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.
You lost everyone after that. I'm glad you're out 200 bucks. Literally joyous.
I wish i had enough money to own that crap...and if I did, I wouldn't care about my 200 bucks. Sounds like pocket change for you.
Although price drops aren't usually that close around the corner, you know they're in sight somewhere down the line. Wait it out, I'm sure one of your macs can hold you over.
In what alternate reality do I deserve a price refund for a 2-month old purchase?? Anyone who is whining about the price cut should be dragged to the public square and stoned to death with Zunes.
I'm sorry, but most people who spent $600 on a phone the minute it came out -- well, $200 is probably not the end of the world to them. You didn't LOSE $200... Apple didn't steal money from you -- you made a decision that the iPhone was worth $600 to you. Honestly, some people have the most obscene sense of entitlement!
My only personal sadness about it is that this will severely lower whatever I'd get on eBay for my 1G iPhone when the 2G comes out... doh! But I don't regret having paid the "early adopter tax" -- I knew what I was getting into, and I have loved every last second of my iPhone ownership
"This morning I'm reading a lot more about blogs and user forums full of typical Apple fanboy babies upset about a price drop (since when is a price drop a bad thing in any industry?) "
It has been clear for some time that Apple no longer needs the "fanboy babies" to be successful. They just haven't caught on yet. Hell hath no fury like a fanboy (or fangirl) scorned but they are now irrelevant. And to ad insult to injury the "faithful" have tied themselves financially and emotionally to Apple for decades, so much so that they really have no choice but to stay the course. I mean what are they going to do, start buying Dells with Vista and live with inferior hardware and software? Would they cut off their noses in order to spite their faces? May be few, really zealous, self-mutilating die-hards will (and be forever depressed). Most will get over it.
Many customers seeking refunds on Wednesday reported being treated rudely, which is not something you often hear about Apple employees and quite a contrast to the scene in the same stores two months ago.
Hmmmm... If the folks storming the Apple stores for refunds on their 1 mo + old units are displaying the same degree of civility they're showing on this forum, then I'm guessing that the store employees are exhibiting abnormal restraint in not suggesting a novel storage location for their iPhones.
I will admit tho', that Jobs miscalculated in understanding the anger potential for a quasi-religious user base who thinks Apple is in the shareware business.
You paid for the thrill of being first. $200 well spent. We all saw the ear to ear grins on your faces as you raced out of Apple Stores in June. It was a religious event, and you tithed appropriately.
Recognize that the price drop will benefit you by expanding the user base and therefore response to demand for features.
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. 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 yesterday.
Come on people, those who bought it when it first came out did it to be "The first" Everyone knew the price would drop sooner or later. I have friends that never owned a Mac in their life and said "I'll wait to the price drops" Even the iPod dropped in price, the 5GB iPod was $500, then $400. I'm guessing they just feel like fools for not having patients.
Look at it this way, the first two months paid for the development and the marketing. Now that thats all paid up, here's the price break.
Here's another tip, a 16GB model is around the corner so don't be shocked. How do I know? There's a 16GB iPod Touch.
I really just don't get all these people. Like many people said before me: price didn't drop from 600 to 400, it dropped from about 2000 to 1800. Look at it this way. What most people forget is that this is a phone selling in a mobile phone market where things work different. Don't be surprised to see more price drops in the future. Phones go from several hundred dollars to zero in a matter of months all the time. Didn't see anyone ever complain about that.
In my opinion the real reason why people are angry now is because they bought it to be cool. It was probably the most desired device on the planet at the time. And now after a couple of weeks the cool factor wears off suddenly. I am pretty sure that more than half of the first adopters don't need a smart phone or don't use any other feature apart from text, calls and music.
Hmmmm... If the folks storming the Apple stores for refunds on their 1 mo + old units are displaying the same degree of civility they're showing on this forum, then I'm guessing that the store employees are exhibiting abnormal restraint in not suggesting a novel storage location for their iPhones.
I will admit tho', that Jobs miscalculated in understanding the anger potential for a quasi-religious user base who thinks Apple is in the shareware business.
You paid for the thrill of being first. $200 well spent. We all saw the ear to ear grins on your faces as you raced out of Apple Stores in June. It was a religious event, and you tithed appropriately.
Recognize that the price drop will benefit you by expanding the user base and therefore response to demand for features.
Best summary of the situation yet. Tick off the religious zealots (George Lucas should have served as a warning, Steve) and you'll get burned at the stake.
As someone stated (perhaps Daniel Eran)... the iPhone was announced at $599 in January... right? So people saw the value that the iPhone had at that price point. Now just because the price drops $200 doesn't mean that it's actually worth less, unless people are having a bad experience with the product and it didn't live up to the hype - which from what I've read is not the case.
Just watch - there will be a class action lawsuit... i just friggin' know it.
Cellphones are for people who are so dependent on others, so ill-at-ease with themselves, they can't even go for a quiet 5-minute walk without someone to talk to.
