Not their workers...it's Foxconn. Apple can ask Foxconn to treat their employees better, but they don't have to listen. Foxconn is its own company, Apple, among many other companies, merely has Foxconn build their hardware. Invalid point.
We're talking about retail employees here, since not too many of us have friends working in Cupertino. No offense, but they're just retail employees (I used to work retail too, so I understand). They are not the programmers or accountants who sit behind desks and actually manage the company. They sell the product...wouldn't you think the engineer behind the iSight camera deserves a free iPad first? This point is based on very little actual thinking. What large company have you seen recently hand out a $499 device to its employees? To work for Apple corporate is a privilege for the employee, not the other way around.
You apply for that engineer position;
Apple does not
find you. If you do a stellar job, it'd be a nice reward, but Apple owes retail employees (technically) nothing. These people willingly apply and work for Apple retail. And besides, what if an employee did not want an iPad? Moreover, do really think a company would just hand out $499 tablets to its own employees on launch day and make $0 profit as opposed to selling it to a customer? This is a corporation, not Ma & Pa's Tech Shack.
Its a $316 tablet.
So going off that logic, shouldn't a BMW salesman have one of every model? It'll make them better sales/marketing/customer support employees too. Hell, let's give all employees in the Best Buy TV department a free plasma, LCD backlit, and LED backlit TV too, so that they may make accurate comparisons on their own at home. Retail employees are expected to learn these things on their own, whether during down time or at home. I do not know specifically about Apple retail employees, but at Best Buy Mobile, I did not get an Android phone or iPhone to take home and use so I could be a better sales/marketing/customer support employee. I had to learn it on my own, on the fly. That's what retail employees do.
No not the car comparison....Safe to say most anyone selling a car owns a car and knows how a car works. Not the same thing with iPad. I managed in retail for many years, and its only today's cheap-ass retailer mantra that keeps employees ignorant of the products they sell. Companies today make ZERO effort to educate, inform and manage retail employees. As a result we get poor service and misinformation.
At 50% off? No, Apple is not making money. They would be losing money (see:
http://www.mobileusers.com/2012/03/17/it-costs-about-316-to-manufacture-an-entry-level-ipad-3/). Click it or not, it costs at least $316 to make the base 16GB wifi model. That's at least a $67 loss per iPad. And please don't bring up Apple has so and so much cash. As a corporation, Apple's goal is to make money and keep stockholders happy. One $67 loss is not too bad...but for every employee? Sure, it's a small amount compared to the billions in cash they have, but still unacceptable.
And to respond to your 50% off or 30% off whatever...Apple retail employees should be glad they are getting any discount at all. Apple does
not need to give these employees discounts or whatever...people flock to Apple and want to work at Apple retail. The discount is just a nice bonus and a gesture of good will.
Every part of the company is important. Retail employees are no less important than the ones at corporate. They all must work together to see the company succeed. Its every bit a challenge to stand in front of a diverse group of people each day and sell/service/support them.
And need to relate to the product? Please. I don't own an Android phone but I could help you with almost any Android problem that pops up. You don't
need to own a product to be able to sell/troubleshoot it. What is this "they need to FEEL the product" crap? I could tell you a sh-tton about your iPad 2 and 1, and I didn't even own an iPad till this generation. Competent employees don't need to OWN the device to tell you what to do, how to use it, or to troubleshoot.
Thats BS...I cant tell you how many times I have been in front of retail employees where it was clear they had no grasp of the product. I cant tell you how many times I saw products returned because an employee told a customer it would do X when they had no idea.
Anyway, morally yes, it seems like iPads should be offered launch day to employees. But from a company's view, it makes no sense. Customers will pay full price, employees would get it for free, 50% off, 30% off, whatever you users have suggested. And how would you feel if the person in front of you bought the last iPad in the store on launch day and you found out that twenty employees bought their iPads before the general public was allowed to? After waiting for let's say 3 hours in line to walk away empty handed, you wouldn't be too pleased. This hypothetical scenario applies to other (non iPad 3) launches, where the device is in short supply or something.
The dent in production from iPads sold to employees at a discount would not be measurable.
