Apple Drops iPhone Price, Angers Early Adopters

Offers $100 store credit as apology

Friday, September 7, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News

The iPhone.  Hailed by Apple fanboys and gizmo geeks as as close to a holy experience as one can achieve with an electronic device, saw a significant price cut this week when Apple announced its new line of iPod devices.  After only 10 weeks on the market, the iPhone dropped from $599 to $399 for the 8GB model, a 33% drop in price, and perhaps the fastest any Apple product has ever dropped.  The price drop was related to the announcement of the iPod Touch, an iPod with all the iPhone features minus the phone.  Its 8GB model is debuting at $299.

If you purchased an iPhone in the 10 days prior to the announcement, you could get a refund on the price difference.  If you were one of the folks in line on launch day though, you're kind of boned.  Needless to say, folks were not happy with the apparent strategy of "Milk your dedicated customers, who will pay any price.  Then drop the price quickly to bring in the mass market."  Usually you don't see a cut this significant for a full product generation or more.

The fists of angry Apple customers raised, they stormed the virtual gates with emails of protest.  And for once, it seems like Apple was listening.  Instead of giving a full $200 refund to early adopters, Apple has instead decided to give those customers a $100 in-store credit to purchase other Apple goodies with.  It's a nice way of saying "We're sorry!" and iPhone owners can now pick up those last phone accessories they were lusting after.  Smart move on Apple's part really.

18 Reply 7 Referrals
Philly0381
Reply #1 Friday, September 7, 2007 11:20 AM
Being able to spend another $100 dollars with an in-store credit is not even close to being the same as paying $200 less for an iPhone and spending the difference on what ever you want, where ever you want. How much you want to bet that your $100 in-store credit shows up as a sale/purchase for Apple?

Did Apple know that the iPhone was over priced to begin with and really stuck it to their customer base? Did the market place after several months tell them it was over priced and they stuck it to their customer base? Either way, well you get the picture.  

messiah1
Reply #2 Friday, September 7, 2007 12:01 PM
meh, I guess I'd be upset if I was one of the folks who bought one early. It is a little hard to swallow, especially if you're and avid Apple enthusiast. A lot of folks said "I'm done with Apple..." we'll see...we'll see.

ZubaZ
Reply #3 Friday, September 7, 2007 12:13 PM
Apple fanatics are complaining that they were overcharged?  I thought that was part of the allure of Apple products.  I thought that the more you spent in the Cult of Steve the higher the levels you achieved.  Kinda like Scientology or DonkeyKong. 

ZubaZ
Reply #4 Friday, September 7, 2007 12:30 PM
And another thing!!  Where's my rebate for being an early Newton adopter?  Where's my money Steve?
 

Excalpius
Reply #5 Friday, September 7, 2007 3:10 PM
Seriously, everyone who bought some of the first iPhones got $200 worth of "ooh, ahhh" bragging rights by showing it to their friends. I think a $100 store credit is a very generous apology and acknowledgment that the $599 price tag was indeed too high. That and the piss-poor bundling with AT&T decision killed what should have been a tidal wave of sales. The iPod became ubiquitous precisely because you could buy it anywhere and so everyone could make money off of it and the accessories. The iPhone is truly screwed if the 5 year bundling deal with AT&T sticks.   

Amerasu
Reply #6 Saturday, September 8, 2007 4:06 AM
T-Mobile won the contract to carry the iPhone in Germany.

I'm wondering if Germans will be able to ebay their T-Mobile phones to the US and if the cell system of T-Mobile US will be able to support all the features including visual voicemail without breaking Apple's deal with AT&T since the phones were originally sold in Germany rather than the US.

If so, every T-Mobile customer in the US could theoretically get an iPhone and AT&T wouldn't have a leg to stand on to complain about it in a legal sense since the original distributor is outside the US and therefore no contractual deals were broken.

