[CENTER]***A tale of woe bespeaking feelings of betrayal***[/CENTER]
Apple completely turned the tables and in doing so, alienated their core customer base. Apple used to be a brand that engendered extreme, almost fanatic customer loyalty. No more.
I guess that I cancel your vote, then. I was the last person in Indianapolis to purchase an iPhone and I couldn't care less about the price drop except for the fact that my wife is going to get hers about a year earlier than I had originally planned.
The kids will still wait, though!
It has been a blast having one of the rare, but universally sought iPhones! I've been showing it to my friends, customers, strangers, anyone who's curious. Life is good. Get one
Apple, when launching the iPhone, knew they would be following it up with the iPod touch in quick succession. They knew they were going to want to price the iPhone closely with the iPod touch to drive sales towards the iPhone. They knew the components of the iPhone were cheap enough to allow them to sell the product at the same price as the 16GB iPod touch and still turn a tidy profit.
So, what do they do? Instead of rolling out the iPhone at $399 (and probably selling a heck of a lot more of them) they say, "You know what, we have a 2-month window where nobody will know about the iPod touch. We could use that window to make a few million extra bucks by adding $200 to the price of the iPhone and letting all the early adopters/apple faithful/fanboy crowd go ahead and overspend, because we know they will. Sure, we'll only be able to gouge away like this for a couple of months, but we'll make some extra cash."
Yes, it's capitalism. Yes, I think an iPhone is worth $600. No, I wouldn't have bought one if I knew I would have only had to wait a few weeks to save $200.
This is NOT comparable to someone who buys an Apple computer 8 months after it's been released and then the faster, better, cheaper machine gets released. The iPhone was a brand new product. It did not receive a hardware refresh. Instead, it just got a random, unexpected, and surprising price drop. It's great for future purchasers and I'm happy more people will be able to afford an iPhone. Still, I think there will be many early adopters who can't help but feel a bit swindled.
Why do you feel betrayed ? Did Apple promised us early adopters that they will not drop the iPhone price until Macworld Expo at SF ? Was the iPhone upgraded to 16 GB and have more feature set than the ones we bought last June 29 ? Did your iPhone stopped working today after the Apple event ? If you felt that the iPhone was overpriced , why buy it ? You could have waited you know .
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water . Apple's job is to compete against these giants and grab market share by any means possible even if it means that Apple would lower the price of it's iPhones real early in order to stop any gains by it's competitors even it would mean pissing us off early adopters. And oh yeah , just wait when Apple starts doing it's iPhone revisions at least twice a year . If you are complaining now , I can wait to see your reaction then .
I think the current 8 GB is the new 4 GB model. There will more than likely be a 3G or 16GB model announced in the next few weeks to take over the $600 price point.
I think the current 8 GB is the new 4 GB model. There will more than likely be a 3G or 16GB model announced in the next few weeks to take over the $600 price point.
I doubt it. You won't see a significant hardware update to the iPhone until June 08 at the earliest, but more like Sep 08.
I doubt it. You won't see a significant hardware update to the iPhone until June 08 at the earliest, but more like Sep 08.
considering the iPhone will be 3g when released in Europe and Asia in early 08, i don't think that is correct. now we have the iPod touch, i think there will be 8 and 16 gig models first up in those markets...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wil
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water?
precisiely - the mobile phone market is different to the computer hardware and mp3 player markets. certainly it is a surprise that an apple product got a price cut (heck i was surprised the new iMacs got one!), but again it' a new market apple is operating in. it's a good move.
ppl now saying the iPhone was $200 over-priced are ignoring R&D costs, as mentioned on the other thread. and it is only a 33% reduction to the up-front/entry price; over the life of the phone the cut is significantly less:
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulgreen
The cost of any cell phone is primarily the (high) monthly charges, rather than the initial cost of the phone. Hence the numerous "free" phone available (with contract).
