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iPhone price cut: Official response from Steve Jobs

Whiners

The people I see whining the most are the people whining about the whiners. Why don't you people go to another forum if your tired of the people who bought a phone 2 months ago and are upset about a $200 drop in price. Are you people that jealous of the people who had iPhones 2 months ago that you have to laugh at them for being disappointed. And now you're mad at those people because apple wants to give them back $100. Get a life and move on!
 
HornetOSX said:
**starts slow clap**

yes I'm an iPhone owner.

28 days and counting now. Was I upset? Yes. Pissed off and screaming? No.

Is this kind of thing normal in the cell phone world? Yes
Is this common for Apple? No.
Is the iPhone really just a phone? I say No. It's a computer in my pocket.

So lets look at the issues:

The price drop was quick ( 64 days I believe?) , it was large ( 33%!), And without any changes in the hardware. Typically apple drops prices when I newer, faster, bigger( or physically smaller as the case may be), better model comes out.
I doubt there would have been ONE ( well ok maybe two or three) whiners if Apple had released a 16GB model, Or a 3G or ANYTHING hardware changed to the iPhone. I wouldn't have .. I woulda laughed.. snapped my fingers and said "DAMN! if I had only waited 27 more days I coulda got X ( 3G, 16GB, Whatever ) for my 599 ( because that is typically what APPLE does lowers the price on the current and drops the new at the same price point ) "

I also think if the amount of drop had been smaller ( say 100 bucks) not nearly as many people wold have whined. I would not have .. but 200 bucks is over that " magic" number where it becomes a lot of money.

Since Apple has stepped up to the plate and taken care of this ( even tho I had personally written the $200 of as an annoying loss on my part, after calling AT&T and being shot down since I bought my phone there) I can say this

"Yeah sure it cost me 100 bucks extra to have my iPhone 27 days early, however, It got me 3 phone numbers from nice girls at the club (you pull it out to answer a text and they walk up and ask you about it), struck up MANY a conversation, and made my life nicer, faster, and better, oh and it made myself about a grand because I was able to answer my e-mails faster then anyone else and got that install contract."

Apple is an amazing company.

Now I can reup my .mac next month, and buy an extra dodad that I would not have gotten otherwise.
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Great post! Cool!!
Cheers!
 
macshark said:
Regardless of the discussion about whether the iPhone price cuts are fair to early adopters, etc. one thing is pretty clear:

Apple screwed up the initial pricing of the iPhone. They should have introduced 8GB at $399 and 4GB at $299 from the start, if they can afford to sell them at these prices.

I wonder if this has anything to do with industry expectations about price increases for Nand Flash, DRAM and LCD panels for the second half of this year. There was pretty strong consensus among industry analysts that flash and DRAM prices were going to see a significant upward trend in the second half of this year, which has proven to be incorrect at this point. Flash prices continue to decline.

Even at $599, 8GB iPhone was a decent deal. At $399, it is a steal. Look at the prices of comparable devices from Nokia (N95), etc. Even the Nokia N800, which does not come with any type of phone functionality and weeny bit of onboard flash is selling for close to $400.

It is pretty amazing that Apple can sell the 8GB iPhone for $399. Maybe the kickbacks from AT&T is providing the entire profit margin.
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Also now Apple is sharing components with the touch Pod which will sell many more than the iPhone so everything is cheaper. Now it should be cheaper and NOT two months ago.
 
izzle22 said:
The people I see whining the most are the people whining about the whiners. Why don't you people go to another forum if your tired of the people who bought a phone 2 months ago and are upset about a $200 drop in price. Are you people that jealous of the people who had iPhones 2 months ago that you have to laugh at them for being disappointed. And now you're mad at those people because apple wants to give them back $100. Get a life and move on!
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I am tired of the people who are tired of the whiners who are tired of the whiners. If I was whiner I would be so friggen tired of you now.
 
macrev said:
How could they "undo". That makes no sense. I think you full of it.
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Look up a couple of posts, then you will see a copy of my receipt, although I wouldn't have posted it just for you to "prove myself."

I don't know how they can undo it, but my two credits haven't shown up yet. That said I know it takes a day or three, so I am not worried, but I don't know if they can or can't undo it and until it is in my bank, I am not counting the money.

I am sorry you think I am full of it, but I don't care. I have nothing to prove to you.
 
I honestly wasn't at all angry about this announcement, I think Apple made the right decision, though I was surprised they discounted it so much. I must compliment Jobs on his sheer professionalism in looking out for loyal customers. $100 is certainly an excellent compromise.
 
if this is in fact true, it's great. being an iphone owner since day two, i wasn't upset as i've been enjoying it for over two months now. but i didn't like the way we were "used" by apple. so again if this is true, i feel that steve smoothed things over between him and i. $100 isn't $200, but this really was a loyalty issue much more than a money issue.
 
A 200 dollar drop is significant for a phone... I notice they also decided to play the 'superhero' card, emphasizing that people's loyalty to Apple is embodied in Steve Jobs.
 
flipperfeet said:
Dude, you must be so tired; going through life sure that every commercial operation in the world is out to extract any money you have, and that despite companies being run by humans they never do anything with unintended consequences. Wow how do you even walk out the door in the morning. :(
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Dude, you must be so tired because you are way misreading what I said. A business' reason for being IS to extract money from customers via product and services. I say this AS business owner. I like extracting money from my customers just as Apple likes to extract money from me. It puts food on the table. But in order for my customers to come back, and for Apple's, or any other businesses' they have to have HAPPY customers. UNHAPPY customer hurt the bottom line because they don't come back and spend more money.

