iPhone backlash continues this morning: Matt writes in to share his displeasure at being offered $100 gift certificate by Steve Jobs. He’d rather just have his money back, since his phone is only a month old:
In response to the announcement issued yesterday by Mr. Jobs, I would like to know how is it even reasonable to expect that pissed off customers WANT $100 towards more Apple gear? What good does $100 towards new stuff do, if I never plan to shop at Apple again as a result of this greedy stunt? I’m in the tech industry–one could reasonably expect that a new version and a lower price would happen around December, given the holidays and the fact that it’s 6 months after the launch. But this week, and a 33% cut? That’s outrageous, especially when the standard return policies for most smart retailers are 30, 60 or 90 days…not 14. Apple has just destroyed their brand in my eyes.
I would like to know how this company plans to legitimately address my (and others’) concerns–not just pay lip-service and attempt to get us to buy more stuff.
Thanks very much,
Matt
Well, Matt. You do have a point. However, since you’re stuck with the phone (and a 2-year contract with AT&T, one imagines) you’re going to want to make the best of it. Your phone is fairly new, so you should either be able to sweet-talk Apple into a refund or, if your credit card has price protection, you should still be within the (usually) 60-day window.
Give it a shot. What can you lose?
(Photo:idiotboy)
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I guess I’ve never heard of a company that had a price adjusment policy of more than 14 days. Who are these alleged companies that give adjustments after 30, 60, 90 days?
I know tha Gap (and all theirs) is 14 days, so is Williams-Sonoma.
@deserthiker:
The only choads here are the people bitching about apple right now.
They didn’t “take advantage” of anyone. They brought a product to market and people lined up and camped for days to get it at a price they knew ahead of time and were willing to pay of their own free will.
What do you care what Apple prices their equipment at? How does that affect you?
I could understand the sharholders being upset, but you – THE CONSUMER?
That’s plain, old fashioned stupidity for you.
Apple fans who wanted the phone bought it without Jobs holding a gun to their heads.
I didn’t buy one. Know why?
A few reasons:
1) It was too damn expensive at launch
2) New products like this are buggy and overpriced
3) it cost too muc
4) The price was too high
5) hype is the antithesis of value
Get the drift? Apple made a decision to drop the price so they could try and get folks more like me to buy one.
See, unlike the early adopters, I understand that products are always a bit cheaper after a spell. Apple decides how much to price their units, not the consumer. Dont like it? Move along. Don’t buy apple.
But the idea that dropping the price somehow hurts consumers is as ridiculous as blaming your parents because your kid doesn’t behave. It’s YOUR problem that you paid top dollar, not theirs.
Grow up.
@deserthiker: People say, “That’s what happens in tech” but that’s a false argument. The iPod is $249. It’s been $249 for years. Sure, they add features–slowly–and the price has gone down but it’s never dropped 33%.
You make a solid, factual argument…what are you doing on this site?
Oh. My. God.
When did Consumerist get taken over by the fanboys?
I won’t waste a lot of space here restating what’s already been said. I’ll try to summarize:
You bought the phone of your own free will.
Apple doesn’t owe you shit.
Consider yourself lucky that you got anything at all.
STFU.
“Apple took the deliberate action of taking advantage of their most faithful customer base.”
@deserthiker: Or maybe the price drop came because they didn’t sell as many as they thought they would and figured that they’d sell more by dropping the price.
If it was really just about taking advantage of people, why drop the price at all?
When people bought the iPhone they knew then that they wouldn’t be able to return it after only two weeks. To me that says that you are agreeing that (barring malfunctions) you are ok with whatever happens after that two weeks.
I’m sorry but I just don’t see how the price drop changes anything. They were willing to pay over $600 for the iPhone either because they felt it was worth it or felt it was worth it to have it immediately. Yes the price drop was quick and yes it was big but if you wanted it first that shouldn’t matter. If you just thought the iPhone was worth that much you had two weeks to see if that was right. If it seemed too expensive for what it could do when you bought it you could have returned it. If it still seemed worth it that shouldn’t change now either.
@deserthiker:
Congratulations on your induction into the Sniveling Asshat Society.
Use your $100 gift certificate to get the latest iPod!
@deserthiker: $100 credit. Pfft! Maybe if Judas had given back 15 pieces of silver that would have made everything OK.