Let's look at the iPhone. It was $600, with a mandatory 2 year contract at $60/month = $2040 for two years. Now it is $400, with the same contract making it $1840 for two years, i.e. a modest 9.8% drop in price.
i can understand the pain some feel, though not the hysteria. it truly is the cost for being on the bleeding edge, and not as big a drop as one would initially believe - suck it up!
like many, I was an early adopter because I needed a new phone AND a new ipod. also like many, $600 is a LOT of money. I feel taken. Apple should do the right thing and refund the $200 in some form. It is obvious that in typical Apple fashion, there is an iPhone successor in the wings, be it 3G, or just larger capacity. Why they didn't annouce it to coincide with this unprecidented price drop is beyond me.
I don't care about what people will say to me today about my being "taken." I'l reply that it's still a great product and that they should buy one too, because that is the truth.
However, Apple needs to "man up" and reward the early adopters for HELPING them sell their phones at the $600 price point. Consider it "commission."
Apple legal has likely already included in your contract a disclosure saying that the price of the device is fluid and they reserve the right to change it at any time, and that you have a 14 day grace period to get the difference back. Standard sales practice, especially in the rapidly changing phone market.
You guys are all a bunch of loons thinking Apple owes you something. I had to pay $300 for a disk drive back in the day. My memory stick holds more now than my entire computer from a few years ago. The Motorola Razr used to be big bucks and now they are so cheap and ubiquitous I think my son found one as a prize in his cereal box this morning.
Get over yourselves and get used to it. Such is the price of progress.
There is no legal remedy for a price drop which is well within their right to do. Our only remedy and solution is to continue to get the word out and to take our early adopter manifestations to another brand. Obviously I will continue to use their phone but they just blew off a lot of early adopters of their products and crushed belief for a mere $200. They were within their rights but were predatory!
Check out this paragraph from the New York Times. It seems Apple all along wanted to treat us as suckers all along. OK, I bit, but never again. Here is the paragraph.... Welcome to the sucker club...
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
considering the iPhone will be 3g when released in Europe and Asia in early 08, i don't think that is correct. now we have the iPod touch, i think there will be 8 and 16 gig models first up in those markets...
I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but everything I've read points to a non-3G phone being released in Europe. In fact, everything I've read discusses how this will severely limit sales of iPhones in Europe.
I wish you were right. I wish 3G iPhones and iPhones with built-in GPS would become available within the next 6 months. However, as Apple has stated and many sources have verified, 3G will limit battery life significantly and will make the iPhone much thicker.
Apple plans to market the current EDGE iPhone in Europe. They will not make a separate 3G iPhone that is thicker and has a shorter battery life.
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone?s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
Yep, class action lawsuit here we come. I can only imagine the lawyers will be lining up.
Do I wish I could get my $200 back? You bet! Do I feel betrayed? Not a chance. I've really enjoyed my iPhone over the last 2 months and do not get upset at the thought of losing an extra $200 on my iPhone. It's the price I paid for being an early adopter, and when I purchased it, I knew at some point the price would be lowered. The iPod prices have been lowered several times. So have iMac prices. I don't feel betrayed that a much faster C2D iMac is available cheaper than what I paid for my G5 iMac.
I have read the various threads about the price drop being inevitable and how cell phone prices drop shortly after the phone is released and how we are all a bunch of babies for whining. Puhlease!
I think you have a right to be upset, but not that upset. And those stories about prices dropping in this market segment? True. Totally true.
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What Apple did today is unconscionable!
Unconscionable? Dropping the price of a gadget is unconscionable? That's absurd.
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I consider myself an experienced consumer and what Apple did today does not fit any retail pattern that I can name!
Uh...it fits every "retail pattern." Read the thread.
Quote:
They knew that the iPhone would stir up a frenzy among the most loyal Apple fans and that those fans would run out an snap up the iPhone.
You mean they...GASP!---they priced their product to the market and estimated demand...to make MONEY?!?! The HORROR!
Quote:
You couldn't buy more effective advertising than having a news crew film a line of fanatics camping out in front of an Apple Store.
True. So?
Quote:
And we did just what they wanted.
Yes, you bought their product. You knew you were buying early. I decided not to buy because it was so early. I didn't expect the price drop that fast, but thought $600 was a lot to risk on a version 1 product.
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So much so, that Apple now has $46 million dollars (that's the $200 extra that each of the original 230,000 buyers paid) to incentivize new customers to come to the fold. And what do we get for it? Bragging rights? What a crock!