Therefore all those who bought the expensive iPhone must be mentally weak or guilty people and won't ulitmately make much of a fuss for fear of their guilt being exposed.
I have a better idea...why don't you sell your iPhone and recoup some of your supposed losses?
doing that wouldn't exact any pain on apple or ATT. fanboys and fangirls shouldn't act like sheep - i wonder if apple will miss it's earnings - it must be close to doing so to require such a dramatic price drop. i hope they make a lot of the hard drvie version ipods and get stuck with them in inventory.
If you were a TRUE technology buff, you would have known this was coming. How else does Apple or any other company reach that second and third tier of consumers who just will not bite at the "early adopter" pricing.
The price change just happens to have timed out the way it did with sales of the iPhone reaching the incredible figure beyond 1Mil and an aggressive move by Apple to increase these numbers further during this holiday season.
You can bet that Apple will introduce another "Higher End" unit with more memory after the holiday season to keep the sales pipe flowing. It's just the way things are when a company wants (and deserves) to own a particular market segment.
We ALL pay the price for early adoption until mass production kicks in and prices fall.
There are many factors involved with this... mainly that apple has sold almost 1 million phones the the places they get their parts for the phones may have cut them a deal, since they are selling quicker than anticipated. This is the definition of technology. Everyone here should understand it better than most. Why is it so hard to understand that demand / sales drives prices down. Driving prices down increases sales. It's been like this since the start of Industry / technology. Go take an economics class and get over it. Apple could sell the iPhone for 199 if they wanted to, just to increase sales. $599 was a lot of money for a "phone". If you were one to buy the first day you were more than happy to spend your $599 because you felt the phone was worth it. Prices drop all the time. Try and keep up with it. I remember dvd burners dropping from 250 -> 75 within 4 months. That's a HUGE price drop. What about when dvd burners were 750!!! How do you think those guys felt.
The point is here, that companies can choose to do what they want to do. Perhaps it wasn't feasible at the time to cut down to 399 on the iPhone. Now after selling ~900k of them they can afford it since their prices on parts have gone down.
After introducing the iPod touch, if they kept the prices on the iPhone at $599, the iPod touch sales would have REALLY cut into it. And there is no way they could have sold the iPod touch for $499. Why is this so hard to see? I've never seen such whinning over a price cut. Usually people rejoice when apple price cuts. This is all insanity.
fraudulent inducement and contract breach - ATT's the only one that really seems at risk - but that would require people to seek to void their contracts - if apple has some sort of make whole to ATT in the event of a migration away from iphone accounts for iphones sold at $499 and $599 then apple would suffer as well... of course, any pain would require people to do something!
doing that wouldn't exact any pain on apple or ATT. fanboys and fangirls shouldn't act like sheep - i wonder if apple will miss it's earnings - it must be close to doing so to require such a dramatic price drop. i hope they make a lot of the hard drvie version ipods and get stuck with them in inventory.
The people complaining about the iPhone price drop are annoying me, but I suppose I'd be cheesed off if it happened to me, but what the hells apple supposed to do.
Put the price back up?
Not announce the iPod touch till like January or something?
They had to drop the price because of the iPod touch
Comments
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.
You lost everyone after that. I'm glad you're out 200 bucks. Literally joyous.
I wish i had enough money to own that crap...and if I did, I wouldn't care about my 200 bucks. Sounds like pocket change for you.
Although price drops aren't usually that close around the corner, you know they're in sight somewhere down the line. Wait it out, I'm sure one of your macs can hold you over.
In what alternate reality do I deserve a price refund for a 2-month old purchase?? Anyone who is whining about the price cut should be dragged to the public square and stoned to death with Zunes.
I'm sorry, but most people who spent $600 on a phone the minute it came out -- well, $200 is probably not the end of the world to them. You didn't LOSE $200... Apple didn't steal money from you -- you made a decision that the iPhone was worth $600 to you. Honestly, some people have the most obscene sense of entitlement!
My only personal sadness about it is that this will severely lower whatever I'd get on eBay for my 1G iPhone when the 2G comes out... doh! But I don't regret having paid the "early adopter tax" -- I knew what I was getting into, and I have loved every last second of my iPhone ownership
It has been clear for some time that Apple no longer needs the "fanboy babies" to be successful. They just haven't caught on yet. Hell hath no fury like a fanboy (or fangirl) scorned but they are now irrelevant. And to ad insult to injury the "faithful" have tied themselves financially and emotionally to Apple for decades, so much so that they really have no choice but to stay the course. I mean what are they going to do, start buying Dells with Vista and live with inferior hardware and software? Would they cut off their noses in order to spite their faces? May be few, really zealous, self-mutilating die-hards will (and be forever depressed). Most will get over it.
Many customers seeking refunds on Wednesday reported being treated rudely, which is not something you often hear about Apple employees and quite a contrast to the scene in the same stores two months ago.
Hmmmm... If the folks storming the Apple stores for refunds on their 1 mo + old units are displaying the same degree of civility they're showing on this forum, then I'm guessing that the store employees are exhibiting abnormal restraint in not suggesting a novel storage location for their iPhones.
