costing 2.4$/minute would give
Look, Apple's sales targets for the iPhone are insane, you can't take them seriously. Which means that even absolutely staggering success could still leave them far short of the target. I mean "it failed to live up to some of the wilder expectations on Wall Street" is hardly unexpected or crushing news.
Sheesh.
You can lead a fan-boi to water, and you can make him drink.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
exactly flying off the shelves recently (they sold less in each of the whole months July and August than in the two last days of June), what else could Apple have done than lowering the price, and drastically so?
Obviously, Apple did not expect the turmoil that followed, so they had to do something, quickly. So they chose the vouchers.
Btw, I wonder how long the 4GB iPhones, officially discontinued, will be on special sale "while supplies last" in the U.S. online store? The duration of their availability (starting the day count last Wednesday) will give non-insiders a rough idea how big the inventories have actually been.
By Brian Briggs
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2007/09/jobs-offers-apple-lisa-early-adopters-store-credit.html
Cupertino, CA - Early adopters of the iPhone weren't the only ones receiving in-store credit from Steve Jobs. In an overlooked announcement, Jobs said that early adopters of the Apple Lisa would be receiving a $7000 in-store credit.
Apple released the Lisa in January of 1983 for $9,995, and the similar Macintosh was released a year later for $2,495.
"I've felt bad about people who bought the Lisa for a long time. Anybody who bought one of the first Apple Lisas really got screwed," said Jobs. "Now that we've got some cash, I think it's about time we made it right."
People interested in the refund will need to bring in an original receipt showing they bought the Lisa in 1983 and proof of purchase from the Apple Lisa box. Sales figures from that year show that if all people who bought the computer claim the refund, Apple could be liable for almost $70,000.
Steve Bloughs, who bought a Lisa, said, "When I heard about the iPhone refund, I was furious. The Lisa screw job was much more egregious. I've been waiting over twenty years for Apple to make this right. I'm glad they finally have."
Related News
Apple Stores Begin Charging Entrance Fee
College Professors to be Replaced by Apple iProf
iPhone Hacker Headed to Guantanamo
Analysts think that Jobs could be setting a bad precedent which could cost Apple millions. "What about Newton owners? Apple III owners? This could quickly get out of hand," said industry watcher Devon Scanlon from Goldman Sachs.
Apple representatives said that consumers shouldn't expect a refund every time a product bombs or prices drop. These two cases were the "exception rather than the rule."
Shares of Apple stock were down on the news.
http://appsafari.com/news/1036/100-credit/
I have decided to take this opportunity to help a Windows user finally get a Mac. Normally, none of us have a $100 to give away at random, but Apple gave me $100 for a product that I purchased two months ago. I choose to buy my iPhone the day it came out because I wanted to be apart of it's movement and a promoter of change in the industry. In order for that to happen, people have to support it. If I knew the iPhone would drop $200 two months later, I still would have bought it. Next.
Although I appreciate Apple's generosity, I would rather take the $100 I normally wouldn't have and helping a Windows' user switch to a Mac - someone desperate to get off their PC. I get that most of you think of me foolish to give away my $100 Apple Store Credit - keep it real.
The world needs it and we know it.
Please visit http://www.ryboflavo.com/ for more info!