You get the iPhone you bought. You got it early. Good for you.
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You bet I feel betrayed.
Again, that's an extreme choice of words. You're angry, and perhaps justifiably so. I would be too....as I have been in that same situation to a degree. But Apple didn't "betray" you. If they did, they would have rendered your iPhone inoperable and forced you to buy a new one to make phone calls. Just an example.
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I bought the iPhone knowing that it was at least $200 over priced.
I call bullshit. How would you know that? And why did you buy it if so?
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But all Apple products are over priced compared to the competition, so I figured that the iPhone would always be $600 and that future versions would be bigger and better.
Well, I assumed that too. Apple does tend to be more expensive, but not always.
Quote:
That is Apple's pattern. But the same iPhone I bought only two months ago, with the exact same features is now $200 cheaper.
Yup, it's annoying. It happens in other areas too. I already mentioned my iMac saga and HDTV. The iMac was updated to intel a little more than two months later. I was pissed too, having just bought a G5 iMac 3 weeks earlier. But I wasn't betrayed.
Quote:
Apple completely turned the tables and in doing so, alienated their core customer base. Apple used to be a brand that engendered extreme, almost fanatic customer loyalty. No more.
You're really THAT mad because of this? They still command fanatic customer loyalty and will do so for a long time. I mean, get some perspective here. It's 200 bucks. It's a price cut. Fucking deal with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wil
Phyman
Why do you feel betrayed ? Did Apple promised us early adopters that they will not drop the iPhone price until Macworld Expo at SF ? Was the iPhone upgraded to 16 GB and have more feature set than the ones we bought last June 29 ? Did your iPhone stopped working today after the Apple event ? If you felt that the iPhone was overpriced , why buy it ? You could have waited you know .
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water . Apple's job is to compete against these giants and grab market share by any means possible even if it means that Apple would lower the price of it's iPhones real early in order to stop any gains by it's competitors even it would mean pissing us off early adopters. And oh yeah , just wait when Apple starts doing it's iPhone revisions at least twice a year . If you are complaining now , I can wait to see your reaction then .
Couldn't agree more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman
You guys are all a bunch of loons thinking Apple owes you something. I had to pay $300 for a disk drive back in the day. My memory stick holds more now than my entire computer from a few years ago. The Motorola Razr used to be big bucks and now they are so cheap and ubiquitous I think my son found one as a prize in his cereal box this morning.
Get over yourselves and get used to it. Such is the price of progress.
Nick
I agree. I do think they have a right to be irritated. But that's life. It happens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tutumiles1
Check out this paragraph from the New York Times. It seems Apple all along wanted to treat us as suckers all along. OK, I bit, but never again. Here is the paragraph.... Welcome to the sucker club....
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
They priced it where they thought the market was. That's not a crime. If they had priced it lower, it might have screwed up the rest of the product matrix for iPod, which wasn't updated yet. You pay a premium being an early adopter. How do you think people that bought blu-ray players a year ago feel...for $1000? The price is not $500 and lower. Do you think they feel "betrayed" too? Don't you think Samsung and Sony planned to drop the price?
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Originally Posted by southerndoc
Yep, class action lawsuit here we come. I can only imagine the lawyers will be lining up.
Uh, good luck. There is absolutely NO case here. They control pricing and have every right to. Any such lawsuit will be laughed out of court.
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Do I wish I could get my $200 back? You bet! Do I feel betrayed? Not a chance. I've really enjoyed my iPhone over the last 2 months and do not get upset at the thought of losing an extra $200 on my iPhone.
Well, you didn't really "lose" the money, to be fair.
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It's the price I paid for being an early adopter, and when I purchased it, I knew at some point the price would be lowered. The iPod prices have been lowered several times. So have iMac prices. I don't feel betrayed that a much faster C2D iMac is available cheaper than what I paid for my G5 iMac.
That's very reasonable and I totally agree with you.
Completely un-necessary in my book, but hopefully it will appease the childish complainers.
I mean, really. If I buy gasoline for my car today, can I complain if the prices goes down tomorrow? Prices fluctuate. Companies are free to set their prices. Consumers are free to choose to buy.
