Apple slashes 8GB iPhone price to $399, 4GB model to fade - Page 7

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I don't think that means she was choosing something because it was more expensive. Instead, it means that she saved some hard-earned money, thought she was buying a product that would retain some value and cachet (not unlike, say, jewelry), and it didn't just a few weeks after purchase. She is ticked off.

It may be naive, but it is not shallow.

I do think you entirely missed the point since you were perhaps very eager to slam the post.

Add: You may want to ask and answer for yourself (and then benchmark that with your partner of four years) what the utility and value are of, say, a pair of diamond earrings.

Originally Posted by S10

For all the negative comments here.. please look at what other phone makers do.... like Nokia and Moto... exactly.. they do the same... in the phone business prices drop faster than in any other segment.

Originally Posted by wnurse

Yeah, intellectually people know that but emotionally, they are pissed. I would be.

Soon after i bought my G5, apple announced the move to intel. To say i was upset would be an understatement.

Originally Posted by TerrinB

Cry baby. Early adaptors of technology know they are paying the extra money to be first with the cool new toy. A price drop by the Christmas buying season was inevitable. Moreover, it is a great sign to see Apple get aggressive with pricing. Many of the people not buying claimed price was the reason. Now it will not be.

Originally Posted by macbear01

I don't believe I asked for your opinion of me, but since we're sharing personal opinions of each other... You're an asshole. I guess you are just one of those special people who is so much better than me, that you see it as your duty to impose your view upon me by judging me publicly. I hope it made you feel big and powerful. Seriously, who are you to judge? Stick to commenting on the issues that are posted rather than using your internet anonymity/proximity to take cheap shots at someone personally. Did you buy an iPhone? If you did, does this news not sting a little? If you didn't, again I ask, who are you to judge?

Simply feeling like I've been taken by a company that hyped a product to produce imaginary demand for which very little supply constraints ever existed, only to cut the price by 33% just 2 months after release, and expressing my feelings about it, does not make me a whiner. If Apple could sell the phone I purchased at $600 for $400 only 2 months later, and still make a profit that makes the corporate strategy and bottom-line look good to the street, then they were over-charging to the extreme. It's almost like I gave $200 to Apple for nothing in return when they are able, this quickly, to sell the same iPhone to everyone else for only $400. Did something make them realize that at the higher price, the features, and Apple's "cool" quotient, aren't compelling enough to sustain the product beyond initial launch?

It's been just over two months, there have been two bug-fix releases, and I still can't surf reliably with Safari on the iPhone because it crashes nearly every time I use it -- the majority of the crashes being on Apple's own pages. I haven't seen any indication that any of the problems I've noticed have been addressed by the bug-fix releases. I suspect that the second release was simply to add the Web Gallery option to help sell iLife and maybe to support new iWork document formats. I wanted the iTunes Store on my iPhone too, but that's not nearly as important as being able to sync with additional email accounts, such as Outlook/Exchange. Also, features that simply give you easier access to part with your money by putting it in Apple's pockets, such as the Wi-Fi iTS and Ringtone creation in iTunes for an additional fee (you pay twice for the song so you can have an additional 30-second clip of it), are no-brainers for Apple. That just makes sense for them, and thank god, someone has finally brought the price down for ringtones. Phone companies have been ridiculous with their ringtone pricing.

Primarily, what I'd like to see is compatibility with Exchange email servers and improved password security for the locking mechanism, but those are business-related. For consumers, I'd like to see usability features and bug fixes, like:

• system-wide [text] select, copy/cut, and paste
• multiple photo attachments in emails
• ability to mark an email as junk
• ability to select multiple items, such as email or notes, and delete the selected items all at once.
• disk mode
• Flash support

Almost all of the above features were expected within 2 to 3 weeks of launch based on rumor articles AND analyst comments (analysts that are typically fairly reliable).

