Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone
Apple giving early iPhone buyers $100 credit
You were not happy, and Steve Jobs listened. Apple has posted an Open Letter from Steve (yet another blog post, Steve? When are you going to make it official? You know, we are looking for bloggers... I'm just saying) in which Steve acknowledges that the iPhone price reduction was the right thing to do, but that Apple needs to think about those who bought an iPhone early on and not just those who will buy one during the holiday season.
Apple will be offering a $100 credit to the Apple Store (both online and physical stores) for anyone who purchased an iPhone before the break reduction and who hasn't received any other kinds of credit (i.e. if you get a refund from Apple or AT&T already you won't get another sawbuck). While I still think the reaction to the price reduction was way overblown, this is a great example of Apple listening to their customers and trying to make the situation right.
Details are still being worked out, but look for them to be posted on Apple.com next week.
Well done, Steve and company.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
zetasmack said 3:47PM on 9-06-2007
classy.
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TheDukester said 3:48PM on 9-06-2007
It's just staggering that we're already seeing posts here with MORE whining. The degree to which some people will take themselves so seriously defies description.
I'm going to ask Steve for a $100 credit just for having to listen to all of this crybaby bullshit from a bunch of poseurs who just HAD to have a $600 luxury item the minute it was released.
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Angela said 3:49PM on 9-06-2007
Now will you please kiss and make up?
Time to get back to our real Mac lives!
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Fritz Laurel said 3:50PM on 9-06-2007
@16 artifex -- the money is going to go right back into Apple and boost their quarterly sales figures and people are happy again. This is a win-win for everyone involved. The stock will rise, chicken little, the stock will rise.
Cheers,
FL
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George said 3:50PM on 9-06-2007
OMG.. what a bunch of whiners.. reminds me of little kids complaining and then sulk until they get what they want..
Just remember that someone will pay the price and it will be the shareholders..
But as long as your feel good nothing else matters..
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TheDukester said 3:50PM on 9-06-2007
To author #10:
HUH?
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Tony Bowman said 3:51PM on 9-06-2007
i'm betting it was all planned from the get-go.
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Dman said 3:51PM on 9-06-2007
Emrys, you sound like ass. And spoiled. Don't even get me started about being "screwed over." I bought the last Powerbook spending $3000 on it only to have Intel chips, exclusive software and built-in camera double the performance three months later. I didn't get a refund or credit.
You live and learn (and learn to be patient).
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Quix said 3:54PM on 9-06-2007
This was my theory yesterday. Looks like I nailed it. Well, within $100 anyway. Behold:
**********
While stewing about the big iPhone price drop and hitting my head on my desk for trying my hand at Early Apple Adoption for the first time ever (typically I wait 6+ months on any Apple product before buying - figures I'd get burned the first time I abandoned my long-standing policy), I had a thought. Could this be a carefully orchestrated plan by Apple?
Hear me out. This is how Apple might have calculated this approach. Assume Apple decided $399 was a profit sweet spot for the iPhone before they even released it. By tacking on another $200 at the launch announcement in January, they got a lot of heat from the blogosphere and the tech punditry, but demand/hype for the thing remained in the stratosphere (perhaps to Apple's surprise?). Had it not, Apple could have simply announced a new lower launch price in the weeks leading up to June 29. Bam, instant hype boost. But it turns out such a move was unnecessary. Tens of thousands of customers lined up outside Apple and AT&T stores all over the country, snatching up every iPhone they could when the doors were thrown open despite the $599 price. Suddenly you have a product with huge perceived (and real) demand that still commanded a very high price tag. And a $599 product that is flying off the shelves and being waved about gleefully by ecstatic mobs of buyers on TV news suddenly has a perceived value of $599 for millions of customers, including those who wouldn't (or couldn't) pay the $599 entry fee.
Now, two months later, you drastically slash the price $200, to your originally-decided price point of $399. Wow, only $399 for a product with a perceived value of $599??? What a deal! Waves of customers swarm the Apple Store once more snatching up these new "bargain-priced" iPhones for "only" $399. Talk about keeping the momentum going.