Oh, for god’s sake…
My head is not designed for the amount of eye rolling needed for that one.
At this point, to me, both Apple and its Jim Jones cult-following look really really stoopid. Bad choice to rush to get an iPhone the second it came out, bad choice by Apple to cave in to a small bunch of whiners with this gift cert nonsense.
Bite me, early adopters.
Didn’t buy an iPhone and have no interest in getting one.
Nevertheless, it’s still pretty dick what Apple pulled.
@deserthiker: You’re just talking to yourself there, sport.
Have you heard anyone talk about the new iPod? Yep.
Or that you will soon be able to order iTunes songs via WiFi? Mmm-hmm.
Or that you will be able to create your own ringtones? You betcha.
NO. All you’ve heard is Apple screwed over their “fanboi” legions. Um… wrong. But to an Apple-hater, facts don’t mean much, do they, @deserthiker? Don’t even get me started on your ridiculous take on Apple pricing over the last few years.
Oh, and one more thing:
Maybe if Judas had given back 15 pieces of silver that would have made everything OK.
Oh… my. Would that make Matt Jesus and you St. Paul? Delusions of grandeur much? Maybe there should be an amendment to Godwin’s Law…
I bought the Nokia N76 about the same time the iPhone came out. It’s still abut the same price.
I enjoy mentioning this.
i want a $100 apple gift certificate for listening to these idiots whine.
So how long until there’s a video of one of these whiners smashing his iPhone with a sledgehammer?
@joemono: I don’t know, but I hope a whiner smashes his phone and doesn’t get anything from Apple for it. AHAHAHAHAHA. Screw ‘em!
OK, maybe the Judas comment was a bit too much (I know Steve Jobs is a huge Dylan fan and there’s some Dylan history to being called Judas but I digress) but the fact remains Apple intentionally screwed over their best customers and that is NOT a good business strategy. Period.
Apple users will still use Apple because they are not going over to Microsoft but they will not have the same passion in the future. Maybe that’s a good thing but not for Apple. My point is remains is that this was a misstep by Apple and not one people will forget anytime soon.
@deserthiker: You keep saying that Apple intentionally screwed over their best customers, yet fail to explain your case. Apple made a miscalculation on the initial selling price of the phone, and corrected it to increase demand. How is the intentionally screwing over their customers? Yeah, I’m sure Steve Jobs woke up one day and said, I’m going to screw over tons of people by setting a high price, get people to buy the iphone, and then lower the price two months later. I’m sure that’s exactly what transpired.
Please. If Apple thought a $600 price point would continue to make the phones fly off the shelves they would have left the price at $600.
What don’t you understand about economics?
Practically speaking, if you’d rather have some money, you can use the credit to buy an itunes gift card, then sell that card on eBay. You’ll probably net $75 when all is said and done with fees and all that crap.
As far as the price dropping is concerned, think about this the next time you’re on an airplane: what did the person next to you pay for their seat? We’re talking about price changes on a minute-by-minute, day-by-day basis. And it’s perfectly accpeted.
I don’t think this is a situation where the iPhone wasn’t hitting its numbers, so Jobs dropped the price. I think that it’s more the recognition that a subset of the iPhone market was willing to pay a premium for, basically, an iPod Touch.
Once it’s possible to buy THAT, it removed that segment from the iPhone market. Thus, less demand, lower price (on the iPhone – Apple will see equal/better revenues once iPod Touch sales are factored in).
Very clever on Apple’s part, and nuanced in their marketing.
MUCH different than “my gosh must slash prices now since no one’s buying these things”.
And, mirroring the unanimous opinion of the others, why is Consumerist blaming Apple for DROPPING prices?! And for the unheard-of response of rebating as they are?
Geez, I am consistently amazed by the users on this site. Half the time they’re communist, and the other half (like now) they’re downright capitalist pigs.
Can’t we have a balance instead of two over the edge extremes?
@Hawk07: Yeah, cutting prices as demand slowed? Following well-established economic principles? How dare they!
Well, prevailing opinion is pretty clear here; I do wonder why it’s so much the opposite on digg. As of last night, the post for the story leading to this one had 6500 diggs, all full of people exhaling in relief, cheering for “Jesus Jobs”, and down voting anyone sharing an opinion similar to the majority one here. Are we just more enlightened, or are they just a bunch or foolish consumers?