I will admit tho', that Jobs miscalculated in understanding the anger potential for a quasi-religious user base who thinks Apple is in the shareware business.
You paid for the thrill of being first. $200 well spent. We all saw the ear to ear grins on your faces as you raced out of Apple Stores in June. It was a religious event, and you tithed appropriately.
Recognize that the price drop will benefit you by expanding the user base and therefore response to demand for features.
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. 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 yesterday.
The return button is your friend
Look at it this way, the first two months paid for the development and the marketing. Now that thats all paid up, here's the price break.
Here's another tip, a 16GB model is around the corner so don't be shocked. How do I know? There's a 16GB iPod Touch.
200 seems like chump change.
In my opinion the real reason why people are angry now is because they bought it to be cool. It was probably the most desired device on the planet at the time. And now after a couple of weeks the cool factor wears off suddenly. I am pretty sure that more than half of the first adopters don't need a smart phone or don't use any other feature apart from text, calls and music.
Guys, you paid 600$ for a phone!
Hmmmm... If the folks storming the Apple stores for refunds on their 1 mo + old units are displaying the same degree of civility they're showing on this forum, then I'm guessing that the store employees are exhibiting abnormal restraint in not suggesting a novel storage location for their iPhones.
I will admit tho', that Jobs miscalculated in understanding the anger potential for a quasi-religious user base who thinks Apple is in the shareware business.
You paid for the thrill of being first. $200 well spent. We all saw the ear to ear grins on your faces as you raced out of Apple Stores in June. It was a religious event, and you tithed appropriately.
Recognize that the price drop will benefit you by expanding the user base and therefore response to demand for features.
Best summary of the situation yet. Tick off the religious zealots (George Lucas should have served as a warning, Steve) and you'll get burned at the stake.
Hello? we're talking iPhone here.. it's a phone... not a computer..
Umm, no, it is a computer.
Just watch - there will be a class action lawsuit... i just friggin' know it.
Therefore all those who bought the expensive iPhone must be mentally weak or guilty people and won't ulitmately make much of a fuss for fear of their guilt being exposed.
Just watch - there will be a class action lawsuit... i just friggin' know it.
True, but on what grounds?
I have a better idea...why don't you sell your iPhone and recoup some of your supposed losses?
doing that wouldn't exact any pain on apple or ATT. fanboys and fangirls shouldn't act like sheep - i wonder if apple will miss it's earnings - it must be close to doing so to require such a dramatic price drop. i hope they make a lot of the hard drvie version ipods and get stuck with them in inventory.
The price change just happens to have timed out the way it did with sales of the iPhone reaching the incredible figure beyond 1Mil and an aggressive move by Apple to increase these numbers further during this holiday season.
You can bet that Apple will introduce another "Higher End" unit with more memory after the holiday season to keep the sales pipe flowing. It's just the way things are when a company wants (and deserves) to own a particular market segment.
We ALL pay the price for early adoption until mass production kicks in and prices fall.
There are many factors involved with this... mainly that apple has sold almost 1 million phones the the places they get their parts for the phones may have cut them a deal, since they are selling quicker than anticipated. This is the definition of technology. Everyone here should understand it better than most. Why is it so hard to understand that demand / sales drives prices down. Driving prices down increases sales. It's been like this since the start of Industry / technology. Go take an economics class and get over it. Apple could sell the iPhone for 199 if they wanted to, just to increase sales. $599 was a lot of money for a "phone". If you were one to buy the first day you were more than happy to spend your $599 because you felt the phone was worth it. Prices drop all the time. Try and keep up with it. I remember dvd burners dropping from 250 -> 75 within 4 months. That's a HUGE price drop. What about when dvd burners were 750!!! How do you think those guys felt.
The point is here, that companies can choose to do what they want to do. Perhaps it wasn't feasible at the time to cut down to 399 on the iPhone. Now after selling ~900k of them they can afford it since their prices on parts have gone down.
After introducing the iPod touch, if they kept the prices on the iPhone at $599, the iPod touch sales would have REALLY cut into it. And there is no way they could have sold the iPod touch for $499. Why is this so hard to see? I've never seen such whinning over a price cut. Usually people rejoice when apple price cuts. This is all insanity.
True, but on what grounds?
fraudulent inducement and contract breach - ATT's the only one that really seems at risk - but that would require people to seek to void their contracts - if apple has some sort of make whole to ATT in the event of a migration away from iphone accounts for iphones sold at $499 and $599 then apple would suffer as well... of course, any pain would require people to do something!
[CENTER][/CENTER]
doing that wouldn't exact any pain on apple or ATT. fanboys and fangirls shouldn't act like sheep - i wonder if apple will miss it's earnings - it must be close to doing so to require such a dramatic price drop. i hope they make a lot of the hard drvie version ipods and get stuck with them in inventory.
Two words: Cottage Cheese
Put the price back up?
Not announce the iPod touch till like January or something?
They had to drop the price because of the iPod touch