See? It never hurts to bitch
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
…And then all was once again right in Appleville.
From Steve’s Open letter today:
“I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.
First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone ‘tent’. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.
Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple’s website next week. Stay tuned.
We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.”
Steve Jobs
Apple CEO
🙂
So what did we learn kids? Well, we learned if enough people bitch loudly enough (and I assume a lot of you wrote in ALL CAPS) we can shake Apple down for $50,000,000.
But perhaps even more importantly, we (re-) learned that Apple is indeed one of the good guys. Personally, (assuming that painting your iPhone doesn’t somehow void your rebate) I plan to put that $100 right back in their pocket, putting it toward a new iPod nano. It’s all about Karma, right Steve?
Steve’s the BEST!
Not to burst your bubble, but you have no choice but to put the $100 back into Steve’s pocket. It’s a $100 Apple store credit, not a general credit.
I’m more than happy with this though. I can get a new iPhone, 8GB, for $300 or maybe I’ll just get Leopard family pack for half off.
Either way, I’m happy to see Steve treat the folks that pretty much made the iPhone a success with a little more respect. Let’s face it, if all us “early adopters” hadn’t gone out and bought the phone, would Apple really be seeing the sales they were hoping for?
Good Point, Dave.
Well, even if they gave me cold hard cash, I think I would have ended up putting it towards one of the new iPods. After all, if they drop the price of those in 2 months, I now know I can get out my “bitchin’ shoes” and start stompin’.
-The Doc