The day I bought my new MacBookPro, I posted a message saying that I was sure that Apple would release a new model within two months; sure enough, they did. That is the way things are in tech.
If you go to the video and buy two movies, a new release and a classic, can you complain that there is a very major difference in the price? No.
Supply, demand and other things people learn in business 101 are at play.
Completely un-necessary in my book, but hopefully it will appease the childish complainers.
I mean, really. If I buy gasoline for my car today, can I complain if the prices goes down tomorrow? Prices fluctuate. Companies are free to set their prices. Consumers are free to choose to buy.
The day I bought my new MacBookPro, I posted a message saying that I was sure that Apple would release a new model within two months; sure enough, they did. That is the way things are in tech.
If you go to the video and buy two movies, a new release and a classic, can you complain that there is a very major difference in the price? No.
Supply, demand and other things people learn in business 101 are at play.
Jeeesh.
This actually makes me quite happy. I'm annoyed to say the least that they dropped it $200 in 2 months. Gasoline doesn't fluctuate that much. That was a huge drop(33%). Instead of giving people money back I do believe the $100 toward a next purchase is a great idea because I do plan to buy the new nano for the girlfriend or possibly an iPhone.
You're right though. It is un-necessary, but very welcome to the idea.
I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but everything I've read points to a non-3G phone being released in Europe. In fact, everything I've read discusses how this will severely limit sales of iPhones in Europe....
most likely your info is more up to date than mine, i was thinking of something that came up on AI a couple of months ago re: europe and asia. if that's the case i might have to wait for the second iteration to come down under, though with my contract coming up and the discontinuation of i-mode here in december the timing would have been almost perfect... however, not sure i that i can wait
most likely your info is more up to date than mine, i was thinking of something that came up on AI a couple of months ago re: europe and asia. if that's the case i might have to wait for the second iteration to come down under, though with my contract coming up and the discontinuation of i-mode here in december the timing would have been almost perfect... however, not sure i that i can wait
As I've been saying since the iPhone was released, it is not likely that we will see a refresh of the iPhones until 18 months after the initial release. During that time you will see more memory (16, but perhaps 32GB), 3G, and GPS.
Of course, I completely missed the reduction in price.
As I've been saying since the iPhone was released, it is not likely that we will see a refresh of the iPhones until 18 months after the initial release. During that time you will see more memory (16, but perhaps 32GB), 3G, and GPS.
Of course, I completely missed the reduction in price.
hrmm, regardless of which-G and other features, i would be extremely surprised if the iPhone didn't get a bump in capacity to 8/16GB within 12 months of it's initial release, especially so now that iPod touch has it.
Comments
[CENTER]***A tale of woe bespeaking feelings of betrayal***[/CENTER]
Apple completely turned the tables and in doing so, alienated their core customer base. Apple used to be a brand that engendered extreme, almost fanatic customer loyalty. No more.
I guess that I cancel your vote, then. I was the last person in Indianapolis to purchase an iPhone and I couldn't care less about the price drop except for the fact that my wife is going to get hers about a year earlier than I had originally planned.
The kids will still wait, though!
It has been a blast having one of the rare, but universally sought iPhones! I've been showing it to my friends, customers, strangers, anyone who's curious. Life is good. Get one
V/R,
Aries 1B
Apple, when launching the iPhone, knew they would be following it up with the iPod touch in quick succession. They knew they were going to want to price the iPhone closely with the iPod touch to drive sales towards the iPhone. They knew the components of the iPhone were cheap enough to allow them to sell the product at the same price as the 16GB iPod touch and still turn a tidy profit.
So, what do they do? Instead of rolling out the iPhone at $399 (and probably selling a heck of a lot more of them) they say, "You know what, we have a 2-month window where nobody will know about the iPod touch. We could use that window to make a few million extra bucks by adding $200 to the price of the iPhone and letting all the early adopters/apple faithful/fanboy crowd go ahead and overspend, because we know they will. Sure, we'll only be able to gouge away like this for a couple of months, but we'll make some extra cash."
Yes, it's capitalism. Yes, I think an iPhone is worth $600. No, I wouldn't have bought one if I knew I would have only had to wait a few weeks to save $200.
