Apple Gives $100 Store Credit To iPhone Customers 452
MooRogue writes "In an open letter to all iPhone customers, Steve Jobs responds to hundreds of emails from upset iPhone customers. Apple will be giving early adopters who are not receiving rebates or any other consideration $100 store credit at the Apple store.
Details will be posted on the Apple website next week"
Wow, that was quick (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it was all planned out from the day one though, and if that's the case, I wish Steve would run for the next presidential election. Talk about planing for every contingency...
waaaa i want my money back (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Steve; make it retroactive to all Apple product (Score:5, Insightful)
If you give $100 Apple Store credit to the sort of people who bought an iPhone on iPhone Day, that's all the excuse they need to buy a new iPod, or a MacBook or another iPhone.
What would you have bought with a credit for your SE, a IIe?
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
$100.00 credit is NOT $100.00 (Score:4, Insightful)
Whiners (Score:5, Insightful)
Who hasn't bought a computer, a flat screen tv, or a car where there wasn't a discount or price reduction a few months later? Why would anyone expect the iPhone to be exempt from economics?
Clearly, Apple is doing the right thing as far a public relations are concerned, but the idea that you are entitled to a refund for something you bought two months ago is ridiculous.
Why I was surprised (Score:3, Insightful)
I was annoyed, but not 'urge to kill rising' simpsons style or anything. Just seemed cheap that I've barely gotten my second bill for it and yet somehow they can drop the price $200 for no reason other than because it makes sense.
I'm no stranger to buying tech, I paid $499 I think it was for the Treo 300 when it came out day one. It didn't get a discount until probably six or so months later. But 10 weeks? Bit much but meh.
Re:Wow, that was quick (Score:5, Insightful)
This was brilliant marketing through and through. Bravo.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
As Mr. Jobs so delicately points out these people technically aren't entitled to anything but Apple wants to keep them happy. If they were given all $200 then they get the benefit of being the first to have an iPhone for nothing. People who decided to wait for a price drop would be a little upset if there is no 'early adopter penalty', and that they could have been using an iPhone all this time if only they had known they could get $200 back.
Re:Apple's open letter (Score:3, Insightful)
Really, I can understand being upset, but anybody who thinks/says that has the wrong person in mind when they're thinking of who sucks.
I've just gained some respect for Steve Jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
"We're sorry to hear of your disappointment with our product.
Unfortunately, we have a very large volume of customers who
are very satisfied with our products, at the the prices
we offer. We do our best to please every customer"
.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
If a product is worth the price to you when you pay for it, then you should be comfortable with price changes after you made the purchase.
Re:$100.00 credit is NOT $100.00 (Score:5, Insightful)
Steve Jobs can't even fucking give away money without making money.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
An item will sell for exactly what both parties (seller and buyer) believe is a fair price at the time of sale. Those that claimed that they got ripped off are just complaining that they fell for the "early adopter" technolust that comes with the launch of a new gadget. Instead, we should be cheering on those who couldn't afford one before but can do so now; "Hey, good for you! You're getting a deal!" instead of "Oh screw Apple, they let me buy something on my own free will at a higher price! Maybe I can join up with those non-user-replaceable-battery whiners and bitch about my lack of self-control and impulse buying."
And for the record, I paid $600 in early July, and feel that it was worth the price I paid. Mind you, if somebody wants to give me some form of credit after the fact, I won't turn it down, but I won't bitch about being allowed to spend my money on my own free will, either.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it was planned, why now? (Score:5, Insightful)
Like everything else in life, the reality is probably between the two extremes - Apple probably thought recently about deep price cuts, and held in reserve the strategy of a rebate if complaints about the price drop from current owners were loud enough (which they were). Apple is a company yes, but Jobs is not a Ferengi (or Mother Teresa in a turtleneck).
Meet Joe Whiner (Score:5, Insightful)
Me, I'm against Global Warming and Global Whining.
So What? Still good for me. (Score:4, Insightful)
Some things might go for things Apple paid less for, but I just call that Win-Win. Since Apple didn't have to do anything, something is way better than nothing.