Nevermind, the question kinda answers itself.
I’m going to walk the road less travelled.
I believe myself to be a reasonable person, but I also care about my own interests and well being. Even allowing for the “early adopter fee”, a 30% price drop 2 months after launch would certainly have me upset. Notice the key word here: “me”.
The consumerist has posted MANY articles from people who preach that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. Why, one of today’s stories suggests posting scurrilous buzz phrases on a company’s stock forum as an effective method to “encourage” a fix.
Other articles in past (SpiritAir, AT&T) have resulted from users guessing and/or obtaining internal contact information for the CEO and airing the complaint that way. Another one of consumerist’s experts basically says “nag until you get what you want”.
Low and behold, Apple is “splitting the difference” with its users. Would that have happened if nobody had complained? Aren’t those who complained in a much better position than they were before?
A price drop is always a risk of being an early adopter, yes. But put yourself in the shoes of someone who stood in line for 6 hours, entered into a 2 year contract, and run up his/her credit card. I too would be overpowered by emotion and feeling abandoned by a company I professed to love so much.
Let me try to explain why i think Apple screwed over it’s best customers. Apple has created a brand that has meaning to it’s customers. To them it represents innovation, quality, integrity and value retention. Check around: you don’t see new Apple stuff marked down. It dilutes the brand image. When apple did the unprecidented move of slashing the price of a new product it was counter to what people have come to expect of them. It smells of taking advantage of customers goodwill by charging more initially. And no one wants to be taken advantage of.
200 bucks is not a big deal to a lot of Apple customer base. But to feel cheated is.
Apple diminshed their brand image for long time with this.
No whining. Just the way it is.
@Abusiveelusive:
THANK YOU for saying that. I am so tired of these fan boy early adopters complaining!
anyone “in the tech industry” (which this guy obviously is not) knows that this is what happens when you pay top dollar for a device opening day.
There were $50 000 PS3′s on eBay opening week, as i recall.
@deserthiker: but it’s not that they were overcharging for the iPhone. Anything but considering the overwhelming sales (only less than Wall Street, who are crazed witless monkeys on crack (witness: subprime loan packages)).
It was the only device in the world that had the Touch interface. And also a really kewl phone. Now it’s one of two devices in the world with a Touch interface. And still a really kewl phone. No one was cheated, but considering there were enough people out there contemplating buying an iPhone just to get their hands on Touch, once iPod Touch was announced, they should expect the value of their iPhone to go down. Since now they can get exactly what they want, without AT&T owning their immortal soul for the next two years.
It’s the opposite of having a firesell to make the numbers: Apple comes out with so many innovative products, so quickly, that sometimes early adopters stumble over themselves. But it’s not harmful to Apple’s rep. Or shouldn’t be.
It’s okay. Even if you never want to spend money at Apple again (which I highly doubt you’ll follow through with), you can spend the $100 credit on the new battery you’ll need in a year.
Don’t get me wrong, I generally love Apple products, but I think they jumped the gun a little with the iPhone. Tying it to one carrier (especially AT&T) and designing with a one-year battery were huge mistakes.
How long will it take the fanbois to forgive Apple? I think this joke answers the question:
Q: How many Apple fanbois does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Hey, look! Is that a new ipod?
@itmustbeken: Wrong. The iPod has not always been $249. The first iPod was $499 for a 5 GB model. Then the price went down… just like it did with the iPhone.
@Will Clarke: Correction – it was $399, and they added a 10 GB model soon after for $499.
@homerjay (and all the other people who responded to that person):
LMFAO
I post a price of $X for a product. You come and give me $X and I give you the product, which you keep and use without complaint. It would seem that both of us are happy, since you were willing to part with your money and I the product, and neither of us are asking for a “do-over” on the deal….
Then I decide I only need to charge $(X-2) for the SAME product. It doesn’t matter why – if I want to expand my customer base, or if my manufacturing has gotten cheaper, or my competetion more fierce. WHY in the world would I expect that someone who paid $X should get it for the (X-2) price?