Jobs did not altruistically say yesterday "hey we are lowering the price of the iPhone today, and giving all the early adopters $100." No that only came AFTER he saw the price cut was creating UNHAPPY customers. Apple does not love you, it loves your wallet. Without customers BUYING their products it ceases to exist. That is the capitalist system, and believe me I'm a very happy capitalist. I charge my clients a lot of money, I spend a lot of money too. Woo hoo. Go get a snack Jack.
 
Thanks Steve!!

Wow! Not expected but very appreciated! I knew that waiting in line was worth it. I got the best phone ever and top notch service! And now this! Are there REALLY still Apple haters put there after this?


Posted from my $100 cheaper iPhone!
 
I'm very happy about the 100 gift voucher, but I feel that if apple was going to just a voucher that we have to spend more to use then it should have been for the full 200, because getting 100 certificate is not like getting 100 back. So I'm happy, but still dissapointed about how this thing went down and they could have done more to make it very very clear that they were sorry. I feel like they calculated the least amount it would take and did that amount. I still feel ripped off from apple, but I still love the products. This probably didn't make a lot of sense, but I just don't feel totally content.
 
izzle22 said:
The people I see whining the most are the people whining about the whiners. Why don't you people go to another forum if your tired of the people who bought a phone 2 months ago and are upset about a $200 drop in price. Are you people that jealous of the people who had iPhones 2 months ago that you have to laugh at them for being disappointed. And now you're mad at those people because apple wants to give them back $100. Get a life and move on!
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No, the original whiners were whining more than the whiner watchers.
 
Steve Jobs + Apple, Inc = One Class Act!

I have always had the utmost respect and trust in Apple.

When the news came out that the price dropped $200, I honestly made the evaluation that I thought that was a good move for Apple, and even though I was in line the first day the iPhone came out and paid $599, I had no remorse. I would NOT have waited 2 months to buy an iPhone and I realize, just as Steve said in his statement, that often as time passes, cutting edge technology gets cheaper. Just look at cutting edge graphics cards, hi capacity ram, & Hi Definition LCD TV's, as examples.

That being said, I am absolutely ecstatic that Apple will offer a rebate $100 for us early iPhone owners. Never before have I seen a corporation step up to the plate and QUICKLY do the right thing. Yet one more way that Apple leads on the cutting edge.
 
rva1 said:
I would NOT have waited 2 months to buy an iPhone and... That being said, I am absolutely ecstatic that Apple will offer a rebate $100 for us early iPhone owners. Never before have I seen a corporation step up to the plate and QUICKLY do the right thing. Yet one more way that Apple leads on the cutting edge.
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My feelings exactly. Basically I'll be getting a $29 copy of Leopard as a bonus for getting an iPhone early, which is fine by me.:D
 
For many of us, I bet the $100 will go toward a Leopard upgrade. Or at least that is what I'll spend mine on. Yeah I'll have to spend another $30(?) bucks or so, but I was going to buy Leopard anyway so at least I won't fall into a trap of applying the $100 to a much larger purchase "just because."
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Dude, you must be so tired because you are way misreading what I said. A business' reason for being IS to extract money from customers via product and services. I say this AS business owner. I like extracting money from my customers just as Apple likes to extract money from me. It puts food on the table. But in order for my customers to come back, and for Apple's, or any other businesses' they have to have HAPPY customers. UNHAPPY customer hurt the bottom line because they don't come back and spend more money.

Jobs did not altruistically say yesterday "hey we are lowering the price of the iPhone today, and giving all the early adopters $100." No that only came AFTER he saw the price cut was creating UNHAPPY customers. Apple does not love you, it loves your wallet. Without customers BUYING their products it ceases to exist. That is the capitalist system, and believe me I'm a very happy capitalist. I charge my clients a lot of money, I spend a lot of money too. Woo hoo. Go get a snack Jack.
Click to expand...

If I misunderstood you I apologize, but I am a business owner as well and I find if I think of my clients/customers as more than a paycheck, and care about what their drivers of satisfaction are, I do a better job of fulfilling their needs and they spend more and spend longer. My short term profit may not be as high as the "gouge and go" types, but the lifetime value of the customer is higher. This may just be a matter of semantics, and we are saying the same thing. I call it "caring" and you call it "maximizing extraction?"

BTW, Nowhere have I ever posted words that Jobs, Apple or any company should just do things altruistically. What I have said, is Jobs' actions are inline with the brand personality, and that while brands are created by companies they grow or wither by the relationship the customer develops with them.
 
Impressive!

Jobs and Apple really are a class act!

Although I didn't want to switch to AT&T, the price drop sweetened the pot to much to resist. I love my new Iphone!
 
Schtumple said:
Great, so now apples profit results are going to be less because people whined

GOOD WORK
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your post made me vomit in my mouth a little...

TitoC said:
June 29th: Wow, this thing is AMAZING!!! I love you, I love you, I love you!

Sept. 5th: WTF?? Piece of sh*t! How dare you?? I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!!!

Sept. 6th: Wow, you are truly AMAZING!!! I love you, I love you, I love you!
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honestly! hahahaha
 
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