I also wonder if the Meizu MiniOne, which is a GSM phone that looks almost identical to the iPhone but comes in 8GB and 16GB models and runs Windows Mobile 6, will be released in China soon. My guess is that Microsoft is supporting Meizu to release the MiniOne bundled with Windows Mobile 6 out of China since Apple has never successfully litigated anything coming out of China.

Also, any guesses on how long until we see a Zune-phone?

Excalpius
Reply #7 Saturday, September 8, 2007 4:29 AM
Oh if that German plan would work, I'd certainly go for that.

But it would be a German # and the US would be roaming changes?

NightTrainthedark
Reply #8 Saturday, September 8, 2007 5:41 AM
Self appointed suckers.    

Jafo
Reply #9 Saturday, September 8, 2007 9:12 AM

Hailed by Apple fanboys and gizmo geeks as as close to a holy experience as one can achieve with an electronic device

It'd have to have a 'vibrate function' before I'd consider it any form of 'holy experience'...and even then I'd have to stuff it down the front of my jocks...

It was priced to fleece the suckers...then cut back to attract the sheep.

Standard marketing, really...


GH33DA
Reply #10 Saturday, September 8, 2007 9:19 AM
If you were happy with the phone and the price when you bought it, you should still be happy with your purchase regardless of the price drop.

ZubaZ
Reply #11 Saturday, September 8, 2007 11:25 AM
If you were happy with the phone and the price when you bought it, you should still be happy with your purchase regardless of the price drop.

Matthew 20:1-16 sound familiar? 


JeRkYbOyZ
Reply #12 Saturday, September 8, 2007 2:21 PM
ha, this is just more proof that all apple products are way overpriced and overhyped. To discount the product 30points from here on in is a huge margin and a margin of gross that is nothing more than an insult to the avg consumer but for those apple fanboi's they will most likely just brush it off as incidental as a road bump because the church of apple will dictate such to them.

So many product shortcomings combined with poor marketing like this wont phase them thou. Macbots will forever roam this earth

Garion72
Reply #13 Saturday, September 8, 2007 5:36 PM
It seems that all consumers are part of the same situation. And don't think for a minute that Apple was giving a $100 because they felt bad, their marketing department probably had the whole idea cooked up from day one.

Beesley
Reply #14 Saturday, September 8, 2007 9:46 PM
Matthew 20:1-16 sound familiar?


AWESOME! I was just thinking the same thing!

Einstein
Reply #15 Sunday, September 9, 2007 2:35 AM
Mr. Jobs has a word for everyone that bought his iPhone at the original price point - I believe that word is SUCKERS!!!

And I think the only thing close to an "Holy Experience" is the fact that this posting has quotes from the Gospel of Matthew, Scientology, the Cult of Steve (he temps us with the Apple), and Donkey Kong. Isn't the whole point of technology to be the "first on the block"? I mean only a fool or a complete geek would buy the latest technology as soon as it is released - instead of waiting for the price to drop to something more reasonable.

I completely agree with Excalpius - they got their bragging rights - that is WHY they paid what they did. Now instead of having to wait 6-12 months, we can point our fingers and laugh now.

Astyanax
Reply #16 Sunday, September 9, 2007 3:54 PM
It was priced to fleece the suckers...then cut back to attract the sheep.


I'm still not falling for it.....

Amerasu
Reply #17 Sunday, September 9, 2007 5:40 PM
I don't think it would need to have a German sim card in it.

I think you could put a US T-Mobile sim card in it and it should work. After all, it doesn't break the deal that Apple made with AT&T for Apple to allow T-Mobile to support phones in the US that were legitimately sold in Germany.

I believe the deal was that only AT&T could sell the phones and provide service contracts in the US.

Could be wrong though, but I hope I'm not.

I'd love to get an iPhone but I'm on T-Mobile and all my friends are too.

Dishwasher Safe
Reply #18 Monday, September 10, 2007 2:03 AM
Want to be first with a new consumer product? Buy early and pay top dollar.

Want to get the best price? You need only wait forever...

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