But even before any of these new features, I'd like to see more stability and reliability in existing features, such as:

• a magnifying glass in text fields that is smart enough not to go off-screen, is more responsive, and doesn't have the bug that causes the cursor to disappear inside the glass so that I'll actually know where the cursor is going to land in the text
• more reliable spell-checking/auto-completion (it doesn't quite seem to function fully in all locations in the same manner)
• a Safari client that doesn't crash constantly
• Bluetooth that doesn't pop and crack when I put my phone in my left pocket while the Apple Bluetooth headset is in my right ear (A distance of maybe 3 feet causes a problem when Bluetooth is supposed to work at a distance up to 30 feet? Sometimes at a distance of only 1.5 to 2 feet, just holding it in my hand seems to cause interference.)

And I paid $200 more just weeks ago to have this? If I'd had any idea at all that the price would come down in less than 6 months and more than $50 to $100, I would have waited. That's not whining -- it simply hasn't been on the market long enough to justify this kind of price decrease without making it painfully obvious that they were seriously over-charging for the device. I'd just like to have gotten the same great deal that everyone else is going to get now -- for the same exact product -- no changes at all. I'm not saying I didn't expect an eventual price-drop -- It happens with all products, but usually only after a reasonable amount of time has passed in the product's lifecycle and, historically, Apple lowers prices with new generations of a product. This was just a complete shock.

Originally Posted by DaveGee

Okay.. you got me, point taken...

So in this case do you feel Apple shouldn't **EVER** drop it's prices?! After all, **someone** will always will have just purchased (whatever) a month or two ago... and will risk upsetting them.

Or should Apple just not do their price drops when it happens to effects you?!

Originally Posted by melgross

Touché!

I was never good in French.

Originally Posted by huerix

That is the nature of technology. Us geeks have known about this kind of thing and dealt with it accordingly. That's why you don't see us running out the door to buy BluRay players for $1000. Already they are much cheaper and it will continue. It is called economies of scale.

Originally Posted by JimDreamworx

New cars drop at least 10% the moment you drive them off the lot... two months later even more.

Originally Posted by cameronj

according to all the whining babies on this thread

Originally Posted by joe in miami

1. Apple established a bad precedent among consumers. I doubt their next product launch will be as successful.

• It's pretty safe to assume that they already passed the 1 million iPhone. (Jobs likes to deliver on promises)

• Where can I get a 4GB phone? I'd like to give to my kid for Christmas?

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Stop that. Repeatedly insulting people isn't the way to win arguments or to persuade people. I don't mean to single you out, though I think you did repeatedly do this. There are a lot of people that said similar things, and it's getting tiring.

Originally Posted by jkovach

My post simply stated that it is Apple's right to do precisely what they did, but it is my right to not do business with them in as trusting a manner. In your previous posts, you said that you do the same thing. I am new to Macs, you are not. Perhaps we both learned the same lesson, but at different times.

Evidence has been provided by both sides regarding historical price decreases, and both sides have valid points. As I stated before, I do feel that some will hold back on purchases, but I'm sure that Apple calculated that most would not regardless of these actions.

Why do you feel the need to tell people how they should feel and act instead of just providing information in an open way where you don't assume that your take on the situation is the only one that is valid? You have valid points and I'm not quite as angry as when the price drop was initially announced, but you are doing your intellectual arguments a disservice by being so rude about it.

Originally Posted by cameronj

This is not an argument. There is no "debate" here - a bunch of people are whining and crying about something so patently ridiculous they only deserve to be ridiculed. Complaining that their product's price dropped after they bought it. What a bunch of whiners! Tell you what's getting tiring - the crying!

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Say what you like, but you are very unlikely to persuade with a condescending attitude.

I think it's not a debate largely because people devolved to personal attacks. If people were trying to diffuse the situation, then they failed in a major way. If they were trying to fan the flames, then they got what they wanted.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

According to the Mac's dictionary, it's only been used in the English language for about four centuries.

A 50% drop over 6 months is actually quite a bit slower.