Getting there first (Score:5, Insightful)
When the iPhone launched, it sold out at both the nearby Apple Stores. If you weren't in line on Friday, you couldn't get one on Saturday. One of my co-workers waited until the middle of the next week, called a couple of stores to check inventory, and just walked right in and bought one.
Those people standing in line weren't just standing in line to get an iPhone. If that's all they wanted, they could have waited a week or two for the second shipment to arrive. What they stood in line for was the opportunity to have it first. They "paid" extra by waiting around for several hours when they could have been doing something else so they could get an iPhone before anyone else did.
Whatever the motivation -- bragging rights, enthusiasm, impatience, etc. -- there is a cost to getting there first. Conversely, there is an opportunity cost to biding one's time: Anyone who waited for the price to come down has gone the last few months with no iPhone.
Bad Move (Score:4, Insightful)
Psychology aside, from a business perspective, there's absolutely no justification for Apple to give a retroactive discount past the return period (see below). When you buy something, you buy it for a price at a particular point in time. If you want to wait and see if the price will go down, you may do so. If it's worth it at the set price at that time and you buy it, short of manufacturing defect, you have absolutely no claim that you should later get it at a lower price. It violates the social contract to demand otherwise. Would if Apple said you should pay them $200 more for the phone you already bought?
The only reason that some merchants have retroactive prices is that the product is still within its return period and it's not worth processing all the returns as people re-buy the product. This is the only case where it makes any business sense to retroactively price a product like this.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple just beat the scalpers at their own game.
I didn't lose anything (Score:5, Insightful)
After all, any electronics purchase is a gamble - you never know when prices will be cut. But it's a gamble you cannot lose if you like what you bought and you buy at a price that works for you.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Storm in a teacup? (Score:3, Insightful)
The way I see it, the price drop isn't the story, it's the previous high price. That just feels like they just wanted some free revenue.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, there is some PR aspects to this deal but Apple didn't need to do this. It's a way to make sure they keep happy customers. People were lined up to drop 6 portraits of Ben Franklin for a toy. Being a phone anyone (ok, Miss Hilton probably doesn't have the brains to know better but with her money she can afford not to care) with any business in those lines should have realized the price would drop before the year was out. It's a cell phone people!
I certainly ain't no Apple fan, anyone looking at my posting history can see how many times I have rated flamebait/troll for failing to be affected by Steve's Kool-Aid, but when they do something cool I gotta be honest and say that too. And tossing half the price cut back to every buyer and the full difference to everyone who bought in the last two weeks is just high class.
Re:Funny (Score:3, Insightful)
Steve Jobs didn't do this purely out of the kindess of his heart. He knows full-well that Apple will get some good PR out of this. But the best deals in life are the ones where both sides benefit. I fail to see how any iphone owner can feel like they're worse off by being offered this deal.
It's a gift, maybe not given 100% out of kindness, maybe not exactly what you wanted, but it's still a gift.
Re:Whiners (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:if you pay even less for a contract-locked phon (Score:4, Insightful)
I laugh at you, sir. You're a sad, sad human being.
"You have a lot of money and can afford nice things, you LOSER!" doesn't have quite the sting you seem to think it does.
Re:How to make a fanatic fan (Score:5, Insightful)
The price cut was to compete with its own product, the iPod. The goal is to convert iPod users into iPhone users. And really, at that price why not? People are used to paying $200-$300 for their iPod, so the iPhone now looks like a very good bargain.
With that, apple adds revenue streams from ATT, even better integration with the iTMS, and the opportunity for even more revenue streams through new WiFi/Edge services (Starbucks, Ringtones, etc). Freakin' Brilliant.
Shhh... (Score:5, Insightful)
An item will sell for exactly what both parties (seller and buyer) believe is a fair price at the time of sale.
Please refrain from introducing basic economic concepts into this discussion. You could start a dangerous trend.
But seriously, for priding ourselves on our supposedly rational behavior, geeks can often be just as irrational as anyone else.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, there is some PR aspects to this deal but Apple didn't need to do this. It's a way to make sure they keep happy customers [...] tossing half the price cut back to every buyer and the full difference to everyone who bought in the last two weeks is just high class.
