iPhone price cut: Official response from Steve Jobs

[0tim0]

Just think, if they sold a million iPhones, then this is a

$100,000,000 Apology

That's a lot of zeros -- I guess he really is sorry 😉

--t

 

[DTphonehome]

Wow, that's amazing. Wonder what the stock will do?

They have stock quotes on the internet now.

Brilliant move on Apple's part. This money goes right back into Apple's pocket, and people are likely going to buy things that cost more than $100, making Apple even MORE money.

 

[.vin.]

There's the Apple I know and love... After yesterday, I thought I'd lost you buddy =P

Thanks, Steve.

 

[min_t]

very good news. apple would be stupid not to do this - when our iphone's battery dies in about a year, we will need to get another phone and apple wants to make sure that we buy another iphone.

plus, why mess with your most loyal customers - the ones that actually camp out for days to buy your products.

thank you for coming to your senses mr. jobs!!

Have some faith. My nano is going on 2 years and still with the original battery. My powerbook from 2003 is still working with the original battery. I think my hd will crap out before the battery.

 

[nickane]

You got to be freaking kidding me. This is unheard of in the business world, this one tells you how much they must be making on the iphones, and two how many people were really so upset about this.

It's not unheard of in the business world. It's unheard of in the phone world. I've paid 50 quid for a phone that was soon available free with 6 months half price line rental and got diddly squat. But I've also bought an N64 on release day and gotten a free game when they reduced the price AUS$100, (I think it was £100 in the UK so ppl got a game and a controller which wasn't as good a deal). Microsoft did something similar with the xbox (maybe 2 games and a controller - the pricedrop was huge, no one was willing to pay that much for a console back then). However, I've since heard the original xbox had much better components than the price-dropped versions. But consoles are often loss-leaders anyways. Bottom line: the phone industry does not need to do you any favours, cos everyone needs a phone, but apple is trying to muscle marketshare in much the same way that console makers do. Apple's not listening any more than any other company but their continued expansion leaves them heavily reliant upon good word-of-mouth and repeat business, just like console makers don't make their money off early adopters, but rather off of the people who continually buy games across the life of the console (which in both cases, are likely to be early adopters with the most cash, and in apple's case, also the ppl whose contracts will run out sooner).

Niceness doesn't come into it. It's a brilliantly calculated move. $100 store credit doesn't cost apple $100, but don't think they're giving it to ppl cos they deserve it, they're giving it to their customers because they need them and they knew too many were annoyed for Apple to get away with it (like they did when the ipod photo suddenly became £20 more expensive than a monochrome 4G having been hundreds of dollars more beforehand). We already knew they were making more than $200 off the phones outright anyways so obviously this money's not as much to them as it is to the annoyed masses. Besides, the real money's in the contract subsidies.

And, to be fair, flash prices are still falling rapidly and these phones had their prices fixed 9 months before they came out, so its not as clearcut as it looks.

 

[GeekLawyer]

Now that's the Apple I know and love. I <3

 

[shk718]

BRAVO Apple!!!


This among many other reasons is why i switched to a Mac two weeks ago. Has Microsoft (or any other company for that matter) done anything like this?

P.S. I LOVE my iMac - probably the best computer I've ever owned!!!

 

[The General]

Sweet! Guess I'll be getting that 160GB iPod Classic after all! 🙂🙂🙂🙂

We all own the Jobsmeister thanks and an apology. 😛

 

[dizastor]

$99 Fat Black Nano™ for me, thanks.

 

[G4R2]

I applaud Apple for this. I wasn't expecting any sort of consideration for being an early adopter. It's part of the reality. That Apple is doing this demonstrates that no one has misplaced any faith in this company. Not only do they make superb products but they also care about their customers.

 

[Thataboy]

I don't remember any time ANY company has done anything like this. 😱 Apple would have been completely in the right to say "we know it sucks, but we can't do anything for you." And they turn around and do this.

This should tell people what kind of company Apple is. I have to say, it is a ridiculously genius move -- all the non-Mac iPhone buyers will now have a $100 free money to go BACK to the Apple Store and be tempted to switch over.

At the very least, it's a free year of .Mac, an almost-free bluetooth headset, a free iPod shuffle, an almost-free iPod nano, etc.

 

[fastbite]

Brilliant move, now he's gonna get all the early adopters spending OVER the 100 on the Apple store, buying new iPod nanos or whatever, what the heck as we are here let's get a shiny new Mac -- and he looks cool too. You know what? I like the guy.