Originally Posted by cameronj

I'm not trying to persuade anyone! Didn't I make that clear? It's like trying to persuade an infant of why they can't have the toy or stay up all night. You simply do what has to be done, there's no discussion. People are actually saying that the fact that other people will be paying less than they did makes them like their purchase less! What morons!

Originally Posted by king_rhoton

Apple's US Retail Store price protection policy (from http://www.apple.com/legal/sales_pol...tail_us.html):


"Pricing

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."

Originally Posted by macbear01

Oh, my f*cking god! What is it with all you people who can't wait to jump on here and attack someone else instead of discussing the issue itself? You should certainly be thankful for your internet anonymity 'cause if I were next to you right now, I'd pop you in the mouth.

I did NOT think that $599 was a "bad deal" until today when Apple announced to the world that, yes, it was a bad deal. Lowering the price so significantly indicates that it was dramatically over-priced at launch. Compared to the top of the line iPods and Crackberries, the features, including the incredibly slick, touch-screen interface seemed compelling enough to justify the price. I still struggled with it and had I not had extra money in my checking account from a bonus I received at work, I doubt I could have justified the cost.

There are so many problems with the arguments that this is "normal business practice," or "a price-correction," or "all products eventually decrease in price." Yes of course all of these are true to an extent, but not in such a short amount of time and it is certainly not historically typical of Apple. The time between their product refreshes has been getting longer and longer over the last 2 to 3 years, and historically, price drops on devices in the iPod family occur rarely. Instead, features, usually storage space, are added to justify maintaining the existing price point. There was just no anticipating a move this drastic. I'm mostly over it now, but I'm not over all the rude people in this community that contribute nothing constructive, yet expend excessive energy trying to beat down the thoughts and opinions of other forum posters.

Originally Posted by macbear01

Who is extremely pissed off to find out that he overpaid for the 8GB iPhone by $200 only 2 months after it was released?

That would be me! I want a f*ckin' $200 refund! Punish the early adopters. Gotta love that!

Did they have to do this to maintain interest because they haven't released ANY of the feature enhancements that were expected within a few weeks of launch? I'm a f*ckin' sucker!

Originally Posted by padrongus

I'm also upset about the price drop but I'm more worried that the 4GB model won't be supported in the same way the 8GB models will be - such as with software updates. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Originally Posted by g5man

I think this was a great move and I bought $170K worth of aapl today.

Originally Posted by onceuponamac

So – if the group that paid $499 or $599 is really upset – why not act together to show apple our frustration. Assuming we had the discipline – we could not purchase any new apple products for 12 – 18 months. Presumably, the 300,000 or so of us that acquired iPhones and aren’t within the window to obtain a refund are mostly early adopters – I’m the owner of a variety of mac products including a g5 iMac, intel core duo imac, core2duo 17” macbook pro, many airport expresses, several airport extremes, a mac mini, each generation of ipod (including a nano and a shuffle), several apple TV’s and, of course, an iphone. If we exercise our power as a group – we might get more respect from Apple. Think about it this way – there must be a lawyer among us – shouldn’t there be a legal argument under a construct of bad faith that apple and ATT violated their commitments and promises to us by not introducing promised upgrades (based on public statements by Apple and ATT to be distributed shortly after the introduction of the iPhone) – hence, allowing us to void our contracts with ATT with no further obligation for a contract breakage fee? Apple has demonstrated by it’s price decrease today that the period to meet commitments is something less than 3 months – it hasn’t provided any meaningful upgrades that don’t require a separate purchase (new iLife). Probably a smart lawyer among us could develop a legal basis for canceling our contracts with ATT even without Apple and ATT’s failure to meet their promises of service and device upgrades, given we paid in full for our devices and received no other meaningful consideration from ATT in exchange for entering into our contracts. If 300,000 (or even 170,000 of us) cancel our ATT contracts and acquire the hack to use the devices on other networks – we would demonstrate the organized power of the consumer and gain some attention given the lost revenue to ATT and Apple would be a multiple of the contract commitments that they failed to meet their commitments on. Of course, our nature as early adopters, suggests the discipline to punish Apple for a year or more is difficult – but as a group we have substantial purchasing power – simply aggregate our ATT contract commitments for two years times some number between 170k and 300k. My own view (which is that of a layman, but close follower of Apple’s product developments) is that Apple has over diversified it’s line up of ipods – I doubt the hard disk ipod will garner much in new sales – the iTouch may sell – but not if they introduce a 3G iPhone in the next 60 days (which is of course what all of us would not be able to resist). My own experience is that I use the extended features of the iPhone when I’m within distance of a wifi connection but don’t use them on the GSM network because it’s painfully slow – I’ll be much more upfront about this with other potential consumers given Apple’s act of bad faith today