Over and over we see the same thing. Companies that do right by the community are attacked. Cutthroat and downright evil companies that just ignore us (G.E. comes to mind) are ignored in turn. We're training the corporate world to do us no favors.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not different from a lot of high-ticket consumer products. Want to by a new Lexus from the dealership, or a tailored suit, you'll find the pricing just as foggy. If you want to buy a computer priced like gasoline, buy a Dell, but they're just as weird and capricious about their prices, they just hide their actual price in a vast system of rebates. Apple's pricing is also supposed to be simple to make their market segmentation simple. If I'm looking for a cheap iPod, it's easy to see which one's for me and compare it (well, not as easy as it has been, but still). I don't have to wade through four or five different lines with different price levels, rebate options, compatibility, capabilites, form factors, etc... There's both a downside and an upside to going with a single vendor.
I know you picked that number off a tree, but just about any computer (or car, or expensive resellable item, for that matter) depreciates 30% the moment you take it out of the store. I would also direct you to eBay to compare the relative resale values of 2 year old Macs, compared to 2 year old Dells or ThinkPads.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
Depreciates? Were you planning on selling it?
I don't really think there is a market for used cell phones or for used ipods...
Houston, Wii have a supply problem (Score:3, Insightful)
song remains the same (Score:2, Insightful)
apple is known for doing stuff like this, e.g. aperture. the situation was somewhat different, but the response was generally the same, offer refunds to early adopters.
this is almost 100 million dollars in good-will... and pure apple. in fact, expect some lawyer to devise a class action suit on behalf of aggrieved shareholders -- angry about apple being too gracious with customers.
Re:Getting there first (Score:4, Insightful)
Hopefully these aren't the same people demanding a refund.
Re:Wow, that was quick (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure how it was a ripoff. The price was clearly stated and the early adopters happily paid. Hell, they even stood in line for days to pay the original price. I always think of a ripoff as something not being worth what you paid. From what I've read, all the people who were early adopters love their phone and never complained about paying for it.
Re:Wow, that was quick (Score:5, Insightful)
How about you look further than Wii. Of the top 3 consoles right now, Wii makes the highest margin of all three. That is, they make a margin >0, and PS3 and XBOX360 make margin 0.
The rest of your story is about the same quality as well.
I bought Nokia phone without sound, ringtones, color screen, or camera or anything at al, for $250 few years ago. Now I can't sell it for $10.
That's life, and Steve only gave the $100 credit because he pays for the fanbase he built, a minority of fanatics who believe that iPhone costed every single dollar of those $600 they paid. Look at the forums and you'll see fans sing praises about how Apple is much better than Dell since they use better parts and have better QA (which is funny since they use the same parts and have about the same QA). You'll see talk about design, and how good design is expensive to do.
They believed iPhone costed $600 hard dollars, and that would be so for a long time. They're now disillusioned since the imaginary value they purchased has just gotten 33% less.
And hence have two options : 1. learn something new, get less fanboyish, more cynical and continue your life; 2. turn against your idol and whine like a sissy.
Guess which was the easier one.
Re:Steve; make it retroactive to all Apple product (Score:4, Insightful)
However, they don't just give that money up and get nothing for it:
* They get great publicity that makes them appear responsive to customers - the story is all over the non-tech news.
* They restore a lot of goodwill among early adopters, who are an important crowd for Apple.
* It's a great loss-leader to get those people - known big spenders - back into the store to spend more money.
* If it's used on Apple software or hardware, it will increase their installed base and marketshare.
So yeah, they're going to miss out on $40 million, but they get value for it that's probably better than the same amount spent on advertising in any media.
[1: Assuming they've sold 800,000 eligible units and 50% of buyers acquire and use their credits.]
Man Apple must be worried about the iPhone... (Score:3, Insightful)
And they know all this because they are savvy business people at Apple. Compare the iPhone to the PS3. More people bought the iPhone than did PS3 at the same price, yet it took Sony 1 year to get a $100 price drop as opposed to Apple's price drop.