This is NOT comparable to someone who buys an Apple computer 8 months after it's been released and then the faster, better, cheaper machine gets released. The iPhone was a brand new product. It did not receive a hardware refresh. Instead, it just got a random, unexpected, and surprising price drop. It's great for future purchasers and I'm happy more people will be able to afford an iPhone. Still, I think there will be many early adopters who can't help but feel a bit swindled.
Why do you feel betrayed ? Did Apple promised us early adopters that they will not drop the iPhone price until Macworld Expo at SF ? Was the iPhone upgraded to 16 GB and have more feature set than the ones we bought last June 29 ? Did your iPhone stopped working today after the Apple event ? If you felt that the iPhone was overpriced , why buy it ? You could have waited you know .
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water . Apple's job is to compete against these giants and grab market share by any means possible even if it means that Apple would lower the price of it's iPhones real early in order to stop any gains by it's competitors even it would mean pissing us off early adopters. And oh yeah , just wait when Apple starts doing it's iPhone revisions at least twice a year . If you are complaining now , I can wait to see your reaction then .
I think the current 8 GB is the new 4 GB model. There will more than likely be a 3G or 16GB model announced in the next few weeks to take over the $600 price point.
I doubt it. You won't see a significant hardware update to the iPhone until June 08 at the earliest, but more like Sep 08.
I doubt it. You won't see a significant hardware update to the iPhone until June 08 at the earliest, but more like Sep 08.
considering the iPhone will be 3g when released in Europe and Asia in early 08, i don't think that is correct. now we have the iPod touch, i think there will be 8 and 16 gig models first up in those markets...
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water?
precisiely - the mobile phone market is different to the computer hardware and mp3 player markets. certainly it is a surprise that an apple product got a price cut (heck i was surprised the new iMacs got one!), but again it' a new market apple is operating in. it's a good move.
ppl now saying the iPhone was $200 over-priced are ignoring R&D costs, as mentioned on the other thread. and it is only a 33% reduction to the up-front/entry price; over the life of the phone the cut is significantly less:
The cost of any cell phone is primarily the (high) monthly charges, rather than the initial cost of the phone. Hence the numerous "free" phone available (with contract).
Let's look at the iPhone. It was $600, with a mandatory 2 year contract at $60/month = $2040 for two years. Now it is $400, with the same contract making it $1840 for two years, i.e. a modest 9.8% drop in price.
i can understand the pain some feel, though not the hysteria. it truly is the cost for being on the bleeding edge, and not as big a drop as one would initially believe - suck it up!
I don't care about what people will say to me today about my being "taken." I'l reply that it's still a great product and that they should buy one too, because that is the truth.
However, Apple needs to "man up" and reward the early adopters for HELPING them sell their phones at the $600 price point. Consider it "commission."
Apple legal get ready.
Get over yourselves and get used to it. Such is the price of progress.
Nick
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
considering the iPhone will be 3g when released in Europe and Asia in early 08, i don't think that is correct. now we have the iPod touch, i think there will be 8 and 16 gig models first up in those markets...
I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but everything I've read points to a non-3G phone being released in Europe. In fact, everything I've read discusses how this will severely limit sales of iPhones in Europe.
I wish you were right. I wish 3G iPhones and iPhones with built-in GPS would become available within the next 6 months. However, as Apple has stated and many sources have verified, 3G will limit battery life significantly and will make the iPhone much thicker.
Apple plans to market the current EDGE iPhone in Europe. They will not make a separate 3G iPhone that is thicker and has a shorter battery life.
3G and GPS should be here next year.
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone?s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
Yep, class action lawsuit here we come. I can only imagine the lawyers will be lining up.
Do I wish I could get my $200 back? You bet! Do I feel betrayed? Not a chance. I've really enjoyed my iPhone over the last 2 months and do not get upset at the thought of losing an extra $200 on my iPhone. It's the price I paid for being an early adopter, and when I purchased it, I knew at some point the price would be lowered. The iPod prices have been lowered several times. So have iMac prices. I don't feel betrayed that a much faster C2D iMac is available cheaper than what I paid for my G5 iMac.
I have read the various threads about the price drop being inevitable and how cell phone prices drop shortly after the phone is released and how we are all a bunch of babies for whining. Puhlease!
