Steve Jobs apologizes for a price drop
As though it was not clear enough that we are living in a crazy world, Apple issued an open letter in which Steve Jobs basically apologizes for slashing the price on iPhone. It is going to change the definition of ridiculous. No, I don’t think the letter is funny, not at all. The circumstances are.
What is actually going on?
To put it simply, Apple has lowered the price on one of its flagship products from $599 to $399. Wow. That’s good, ain’t it? I don’t know, I may be weird and all, but I like price cuts. The idea that you pay less for the same thing, I like it. I mean, if I pay less I have more money left. Without going into gory details of first arithmetic lessons I can tell you that in this particular case you save $200. Trust me. I mean, you buy the same shiny gadget and have $200 more on your bank account than you would if you bought it in July. 200 friggin’ bucks. Anyone mind having 200 bucks to spare? No? Okay.
Now, what if a price drops after you pay? Nothing. You paid what you paid, what you knew you were paying. Pretty simple, yeah? After all, the price did not have to drop. That happens too, you know. Day after day you walk into a store and see the same price tag on a pair of shoes. One day you make up your mind, take your credit card and, boom, the shoes are yours. Next day you notice that the store has discounted those shoes. Sounds familiar? Well, the thing is, the store discounts their shoes, not yours. It doesn’t really matter why they do it. They just decide to change the price, nothing personal.
So, Apple decided they’d better sell those 8GB iPhones for $200 less. Just like any other cell phone model in the world gets cheaper every day. There are boring price cuts and exciting discounts, the fact being every cell phone gets cheaper every day. Most people take it for granted, just like the sun rising every single day. Most people know how to take advantage of dropping prices, e.g. they know if they wait a month or two, they are going to pay less for the same cell phone. Most people, that is. Not all of them.
Apple has taught us to think different. Now we are proving we have learnt those lessons well. Contrary to common sense, some people suddenly started to scream blue murder. Here are some actual quotes:
- Pissed beyond belief… So I paid an extra $200 for the privilege of using it for those two months?
- They really soaked the early adopters (self included). I can’t believe I fell for it.
- The only thing worse than buying one iPhone early is buying 2 iPhones early.
- The price drop of 30% is a tough pill to swallow.
- Apple has lost some brand loyalty from me that they’ll never get back.
So the worst of my suspicions are confirmed. Steve Jobs forced thousands of innocent Americans to shell out additional 200 bucks by sticking a big bad gun to their heads. Or was that a mass hypnosis? Or small print? Anyway, evil Apple fucked unsuspecting consumers. Again. It turns out some individuals were led to believe they were paying a fair price, only to find it was somehow not fair, two months later. The fact that my schoolmate Joe can now pay $200 less for the same iPhone is just not fair. Unacceptable. That makes me look, err, stupid. I mean, Apple does not have the moral right to lower prices, ever. It must protect our iPhone investments. Better yet, give me a free iPhone and then set its price to a kilobuck so that I sell it on eBay and get rich. I mean, Apple should pay me for using an iPhone, not the other way round. That’s what a free market should be. Yeah, that’s it.
We, the undersigned irrational gadget freaks, demand that Apple raise the price back immediately. We don’t wanna be ridiculed by Joe. We ain’t gonna tolerate it. Uncle Steve, we urge you to take measures to prevent Joe from having more toys. Or else we reserve the right to pick our marbles and go home. Uncle Steve?
And answer he did (emphasis mine):
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.
He’s shocked at your reaction, kids. I bet he was about to shoot himself when he discovered hundreds of messages full of demented rant and idiotic claims in his inbox. But he does have an idea. He’s going to explain what price cuts are, how they work and why they are necessary.
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.
Got it? Apple dropped the price to sell more iPhones, not to piss you off. See the difference?
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.
It turns out that bitching about gravity does not make it go away. That’s life. Get used to it.
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.
Christ! Is there a lunacy tax in California that Apple must pay? Is every commercial organization expected to provide discounts to whiners? Does that make their shareholders happy? Is that the triumph of socialism? Somebody, please, wake me up.
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
I’m impressed. Not only has Apple compensated early adopters, which is a rare thing in itself, Apple even apologized. What I don’t quite understand is what exactly Apple did so wrong that it needed an apology. It looks like uncle Steve has been extremely disappointed by the whine and rant of delusional kids and all he could utter is “I’m sorry, then”.
I find it astonishing in our world of corporate greed; it’s a nice move, a humane gesture made by a commercial company towards its insane customers.