So the only reason to me is that it's desperation. I'm guessing that report about how only 136k people actually signed up must have them pretty worried and they need to reach a critical level sooner.
Me personally, I smell blood in the water. I'm waiting for the price to drop even further before I begin to consider buying it. It would be interesting to see how many people feel the same way and if that will actually curtail pickup of the iPhone until closer to Christmas.
Apple has just screwed itself, big time (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
I find it odd that people are treating Apple poorly because they're (a) dropping the price, and (b) giving early adopters (adapters?) something that is completely unexpected but a nice gift. Somehow they're the bad guys for doing this. Not saying you specifically, but an awful lot of that sort of thinking in this thread.
It's a good phone. It integrates the various apps well. One-button checks for traffic, weather, stock prices, email, etc etc etc. The workflow is well thought out and intuitive. Yeah, I can do all (well, most) of this same thing with my Treo but, the UI on this thing is so much better. And my monthly contract with AT&T is 20 bucks a month less than I was paying Verizon. I'm not seeing a downside.
Re:Wow, that was quick (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Apple knows what you have (Score:4, Insightful)
Next morning FedEX dropped off a loaner (free). Two days after that my phone had been replaced with a brand new (by appearances and packaging) iPhone. Total cost to me: 0. Total time between calling Apple support and having a fully functional iPhone: about 12 hours. Time spent on the phone? 10 minutes, max.
They do support well. People who say "Meh...it's just a phone" are the same type who see a luxury car and say "Meh...my yugo gets me to work just fine".
$600 and recoverable costs (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure those people are wrong.
I've seen lots of stuff that focuses on the cost of the parts. These people seem to act like it was inevitable that if you dumped enough of the specified parts into a vat together that they'd eventually inevitably produce an iPhone.
I've only seen speculation about costs for manufacturing/assembly, software development, and hardware R&D. Probably because only Apple really knows. But I'm sure those costs are there. Perhaps others that aren't immediately obvious.
This isn't to say there wasn't a good margin built into the iPhone on top of that. However true it actually is that Apple actually is a damn smart company that is in fact driven as much by a desire to produce quality products as the desire to reap profits, it and its shareholders also probably desires to reap profits. They probably knew they could command the price of early adopters and many would pay it.
It's also possible that high price helped them recover development costs, and with that done, they're free to drop the price.
It's also possible the high price likely keeps it in the hands of people who want one so badly they're willing to overlook some Rev A problems.
It's also possible the price itself was intended as a quality/caché signal.
Re:Apple has just screwed itself, big time (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, that certainly explains the failure of every single other technology product.
$100/two months (Score:2, Insightful)
And I do not "flash it around". I hate even admitting I have some expensive phone. I generally try to use it when it's not obvious I have one (except answering calls of course, you don't get to pick exactly when a call will come).
Your mistake, as has been the mistake of Apple haters since the dawn of time, is in think any Apple product is about looks when it's all about features and usability.
Re:Apple has just screwed itself, big time (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, that was quick (Score:5, Insightful)
That appliances and new hardware are way overpriced at market introduction is a given and (hopefully) known. Take an arbitrary graphics card. Compare its price at introduction and after 3 months. Now tell me that the company making them didn't "rip off" its early adopters by charging about 3-5 times what the card obviously (judged by the price after 3 months) costs.
You're not forced to buy it. There are many other models on the market, there is actually still some kind of competition between the manufacturers, so you do have a choice. You can settle for a smaller card for 3 months, then buy that superspecialawesome card and you still spend less. If you insist in having a certain piece of hardware before anyone else, pay the early adopter tax.
I did with the 8800, because I wanted it. I was well aware that the 600 bucks I spend on it are going to be "wasted" and half a year later, I get it for half the price. I wanted it now, and I paid, and that's how it is. Don't like it, don't buy it.
The same applies to the iPhone. Yes, it was overpriced at intorduction, and I hope everyone knew that. You want it? Ok, pay the price. But don't complain that 3 months later it costs a fraction, that's how the market works.
Now Apple does something nobody else ever did. They actually offer benefits to their early adopters and hand out freebies to them. Yet, people complain and lament, that it ain't enough and that they feel ripped off, and that they should give back money instead.