I look at my 36″ CRT TV – a top of the line model in 1999 that I paid nearly $2000 for that can now be had for $300. (They talked about HD for years and I just never thought it would ever really take off, since it was supposed to be the standard in the EARLY 90′s) It sucks to see a TV that looks like mine, has a better picture and is a whole lot cheaper (and has been for a while) but I’m not bitching to Sony about it. I rolled the dice in 1999 and lost. Somehow I manage to make it through my days and nights and NOT send a sniveling e-mail to “Consumerist” about how Sony has wronged me with their pricing.
What did you expect when you were buying a stupid phone for $600 AND signing a 2 year contract when you could sign a 2 year contract and get a phone for FREE from the same company. Did Apple put a gun to your head? Quit your fricking whining and give up your iPhone if you are unhappy.
I bought a TV at Christmas for $2100. By Valentines day 2 months later , it had dropped to $1299. I didn’t bitch or moan. I understand that prices on electronics fall over time, often rapidly.
@ USERCONTROL
“What’s the difference whether the price drops 2 months or 6 months after the launch? Would 4 months really make you feel that much better?”
Thats actually the first time, after days of watching macrumor’s forum light up, saying this. You’re locked into a 2 year contract, you’re stuck, what would 4 less month matter?
Well put USERCONTROL.
I’ve had videocards that rival this phones cost, and prices on those drop fast. You are not in ‘the tech industry’, if you were you’d know the price break season is typically March and September. Some of it has to do with 60-day price matching, other breaks have to do with slumping sales and more importantly new products begin to reach ‘the channel’.
Small OEMs do not drop prices going into the holiday season, they can’t because of increased demand on inventory. LCD panels always go up around 25-40 more, from distributor. I’ve dealt with distributors such as D&H, TechData and Synnex for years.
Go back to your BestBuy counter and shut your mouth.
Oh lord. Someone call the Waaahmbulance for Matt, he seems to have come down with Precious Flower Syndrome.
On the local news the other night (San Francisco), there was a story about some local highchair pounder who’s going around putting up anti-Apple stickers on lightposts everywhere because he’s so furious about the price reduction. He wouldn’t let them film his face, so all you heard was this trembling geekboy voice. Dude seriously sounded like he was about five seconds away from bursting into tears. It was hilarious.
Wonder if that was Matt, or a good friend?
I know it’s snotty and snobbish, but I’ll say it again: If $200 is so near and dear to you that it causes you this amount of anguish, hardware like the iPhone is beyond your means. If you buy one anyway, don’t cry when the price changes.
@Abusiveelusive: I actually agree. I can’t find it in myself to attack Apple on this one. I mean, I’ve hated the Mac os ever since I got my first computer which ran Mac OS 7 so I hold no real likings to Apple. But never-the-less, these guys wanted it so bad, they went out and dropped $599.99 for it. Now they have the stones to complain about the price dropping 2 months post-release to retail? I’m sorry, but I cannot resist laughing at that premise. These guys waited in line and drew the punishment for doing such. They wanted the newest, latest, (maybe not the greatest but) hottest cell phone on the market and they made the decision to drop $600 for it. Steve Jobs didn’t personally hold a gun to someone’s head and say “buy our phone ,now”. Nor did AT&T (Formerly, Cingular). On that note, they should’ve known something was coming eitherway considering this is AT&T we’re talking about. I’m sorry but I cannot find it in myself to show any pittance towards anyone affected by this.
Listen, if you were willing to pay 600 dollars for an iPhone when it first came out and are more-or-less satisfied with it, then what difference should it make to you that a few months later people are paying 400 dollars for the same thing? For that matter, what difference does it make if the price drop comes now or in December? I’m not an Apple fanboy or anything, but once you’ve bought a product and it works and you’re happy with it, you really have no right to complain if the price of that product drops. I think Apple is being extremely generous to offer you anything at all. They haven’t taken anything from you, they haven’t harmed you. You just have buyer’s remorse.
If I had paid so much money to get an iPhone off the bat, only to have it drop by $200 two months later, I’d be pissed too. But it would never happen to me again, because I’d wait (like I do now) to see what happens with the device (problems? recalls? price cuts/increases?) before making a purchase in the future. I think Apple will have issues launching products from now on because of this, but until then, you know they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
But honestly, if you were so apt to get an iPhone so soon, chances are you know how Apple operates. Even if you didn’t think it would happen in 2 months, you know that Apple was going to come out with a cheaper or newer/revised solution less than 6 months after launch. It’s Apple, for Christ’s sake, where have you been?