The iPhone Debacle

What do you think of the Apple iPhone price drop? Is Apple essentially burning the faithful, who bought the new phone right out of the gate? Was this just unfortunate timing on their part, or should they have done more to determine what price for their phone the market would bear? Will you get an iPhone now? (Read the Clickz story here)

I think the price drop was a matter of poor timing. My boyfriend has an iphone and it has been interesting to see and hear the contempt people have for it. He doesn’t brag about it or show it off but people who don’t have one give him a lot of crap for it. We also hear people saying things that are just plain wrong like it cost $800 (it didn’t) or that AT&T makes you sign a 5-year contract (they don’t). Now I read online all the comments from people saying that people who bought one early “got what they deserve.” Why do people hate the iphone so much? Have we all forgotten the Motorola Razor? That was $500 when it first came out. People stand in line to get an X-box, what’s the difference? We all knew the price was going to drop at some point. Apple has dropped the price of their iPods too. (which are also insanely expensive when you think about it) My nano was $250, now I can get one for $150. Which honestly kinda bums me out because it’s not like my iPod is old so I can’t really justify getting a new one yet. So of course the iPhone would come down in price. But they should have waited a year. 2 months is way too soon. Why risk angering the group of people most likely to buy another Apple product? And the credit is kind of useless. What is my boyfriend going to buy at the Apple store now? He doesn’t need a new iPod – he just got one in the phone! He’s not going to buy the Newton disguised as the iTouch either. In a way I think Apple needs to stop introducing new products so soon. People can’t keep up and it’s starting to get annoying. To make a long story short – they shouldn’t have dropped the price yet. Way too early. Bad move. Holly Ringerud Copywriter

I think people may be more leery about buying an Apple product out of the gate. The iPhone has only been out for 10 weeks, and they are already dropping the cost. I do think that more people will probably buy it now that it’s $200 cheaper. The made-good of giving people a $100 credit to the Apple store is nice on their part, because a big corporation like Apple definitely didn’t have to offer anything. I heard a rumor (which means that it may not be true) that you can only get the credit if you bought your iPhone within 14 days of the announcement, which doesn’t work for the hundreds of people standing outside before the launch 10 weeks ago. But would the new price make me want to go and buy an iPhone? No. I don’t think I could ever justify breaking my current contract, spending $399 on a new phone, and switching to ATT. Sorry Apple. If you come to Sprint, then maybe I would reconsider. Ellen Stevens Search Engine Specialist

The correct price for a product is whatever someone is willing to pay for it, and Apple is a business – not a charity. To quote John Gruber of Daring Fireball, “That’s how supply and demand works.” Early adopters are used to paying top dollar to be the first to get their hands on the latest gadgets, and this situation is absolutely no different. The only reason there was this kind of a backlash is that early adopters (mostly Apple enthusiasts at this point) know the price drop will make the iPhone much more attractive to the market at large, thereby reducing the amount of time they can say “I’ve got an iPhone” and not necessarily hear “Me, too!” The money argument on its own doesn’t really hold water. Can anyone actually claim that they didn’t know the price of technology goes down over time? Dell’s prices fluctuate by the hour! Apple is on track to sell a million of these by the end of the month, most of which were purchased at the higher price point. Lowering it now simply opens the product to that many more people, and if I was an iPhone early adopter I’d frankly be thrilled. Sure I could have waited two months to save a couple hundred bucks, but I’m better served in the long run by having the iPhone as widely available as possible. This ensures that it will be taken seriously by businesses and other organizations, who can target it as a first-tier device with products and services that are going to be useful for me. Disclaimer: I am an Apple fanatic, and I don’t own an iPhone. I’ll probably pick one up, but I’m still having a tough time stomaching the thought of becoming an AT&T customer again. Joseph Jaramillo Senior Technologist

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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