I think you have a right to be upset, but not that upset. And those stories about prices dropping in this market segment? True. Totally true.
What Apple did today is unconscionable!
I consider myself an experienced consumer and what Apple did today does not fit any retail pattern that I can name!
Uh...it fits every "retail pattern." Read the thread.
They knew that the iPhone would stir up a frenzy among the most loyal Apple fans and that those fans would run out an snap up the iPhone.
You mean they...GASP!---they priced their product to the market and estimated demand...to make MONEY?!?! The HORROR!
You couldn't buy more effective advertising than having a news crew film a line of fanatics camping out in front of an Apple Store.
True. So?
And we did just what they wanted.
Yes, you bought their product. You knew you were buying early. I decided not to buy because it was so early. I didn't expect the price drop that fast, but thought $600 was a lot to risk on a version 1 product.
So much so, that Apple now has $46 million dollars (that's the $200 extra that each of the original 230,000 buyers paid) to incentivize new customers to come to the fold. And what do we get for it? Bragging rights? What a crock!
You get the iPhone you bought. You got it early. Good for you.
You bet I feel betrayed.
Again, that's an extreme choice of words. You're angry, and perhaps justifiably so. I would be too....as I have been in that same situation to a degree. But Apple didn't "betray" you. If they did, they would have rendered your iPhone inoperable and forced you to buy a new one to make phone calls. Just an example.
I bought the iPhone knowing that it was at least $200 over priced.
I call bullshit. How would you know that? And why did you buy it if so?
But all Apple products are over priced compared to the competition, so I figured that the iPhone would always be $600 and that future versions would be bigger and better.
Well, I assumed that too. Apple does tend to be more expensive, but not always.
That is Apple's pattern. But the same iPhone I bought only two months ago, with the exact same features is now $200 cheaper.
Yup, it's annoying. It happens in other areas too. I already mentioned my iMac saga and HDTV. The iMac was updated to intel a little more than two months later. I was pissed too, having just bought a G5 iMac 3 weeks earlier. But I wasn't betrayed.
Apple completely turned the tables and in doing so, alienated their core customer base. Apple used to be a brand that engendered extreme, almost fanatic customer loyalty. No more.
You're really THAT mad because of this? They still command fanatic customer loyalty and will do so for a long time. I mean, get some perspective here. It's 200 bucks. It's a price cut. Fucking deal with it.
Phyman
Why do you feel betrayed ? Did Apple promised us early adopters that they will not drop the iPhone price until Macworld Expo at SF ? Was the iPhone upgraded to 16 GB and have more feature set than the ones we bought last June 29 ? Did your iPhone stopped working today after the Apple event ? If you felt that the iPhone was overpriced , why buy it ? You could have waited you know .
When Steve Jobs and Apple entered into the mobile communication arena and challenged the big cell phone manufacturers in their home turf , do you really think that Mr Jobs will be so stupid to continue to use the iPod pricing scheme against Nokia , Motorola , Samsung and the rest without getting blown off the water . Apple's job is to compete against these giants and grab market share by any means possible even if it means that Apple would lower the price of it's iPhones real early in order to stop any gains by it's competitors even it would mean pissing us off early adopters. And oh yeah , just wait when Apple starts doing it's iPhone revisions at least twice a year . If you are complaining now , I can wait to see your reaction then .
Couldn't agree more.
You guys are all a bunch of loons thinking Apple owes you something. I had to pay $300 for a disk drive back in the day. My memory stick holds more now than my entire computer from a few years ago. The Motorola Razr used to be big bucks and now they are so cheap and ubiquitous I think my son found one as a prize in his cereal box this morning.
Get over yourselves and get used to it. Such is the price of progress.
Nick
I agree. I do think they have a right to be irritated. But that's life. It happens.
Check out this paragraph from the New York Times. It seems Apple all along wanted to treat us as suckers all along. OK, I bit, but never again. Here is the paragraph.... Welcome to the sucker club....
"On Wednesday, Apple executives insisted that the price cut had been planned long ago and that the strategy had been conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod Touch, a music player that looks like the iPhone but lacks the phone-calling ability. The sharp price cut, however, suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business."
