Damage control via wifi...

[mcdj]

People make mistakes. Companies make mistakes. There is no mistaking Apple has made a mistake. Perhaps not an immediately noticeable financial mistake, but a PR mistake that could fester and eat away at future profits. Whatever your take on the price drop, you can be sure Mr. Jobs has had a very busy, if not nerveracking, night.

If Apple is smart, they could easily (as they have before) spin the price drop debacle into something amenable to us disgruntled early adopters, and they could do it in cutesy-tech way that would give everyone warm fuzzies.

They have records of when we bought/registered/activated our phones. They know who does/doesn't qualify for a price adjustment.

So how would you feel next month when the wifi iTunes store opens if your phone magically shows you have a $200 iTunes credit? No message, no email, no thank you, just a nice fat credit...which would cost Apple pennies on the dollar, and let everyone kiss and make up.

 

[EricNau]

...which would cost Apple pennies on the dollar, and let everyone kiss and make up.

Actually, it would only save Apple pennies on the dollar. The majority of the money you spend on a song purchased through iTunes goes straight to the record label and artist. Apple profits mere pennies per song. ...If Apple were to give away 200 songs per iPhone customer, they would have to compensate the record label and artist.

That said, Apple would never do that. ...If they do offer some compensation, you can be sure they're not going to keep it a secret (if they're going to give away that kind of money, they might as well get some PR for it).

 

[The General]

People make mistakes. Companies make mistakes. There is no mistaking Apple has made a mistake. Perhaps not an immediately noticeable financial mistake, but a PR mistake that could fester and eat away at future profits. Whatever your take on the price drop, you can be sure Mr. Jobs has had a very busy, if not nerveracking, night.

If Apple is smart, they could easily (as they have before) spin the price drop debacle into something amenable to us disgruntled early adopters, and they could do it in cutesy-tech way that would give everyone warm fuzzies.

They have records of when we bought/registered/activated our phones. They know who does/doesn't qualify for a price adjustment.

So how would you feel next month when the wifi iTunes store opens if your phone magically shows you have a $200 iTunes credit? No message, no email, no thank you, just a nice fat credit...which would cost Apple pennies on the dollar, and let everyone kiss and make up.

That would get me ~160 DRM-free songs.

I guess that would be pretty sweet.