 

[drnen]

This makes the leopard update pretty transparent for me. It will cost what- 20 bucks or so now i guess? Not too shabby 🙂 I'm sure the adoption rate was going to be high and quick anyway but this will possibly even speed that up?

 

[imwoblin]

I am a loyal Apple customer and purchased an iPhone on launch day. Early this morning I went to the local Apple store (Mission Viejo CA.) where I purchased my iPhone. I saw the manager and he recognised me because of many prior purchases. He asked me how things were going and I acknowledged that I felt like Apple kicked me in the nuts after they dropped the price so soon. Without even blinking an eye, he pulled out his scanner, and credited my Visa $215 and change (the difference in price) and handed me the receipt. He apologised and said because of customers like me, Apple is where it is today. This is what makes Apple such a special company and keeps me coming back to buy more stuff. Bravo Apple!

 

[kasei]

Wow... this is unheard of. So what happens when the 16 gig iPhone comes out? Are people going to freak, again?

 

[SeanM]

Excellent, this makes me feel a lot better about my iPhone purchase. Thank you Apple, I really didn't expect them to do something like this.

Now I'm not sure whether to buy an iPod nano, an iPod classic, an Airport Extreme base station, or just wait Leopard. Heh.

 

[cliffjumper68]

That's short for "other people read emails addressed to me"

Not true, He responded to mine when I switched to apple. It was short and to the point but definitely in context to my message. If says he read them, then I trust he did. He takes written responses seriously.

 

[HyperZboy]

Thank you Steve Jobs, I have new-found faith in you & Apple.

It was just simply the right thing to do.
Since I was expecting a $100 price reduction anyway, this is the best offer I expected and I'm now a happy iPhone customer again who'd be willing to use that credit towards an Ipod Touch or Mac OS X Leopard.

By the way, no thanks to the worthless MacWorld editors & other Apple fanboys who got me banned from complaining anymore today on MacWorld when I suggested that they were following Apple's lead in deleting complaints on MacWorld (Apple was deleting complaints on Apple Discussions at the same time).

So it's fitting that MacWorld was the VERY LAST to have this info!

MacWorld got BEAT by CNBC to an Apple story!

PS: I would have posted it there, but oh well.
A MacWorld Editor did just post MacWorld's explanation for why the price drop is right and why Apple doesn't owe us anything though. HAha!

What a worthless site and boy did they get egg on their face!

Thanks Macrumors!

 

[nismo]

glad to see you guys will be gettin some money back!

 

[thestaton]

haha, this is setting you up for a convenient 100 dollar black leather iPhone case 🙂

 

[Darkroom]

i love these public letters from Apple... it's great that apple is giving back early adopters $100, but i really doubt steve was sitting on his ass for hours yesterday reading hundreds of hate emails... you know, billionaires usually have better things to do... but still, it's a nice move on apple's part...

 

[Sobe]

Just think, if they sold a million iPhones, then this is a

$100,000,000 Apology

That's a lot of zeros -- I guess he really is sorry 😉

--t

Which is a lot less than a $200,000,000 loss from rebating everyone $200.

It's really a great move because seeing the price drop so quickly is enough to make people hold off on their next apple purchase. Tossing $100 of Apple credit to that same audience all but ensures those purchase will go through.

Like me for example -- I have been eyeing a new laptop for a few months. When the $200 price cut hit, I was feeling a little miffed. Not because I bought early, but because of the way some got rebates and some didn't. If apple hadn't done anything I might not have purchased my next computer from them. Now I'm feeling much more forgiving -- and what's $100 compared to a $2k laptop purchase?

nothing.

 

[Unspeaked]

Further proof Apple is willing to go to any length to hit the million sold figure...

(I wasn't so sure the iPhone sales were off with the price drop yesterday, but I think this really confirms what Wall Street has been saying about taking drastic steps to hit their targets.)

 

[gaelan]

That was one heck of a quick decision and I'm very impressed. I hope this will be taken in good faith and not used against Apple in the future on forthcoming product upgrades.

Nice one Steve.

as an stock holder, this is disappointing.

also, giving in to such misdirected demands fueled by emotions of entitlement, makes me wonder exactly how spoiled his kids are...

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

I agree. Kudos to Apple for caring about their Customers. 🙂

+1

I have now officially ended my boycott against buying future Apple products the day they are released. While $100 credit isn't perfect, it shows Apple cares about their customers and that's good enough for me.