Now, of course, you are left with the serious problem of hundreds of thousands of irate Apple customers (like me) who feel burned by the too-much too-soon price cuts. Brand loyalty is not a commodity tossed aside with little regard. So what to do? Why, offer previous iPhone buyers a $200 credit at the Apple Store, of course! "Apple loves us!" the customers cry, and the company image rises even higher than before due to their good will and stellar customer service. And the $200 we suddenly have to spend at the Apple Store doesn't really cost Apple $200 at all, yet boosts sales quantities (read: market share) going into the holiday buying season, and we customers are just grateful to Apple for letting us spend $200 more dollars at their store.
A brilliant plan, if this is how things go down. Somewhat shady, perhaps, but brilliant. We should see within the next week or so if this is how things pan out.
Guess I'll just sit back and wait for my $200 Apple gift card to arrive. You know, because Apple loves me.
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Fritz Laurel said 3:55PM on 9-06-2007
@23 & 26 -- where do you see whiners?
Out of the first 20 posts, 95% are positive. Go back and count.
You are the only negative ones here.
Cheers,
FL
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NewType said 3:55PM on 9-06-2007
@10
Wow, emrys, you need to get some professional help dude.
Otherwise, keep it up man - then we'll get to watch you on YouTube being taken away in a white jacket raving about how Apple destroyed your life as you stalk the District Manager with insane phone calls.
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Billy K said 4:01PM on 9-06-2007
Steve does the right thing! HUZZAH!
Of course that $100 is going straight into an iPod Classic. I'm happy and Apple sells another iPod. What's not to love?
P.S. For those still chanting "Whiners! Whiners!", it's not about the money. It's about violating the trust between Apple and those of us who have been evangelizing for years - many of us (like myself) keeping the faith through the dark times: the Performa years, the $9 stock, OS8 and OS 10.1. When I look back over 20 years, Apple is one of the only consistent things about my life. It sucks to get kicked in the teeth by a person - or even an institution - you stood by, when they're suddenly on top.
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kabura said 4:02PM on 9-06-2007
No matter what happens people will always find something to complain about. People are so spoiled!
I appreciate what Apple is doing by giving early adopters $100 back at the expense of angry stockholders. This shows me, as a consumer, that they care about their customers more than their stocks. They could just as easily have ignored everyone's cries. In the end, they want to be known as the company that is loved not a company that is loathed (like the company that starts with "M" ends with headaches)
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gerdozain said 4:03PM on 9-06-2007
Cool, I feel like my discontinued iPhone can rest in peace now.
Thanks for listening Apple!!!
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Tony Bowman said 4:03PM on 9-06-2007
also, what this means is that early iphone buyers get Leopard for $30. wheee.
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Nic said 4:03PM on 9-06-2007
I thought I'd just add to the positivity - I think this is a marvellous compromise by Apple, this measure, in addition to the $200 refund available for people who've very recently bought one, seems like a spectacularly good deal to me.
And, early adopters don't *ALWAYS* get screwed over by the way, I've ordered a 1G shuffle, the mac mini and the core duo macbook on the day they were announced onstage, and haven't felt like I've been taken for a ride due to subsequent improvements/price drops.
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Billy K said 4:04PM on 9-06-2007
@ TheDukester,
You don't have to listen to this "crybaby bullshit." You can leave this thread, close your TUAW window, or even turn off your computer. In fact, I wish you would. Sounds like you'd be happier, and I know for a fact I would.
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Evan said 4:06PM on 9-06-2007
@31
I think his point was everyone was whining in all of TUAW's other posts on the subject and only now, when getting what they want, do the whiners retract their temper tantrums (further highlighting their immaturity).
I, for one, have been pretty disgusted with how this has all played out. It reminds me of a child crying in a toy store until they get what they want. Unfortunately, Apple, like so many quick-to-please parents out there, seems to have given in to the greedy tears.
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Gabriel said 4:06PM on 9-06-2007
Well, it's a heck of a gesture on their part to at least say "my bad, let me make it up to you", especially THE NEXT DAY. They didn't have to do anything, but I'm glad they did. Now I'll probably get a bluetooth headset or some better headphones with iphone support.
The only thing that bugged me about this was how the percentage of the price drop and the length of time from product release were so uncharacteristic / unprecedented. I'll just be more wary of purchasing new Apple products from now on.
Thanks, Steve!
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Flanders said 4:09PM on 9-06-2007
I can't believe Apple listend to all those pussies.
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