Apple's Jobs Sorry for iPhone Price Cut (Promises $100 Credit Early Buyers)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs apologized and offered $100 credits Thursday to customers who shelled out $599 for the most advanced model of the iPhone, only to have the company unexpectedly slash the price $200 in a push to boost holiday sales.

In a letter on the company's Web site, Jobs acknowledged that Apple disappointed some of its customers by cutting the price of the iPhone's 8-gigabyte model and said he has received hundreds of e-mails complaining about the price cut.

But Jobs added that "the technology road is bumpy," and there will always be people who pay top dollar for the latest electronics but get angry later when the price drops.

"This is life in the technology lane," Jobs said.

Immediately after the cuts were announced Wednesday, Jobs' tone was less conciliatory. He tartly rebuffed criticism about whether some of Apple's most die-hard fans would be miffed by the company's latest actions.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3568019

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Hey Stevie - try $200! Glad I'm not one of those who have to try the latest and greatest. My little Nokia is serving me just fine!

[Mojambo]

1. I have ZERO pity for these tech assholes who have to run out and get the latest thing n/t

[Exiled in America]

10. What exactly makes them "assholes?"

[REP]

22. Sour Grapes?

(posted from an iPhone!)

[knight_of_the_star]

20. Ditto

I prefer to wait a bit when the newest and best on the market comes out to make sure it lives up to the hype.

[Javaman]

31. Me too. This is nothing but an overmarketed version of bait and switch. nt

[Exiled in America]

35. Ok, so maybe you can tell me what exactly makes them "assholes?"

[NYCGirl]

2. I bought my iPhone 10 days ago, and I received a $200 refund! As if I could

love my phone any more!

[Hissyspit]

25. Same here. I upgraded to the 8GB, which I really wanted in the first place and still got $43 back.

And I love the phone. It's not perfect, but still a jump ahead. I'm still finding new features.

[NYCGirl]

30. David Pogue (from the NY Times) has a great book just out called, "iPhone:

The Missing Manual". Not that you need a manual at all to run it — it's so intuitive, but the book has lots of obscure tips and tricks.

[tridim]

3. If Apple can slash the price by $200, then the original price was $200 too high

I'll never get it, Apple rips off it's early adopters EVERY SINGLE TIME and they just keep coming back for more.. Which of course is the reason Apple does it, they have nothing to lose.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Tech companies use the excuse...

That the initial high price recoups the R&D costs. They also mumble things about "economies of scale". What it boils down to is making as much off the new whizbang as they can, initially, if the thing bombs.

Me? I am as geekish as they come, but I don't buy brand new whizbangs. I wait.

[tridim]

9. I wait too, especially for CPU's.. It's smart shopping.

I always get a killer deal on last year's top of the line CPU. Keeps me near the bleeding edge without going broke. :)

[rucky]

18. Sounds like Big Pharma

without the government grants.

[knight_of_the_star]

21. I wait too

Mostly to make sure what it is I'm buying has all the bugs worked out. When I got my laptop (got it for school and it runs a lot better than my old desktop) it came with an offer to upgrade for Vista for free. I'm still waiting to make sure the bugs have been weeded out to make damn sure that its worth the effort to rebuild the system.

[Nomad559]

5. This Is why Apple does It

[Javaman]

32. exactly right.

I have a g5 at home, but I don't buy into the cult of apple. Frankly it's weird. I wait and wait till their prices come down before I even consider thinking about upgrading, even then I upgrade the one I got until I no longer can.

Anyone that has a clue and uses apple products will see that the pattern of product life goes in 6 month cycles. About every 6 month, apple drops the prices with the roll out of some new updated gewgaw.

People (geeks) that have to have the latest and greatest apple products (I work with a guy like this) are nothing but techno junkies or have some sort of bizarre need to brag. I will never get it.

[BearSquirrel2]

6. Nahhh ...

I would bet that Apple was probably making slim margins on the initial production run. The popularity of the device means much greater economies of scale, much better returns on their cut of cell phone contracts as well as increased iTunes sales from consumers who may not have adopted "music only" units. Apple probably ran the numbers and figured out they would make more money overall by taking a loss on the unit costs. This is nothing new, printers, cell phones and video games are all sold at a loss. They make up the balance on consumables and contracts.