Originally Posted by melgross

You would have to find out just how many are that annoyed. There will be some, but most will shrug it off.

By the way, PLEASE use paragraphs. It is hard to read.

Originally Posted by murphyweb

ignorance is not a defence.

Originally Posted by onceuponamac

Unfortunately - probably right regarding most shruggin it off - I'm sure Apple very carefully analyzed the numbers and declining sales and even knew that most people wouldn't be out buying product over the long weekend - so that the timing would be good to announce a price drop and lock people in to their higher priced purchases...

Originally Posted by octane

Even if it did apply, $14,000 is the trade-in value, if you were to sell it some two months later you could still get probably closer to $18,000 if it was $20,000 new.

My iPhone wouldn't fetch $300 on eBay now, even unlocked. I paid $650 (including tax) on June 29. That's a >50% depreciation in 9 1/2 weeks.

The equivalent would be buying that Toyota for $20,000, then Toyota says oh, now a new one is $10,000, and yours is worth $8,000, thanks for your business! Someone would get shot in the head.

Or better yet, you buy a Mac Pro for $2499 and two months later you can't give it away for $1100. Would YOU be happy in one of those situations? (and don't say $2500 if more than $600 or $10,000 drop is a lot more than $300. That's obvious, and you've missed the point ENTIRELY)

Originally Posted by melgross

I think we have to be careful when we say declining sales. Based on what?

After the feeding frenzy of the first weekend, sales would have narurally declined. But that is true for any product that the public reacts to in that way.

The XBox, WII, and PS3 are good examples. All had feeding frenzies the first day or two, but slowed down since.

Even the hot selling WII has sales that are thought to be lower than what Nintendo could supplyif they wanted to.

The question that none of us have an answer to is whether the sales are holding somewhat steady, or are in a real decline.

Originally Posted by GreggWSmith

can't wait till the 3g 160gig iPhone comes out in December for $399 so all the people buying iPhones in the next few weeks feel as screwed as I do. Bad karma is gonna eat Steve's pancreas.

Originally Posted by Duddits

Why do we value our own stuff based on how much other people pay for their stuff?

Originally Posted by backtomac

I not admitting that at all! Sure the projections change IF and WHEN sales begin in other countries. That's not the point. The point IS that current sales are NOT going to meet their projections. PERHAPS that's a reason for the dramatic price cut in the iPhone.

Apparently I'm not the only one that thinks this.

Originally Posted by S10

For all the negative comments here.. please look at what other phone makers do.... like Nokia and Moto... exactly.. they do the same... in the phone business prices drop faster than in any other segment.

Of course I would have preferred to pay the $399 price, but I knew I was paying a premium for being one of the first to have an iPhone and didn't care then and shouldn't care now.

Originally Posted by aduzik

I waited in line two hours on June 29 to get my now-antique 4GB iPhone. I was probably going to buy a new MacBook Pro in the next week or two, but now I just feel screwed. Suddenly my old PowerBook doesn't look so bad. This is going to cost Apple more than $200 in lost business from me.

