iPhone: ‘I’m sorry!’ – Steve Jobs
p2pnet news | Mobiles:- Are you one of those people who just has to have latest gadget as soon as it comes out, no matter how much it costs?
Then you’re an EA – an early adopter, someone willing to pay through the nose, if necessary, to become the first to own the latest gadget whether it’s “half-baked, potentially doomed” or the harbinger of a revolution, says Associated Press.
Behind the story is – you guessed it – Apple’s iPhone for which thousands of people forked out up to $600 and suffered the indignity of having to open an iTunes account and sign up with AT&T for a minimum of two years to own one —— only to see the price suddenly slashed by $200.
“The customers who bought Apple Inc.’s new iPhone know the pain and the pleasure,” says AP, suggesting early adopters can play a “pivotal role” in a product’s fate.
They know the prices of tech products usually fall over time, says AP, going on:
“But Apple, which historically has enjoyed premium pricing on account of its brand and innovation, angered even some of its most loyal customers by lopping $200 off the $599 iPhone, a 33 percent reduction, less than 10 weeks after the gizmo went on sale June 29.”
On p2pnet reader, AT&T Customer, states:
1 – You want sooner, you pay more.
2 – Cannibalizing their own sales is an oxymoron. A company WANTS to cannibalize their own sales, it’s much better than having other companies do it first. There is no reason that they should care which of their products someone buys so long as it’s their products. Their iPod sales have been drooping and needed a boost.
3 – See #1 above. Also one may recall that when the iPhone came out those who take things apart stated (and it was in the news channels) that the iPhone’s margins at Apple were particularly high, more than traditional for them. So it’s not so much a big discount now as much as being over-priced earlier trying to leverage the new touch UI.
4 – How does AT&T or it’s customers get short changed? The iPhone had *NO* ringtone ability previous to this, how does adding it shortchange anybody? Especially AT&T’s customers? I’m an AT&T customer (but have a Moto phone where I can make and use my own MP3 ringtones for free), why am I short changed?
Someone else tell us:
I called and pleaded my case with AT&T customer service this morning, they promised to credit $200 to my next bill, let us see, I will believe it when I see the money. I have been a loyal AT&T customer for >2years, and bought an 8gb iphoney on July 12 at a local ATT store. Everybody is a winner if they can reimburse all early adopters
And, “When will people learn that it is common practice for Apple to either kill off an older model, or render it worthless with new products?” – asks Just My Two Cents, continuing:
I still remember when they just about killed most of the local Computer stores across the US when they pulled the plug on the new Apple IIGS A good friend of mine, and a computer shop owner who had just sold over 100 Apple II GSs to the local school system, ended up loosing his business with the school district when Apple announced that it was dumping the II series (If I remember correctly, it was only 6 months after the release of the IIGS).
Later, as time passed by, how many Mac systems have been rendered out-dated or over priced due to major changed in OSs and the switch over to Intel based systems?
Sure the timing is not the best (especially for the newer phone), but a non-phone iPhone was bound to come by sooner or later, and as for the upgrade in memory, it was bound to happen.
The over priced iPhone coming down? It happenes all of the time, get over it!
As an iPod user, I can say that I am just happey that they didn’t dump the entire iPod line and iStore Services, to purely support their new iPod series, and force every iPod user to buy a new iPod, just so that they don’t loose all of the music they bought from the iStore.
Meanwhile, “In response to hundreds of complaints, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs issued an apology on Thursday and offered every iPhone user a $100 credit for Apple stores,” says AP, adding:
“But for many, money is not and never was an issue. They were after the gratification of knowing they were among the first owners of something that is cool and, for those who agreed with Apple, revolutionary.”
Need proof?
“If they told me at the outset the iPhone would be $200 cheaper the next day, I would have thought about it for a second â and still bought it,” the story has Andrew Brin, a 47-year-old addiction therapist in Los Angeles, stating.
“It was $600 and that was the price I was willing to pay for it.”
Also See:
Associated Press – Many iPhone Owners Relish Being First, September 7, 2007
p2pnet reader – Is iPhone price cut a mistake?, September 6, 2007
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September 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
You want sooner, you pay more. Period. Get over it.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
If people that call themselves EARLY ADPOTERS buy the iphone when it first comes out, THEN THEY SHOULD BE STUCK WITH PAYING THE $600.00!
Don’t give those FOOLS back their money! They parted with it willingly!
The smart people waited and are now rewarded and those “early adopters” Look like idiots.
Who says there is not poetic justice anymore?