[rmgarrette64]

13. Sorry, not video games

My husband's in the industry. Video games are not sold at a loss. I suspect you meant video game consoles.

OK, pointless digression over, just figured I'd make a quick correction on something I actually know about.

R. Garrett

[BearSquirrel2]

19. Thanks for the correction ...

Yep,

Thats what I meant.

[silverojo]

24. Just as Microsoft rips people off with its software,

Apple rips people off with its hardware.

Fuck 'em both--go Linux.

[NastyDiaper]

7. This is an unusually large cut and the product is not that old.

The refund is the right thing. Not mandate. But the right thing.

[Zech Marquis]

8. in my case

when the iPhone first went on sale 2 months ago, I ahd a choice between buying the now 399 model, or using that $500 towards my now month old 2007 Civic coupe. I chose the car, and probably for Christmas I'll get the iPhone :bounce:


I'm surprised Steve agreed to any type of refund--you'd never see Micro$oft do this!

[LisaM]

11. Everyone knew the price would go down.

I know someone who bought two and tried to make a profit on the second one right away - didn't work - I don't understand this rush to be the first to get a gizmo. It doesn't seem healthy. A lot of world news was bumped off the front page so that we could watch a bunch of people wait in line at a store. That bothered me more than anything - watching a bunch of people count down to get a PHONE?

[Javaman]

33. The people that must have it fall into the same catagory of people

who sleep out all night to get the first ticket to some new geek movie.

You're right, it's not healthy. It's clearly a bizarre trend in our must need things to make us feel good society.

[KingOfLostSouls]

12. iPhone is on AT&T

why give more money to a company dedicated to spying on you? even if the iPhone is exclusively a Apple product, its still only EXCLUSIVELY on AT&T


http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/58873.html

[northzax]

28. different company

this is AT&T wireless, formerly Cingular, formerly SBC, formerly Southern Bell. AT&T sold its entire wireless division, with naming rights, to SBC, which then made it into Cingular. It has only recently switched back to the "New AT&T" but they are different from the company listed as "T"

[Javaman]

34. All of the various incarnations are gigantic repuke contributors. nt

[electron_blue]

14. smart move!

[leaninglib]

15. Compassion for the suckers—how considerate.

[Scooter24]

16. I wasn't upset at the price drop.

I figured it would happen, and the money I spent on the phone really didn't phase me. A nice $100 credit would be a nice gesture, but something I neither asked for or complained about.

Still love my phone though :)

[onehandle]

17. I didn't ask for a credit or even complain, but I'll take it.

The iPhone is Still worth $600.

[Omphaloskepsis]

23. My take on it...

iPod touch is $299 for 8 Gigs.

iPhone was $599 for 8 Gigs.

The phone part wasn't worth $300 more for the same storage. They had to drop the price. That would have been admitting the phone part was $300. And everyone knows that would be bullshit.

[Hissyspit]

26. The iPhone does additional stuff/features beyond the iPod Touch; more than just a phone.

But, you are right, they still had to drop the price.

[Snarkturian Clone]

27. He has no need to give a credit.

Consider it a penalty for the morons who waited in line for hours. Mayor Street, I mean you, you dirty shitbag.

[Javaman]

29. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL....

So the iphone buyers still get screwed LOLOLOLOL

the profit apple makes on their products is enormous.

a 100 bucks per person is nothing. Why?

the price of the iphone originally was probably jacked up to begin with. And the "refund" is a credit so that means it has to be used on apple products only.

So anything that this credit goes toward buying will really not effect apples profits because like I said, they jack up their prices so much that profit is always guaranteed.

Hey I have a G5 at home, but I'm not a zealot when it comes to their products. I knew this whole iphone thing was a scam from a mile away.

buyer beware and all of that, in the mean time, I'll just sit here and laugh. LOLOLOLOL.

get a grip folks, at the end of the day, it's still just a fucking phone.