Originally Posted by jdcoffman

My 4GB iPhone is being delivered today via Fedex... I just called Apple and they of course offered me the $50 price protection on the purchase. (I bought the 4gig refurb for $399)... and I then told her that since I had already purchased the 4GB refurb, that an equivilant would be the 8GB refurb that they now have in the store for $349.... so she gave me another $50.

So I got an iPhone for $300, and that makes me happy! :-)

Sure I'd love to have the 8gig version and I'll be using every bit of the 4gb that I now have, but I'd rather have the extra cash to spend toward buying Leopard here in a month or two.

Anyway, just thought I'd chime in with my super experience with the Apple Store just now.

Originally Posted by jdcoffman

Apple did just call ME, and said they're giving me a total of $150 refund, which takes my purchase price down to that $300 level, I didn't even have to call them back. I'm still happy though.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Speaking of which, it is defense.

Originally Posted by wnurse

I think everyone who wants to bitch should like bitch for a day or two more and then move on. Unless you can get your money back (recent buyers).. it's no use obsessing. Go ahead, bitch and then just forget about it. That's how i dealt with my G5 purchase (made a few months before apple announced the intel switch). Still have that G5 btw (paid too much, would be painful to sell at steep discount). Did i mention that experience was the event that caused me to question every apple product price since? (yes, i used to be just like Mel, whatever apple charges was great cause apple would never overcharge us, they are like the mother Theresa of companies). Not only did I bitch, i almost was crying. It was that upsetting to me. Within about 2 months i think (or a little less), my $4,300 purchase was obsolete.

I actually think apple needs to do this a few more times. Apple customers are not smart shoppers. By this, i don't mean we lack intelligence (i for one am a smart person).. by this i meant shop smart. We tend to pay whatever apple demands. No way would a windows user pay whatever Dell demands. They'd shop around first!. Apple is the only game in town for apple products so it's difficult to shop around but we don't ask questions. I've never seen an apple faithful ever question apple prices, it's always being defended. I know why. For many years, the PC people put out propaganda that apple computers were expensive and therefore, people should buy windows computers. Apple faithful have been defending apple so long, that now, it's automatic for every product. It's an instinctive reaction. By always defending apple pricing, we have become dumb shoppers (smart people, but not shop smart). We have lost the ability to critically analyze apple prices to figure out if it makes sense. We trust apple and assume they would never overcharge and even if they did, it was a small premium for an exclusive product. $200 is definitely not a small premium.
I think that is why a lot of people are upset. No one likes to feel like they have been taken for a ride and have been duped. Apple does this a few more times, we all will stop making excuses for this company and become smart shoppers. Sure, you cannot shop around (only 1 company makes the iphone) but you can tell apple the price is not sweet by staying away from overpriced products. If apple wanted your business, they will then lower the price to whatever you felt was reasonable (and btw, free is not reasonable. It's ok to pay a bit more for apple stuff but make sure it's not a whole lot more).

Originally Posted by QuitCrying

Why are people upset. Apple didnt force you to buy the iPhone when it came out. Apple is a company that produces product that attracts the eye. If you bought one before the price drop, you was attracted to it. So what if Apple did it TWO MONTHS afterwards, its their product and their company, and theres nothing you can do about it. If they wanted to drop the price two week afterwards I'm sure they would have. If seem all people do is complain but yet YOU STILL BUY THE PRODUCTS!!!

Originally Posted by ecking

You much have made that screen name months ago waiting for today.

Originally Posted by macbear01

Who is extremely pissed off to find out that he overpaid for the 8GB iPhone by $200 only 2 months after it was released?

That would be me! I want a f*ckin' $200 refund! Punish the early adopters. Gotta love that!

Did they have to do this to maintain interest because they haven't released ANY of the feature enhancements that were expected within a few weeks of launch? I'm a f*ckin' sucker!

Originally Posted by RayCon

Geez! I bought mine from Apple on August 21st. Ad 14 days to that, and you come up to September 4th, ONE DAY SHORT! Guess it's not much different that buying stock. You just never know when to jump in for the best deal.\