If I was Apple, the lesson learned would be to cease that kind of policy altogether and just let people sit there and fume. Hey, appearantly it's more acceptable than getting a rebate that's "not enough". At least I don't hear anyone complain to Intel, nVidia and all the other manufacturers who do essentially the same but do NOT offer anything to their early adopters.
This was clever (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe when it hits $200 and works with t-mobile out of the box, I'll consider buying one.
Re:Why not $200 store credit? (Score:3, Insightful)
You spend more for the machine than competitors, yes. Part of that is sheerly for the aesthetic of the beautiful machine, a small part for bragging rights, and the rest for the solid tech inside the box. Apple regularly, and suddenly drops prices when they add new models. This is typical of many companies. If you know there's a Mac Keynote coming up in the next 30 day, WAIT!!! Don't buy anything. Or at least make sure where you are buying it from has a 14-30 day price match guarantee.
Outside of that, what's your mac worth after 3 years compared to something else? I have a 1 year old $1100 IBM business notebook. Core Duo, advanced graphics, SATA, and more. on ebay, it's worth about $450... A 2 year old Gateway gaming notebook (my wife's rig) was $1300 new (after rebates). It's worth about $250 on ebay right now. My mom's 2 year old powerbook? Still worth 50% of what she paid for it... In fact, it's worth more used than machines with faster processors cost new today.
Add to this the hundreds of dollas I've saved in not needing AV or spyware software and that only 1 of the 11 Mac's my family has owned since 1984 needed anything more than a hard drive replaced, and that was storm damage, not really Apple's fault there. Every mac we have ran for at least 5 years before being replaced, including a Mac Classic we bought in 1988 that STILL works today, an original blue iMac that failed back in March of this year (7-8 years old?) and an ols LC II I got in 1991 that ran until 1997 when I sold it for $400 (yes $400 for a $1200 computer that was 6 years old...)
I applaud Apple for giving $100 in credit to all iPhone adopters. 2 months was a BIT quick, I'll admit, for such a drastic price drop. Honestly, I expected a $100 drop upon the intro of the new iPods as I was expecting the touch to be $100 more expensive than the classic iPod (note to Apple, you set the price too low there, I would have paid $400 for it without blinking) I expected a discount from AT&T of another hundred by mail in rebate in November and doubling that to $200 rebate in January.
Apple will be in trouble shortly as they actually won't be able to move too many iPhones on their own once their exclusive contract ends and other vendors start pushing iPhones with big rebates for big contracts. Sure, if you have a contract and want an iPhone you can just buy one outright for $400 or so, but anyone who is changing service contracts might be able to get one for $100 or $200 for signing up for a contract they needed anyway. Sure, Apple gets the kickback, but at OEM/wholesale pricing, not full price, so their money train will be stopping shorlty.
Re:Houston, Wii have a supply problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Is the wii/iphone supply not enough to meet demand? Well too bad, lost sale for them, and move on with your life, right?
Fan? Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)
Secondarily, no one held a gun to our head and forced us to buy anything. Apple made an exceedingly cool product and we weighed the "cool" and utility against $600, made a decision, and bought it. They could just as easily spent millions making a technological flop like the Zune, in which case all of those R&D and marketing costs would have been a total write-off. They gambled and rolled the dice.
You may also notice that they made an Apple iPod HiFi dock... that just disappeared from the store. They made the AppleTV, which isn't exactly blowing off the shelves. In fact, I was just in a store yesterday and saw the new nano. Don't like the form factor, build quality, or the interface. So I'm not getting one, nor recommending them, nor buying them as gifts. Maybe other people will make the same decision and do the same. Maybe not. The point is that people don't buy EVERYTHING Apple makes just because it has their logo on it.
On the flip side, my MacBook Pro is the best notebook I've ever owned. OS X makes other most OS's look like they were designed by brain-dead committees (if that's not redundant). Aperture and Final Cut are some of the best tools on the planet. And if a truck rolled over my iPhone I'd be back in the store in a second buying a new one.
Fan? Yes. But I'm only a fan for as long as they continue to make great products.