They priced it where they thought the market was. That's not a crime. If they had priced it lower, it might have screwed up the rest of the product matrix for iPod, which wasn't updated yet. You pay a premium being an early adopter. How do you think people that bought blu-ray players a year ago feel...for $1000? The price is not $500 and lower. Do you think they feel "betrayed" too? Don't you think Samsung and Sony planned to drop the price?
Yep, class action lawsuit here we come. I can only imagine the lawyers will be lining up.
Uh, good luck. There is absolutely NO case here. They control pricing and have every right to. Any such lawsuit will be laughed out of court.
Do I wish I could get my $200 back? You bet! Do I feel betrayed? Not a chance. I've really enjoyed my iPhone over the last 2 months and do not get upset at the thought of losing an extra $200 on my iPhone.
Well, you didn't really "lose" the money, to be fair.
It's the price I paid for being an early adopter, and when I purchased it, I knew at some point the price would be lowered. The iPod prices have been lowered several times. So have iMac prices. I don't feel betrayed that a much faster C2D iMac is available cheaper than what I paid for my G5 iMac.
That's very reasonable and I totally agree with you.
His Steveness has responded
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
100 bucks towards a next purchase.
Completely un-necessary in my book, but hopefully it will appease the childish complainers.
I mean, really. If I buy gasoline for my car today, can I complain if the prices goes down tomorrow? Prices fluctuate. Companies are free to set their prices. Consumers are free to choose to buy.
The day I bought my new MacBookPro, I posted a message saying that I was sure that Apple would release a new model within two months; sure enough, they did. That is the way things are in tech.
If you go to the video and buy two movies, a new release and a classic, can you complain that there is a very major difference in the price? No.
Supply, demand and other things people learn in business 101 are at play.
Jeeesh.
Well, it looks like the whiners have made a point:
His Steveness has responded
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
100 bucks towards a next purchase.
Completely un-necessary in my book, but hopefully it will appease the childish complainers.
I mean, really. If I buy gasoline for my car today, can I complain if the prices goes down tomorrow? Prices fluctuate. Companies are free to set their prices. Consumers are free to choose to buy.
The day I bought my new MacBookPro, I posted a message saying that I was sure that Apple would release a new model within two months; sure enough, they did. That is the way things are in tech.
If you go to the video and buy two movies, a new release and a classic, can you complain that there is a very major difference in the price? No.
Supply, demand and other things people learn in business 101 are at play.
Jeeesh.
This actually makes me quite happy. I'm annoyed to say the least that they dropped it $200 in 2 months. Gasoline doesn't fluctuate that much. That was a huge drop(33%). Instead of giving people money back I do believe the $100 toward a next purchase is a great idea because I do plan to buy the new nano for the girlfriend or possibly an iPhone.
You're right though. It is un-necessary, but very welcome to the idea.
I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but everything I've read points to a non-3G phone being released in Europe. In fact, everything I've read discusses how this will severely limit sales of iPhones in Europe....
most likely your info is more up to date than mine, i was thinking of something that came up on AI a couple of months ago re: europe and asia. if that's the case i might have to wait for the second iteration to come down under, though with my contract coming up and the discontinuation of i-mode here in december the timing would have been almost perfect... however, not sure i that i can wait
most likely your info is more up to date than mine, i was thinking of something that came up on AI a couple of months ago re: europe and asia. if that's the case i might have to wait for the second iteration to come down under, though with my contract coming up and the discontinuation of i-mode here in december the timing would have been almost perfect... however, not sure i that i can wait
As I've been saying since the iPhone was released, it is not likely that we will see a refresh of the iPhones until 18 months after the initial release. During that time you will see more memory (16, but perhaps 32GB), 3G, and GPS.
Of course, I completely missed the reduction in price.
As I've been saying since the iPhone was released, it is not likely that we will see a refresh of the iPhones until 18 months after the initial release. During that time you will see more memory (16, but perhaps 32GB), 3G, and GPS.
Of course, I completely missed the reduction in price.
hrmm, regardless of which-G and other features, i would be extremely surprised if the iPhone didn't get a bump in capacity to 8/16GB within 12 months of it's initial release, especially so now that iPod touch has it.