One word for him:

SUCKER!

WAAAAHHHHH! WAAHHHHHH! I'm unhappy that business is business!! WAHHHHH.

It's just like another poster said: What is this, the Communist?

Free Market Capitalism rules!

boo fricken hoo

I think the consumerist nailed it. You can't be the first in line to get the newest high tech gadget there is, and then be mad when the company decides to change the price a few months later. No matter when the price drops, there are going to be people who bought it last week for that higher price. You can't make everyone happy.

I'm a shareholder too, but I don't go out and buy everything they put out. I let the fanboys do it. Same thing with Starbucks - I own their stock, but don't buy Starbucks everyday. I let the addicts do it. :-)

"Waaah. I don't like the way the tech world works, that things get introduced at one price and cost less a little while later. Waaaaahhhh!"

I feel 200 times better for forcing myself to wait to buy an iPhone.

What I dont seem to understand is why is he or anyone else surprized by a cell phone dropping in price? I bought a razor 3 years ago for $199.00 with a two year contract. 90 Days later Best buy has the same phone for $49 with a two year contract, 75% reduction in 90 days. News flash cell phones go down in price quick.

Why all the fuss over a company making a great product cheaper? This is nuts.

Prices of everything drops quickly. My $1000 Sony Alpha camera can be got for 1/2 that price now.

I think the real reason for the iPhone price drop is that the demand for it was A LOT less they they predicted - and instead of having shelves full of the product, they decided to drop the price earlier then usually - WHY so early? Because other phones by other people will be out soon that will outperform the iPhone (newer & better phones are always coming out) - so they need to sell as many as possible as quickly as possible.

If demand was still great for the phone, you would have never seen the price drop. It has nothing to do with screwing over the people who already purchased the phone at all.

But it is a risk you take when buying the newest item when it first comes out.

Get over yourself. He willingly purchased the product at a price he thought was acceptable. He is owed nothing, nor should he be given anything. It's a lame complaint, especially with Apple and their notorious product cycles. Does it maybe suck? Sure, but come on. I say this as a proud Apple supporter. No sympathy is warranted.

Yeah, and Nintendo, I paid $150 for a Gamecube 2 years ago, can I get some money back. Also, Safeway, I bought some Oreo's for $3.19 last month, and now see you have them at a club card price of 2 for $4.00, cut me a check. It's called product research, try learning it before you make another foolish purchase of the "latest and greatest" gadget. I swear, you'd think if America is going to praise the means of consumerism, they'd teach these idiots how to shop. Most people with a fairly grade of common sense would know not to go out and buy the first issue of an overhyped product. Google "Xbox360 red ring of death."

Early adopters getting screwed is a time-honored American tradition like apple pie, MTV, and the baby jesus.

M should whine to his rich parents until they sell some of that Apple stock and buy him a shiny new SUV to help him get over the trauma of paying too much for a cell phone.

Hey, you purchased a $600 phone only usable on the worst network, which cannot be unlocked and charges you for ringtones. Seriously... bed, made, lie in it.

Can I have the purchase price of my PowerBook 145 applied towards the purchase of a new Apple product?

Wait...Apple doesn't owe me anything?

People can say that Apple was completely in their rights to drop the price, and they're right. But to do it this soon and to this degree seems to show a total tone-deafness to how their consumer base might react. The people who bought iPhones in the last 2 months have had to defend their high price to family, friends, and strangers, and now we look more than a little foolish. I and most iPhone buyers did not realize that we were essentially paying a $200 fee for the privilege of having an iPhone for one or two months before the rest of the country.

Before people chime in and say that this kind of thing happens all the time in consumer electronics, I must point out that it really doesn't. I can't remember the last time the price of a major new device was cut by 1/3 2 months after its introduction. Even the struggling PS3 took forever to get a price drop. And it especially doesn't happen with Apple. Apple's strategy up until now has almost always been to keep the price on current models steady for quite some time and then release a new model at the same or a slightly lower price. This kind of price-slashing is absolutely unprecedented. Look at the video iPod, for example. The 5G iPod was introduced on October 12th, 2005 and wasn't updated up September 12th, 2006! And even then, the update was a very minor one. That model was around from September 12th, 2006 until today. Most iPod models have enjoyed similarly long stretches with no updates or price cuts. So yeah, I think people are justified in being a bit angry.

I don't think Apple should refund everyone's money, but it would be a great goodwill gesture (and thank-you to the people who supported and evangelized the iPhone) to give people something like an iTunes gift certificate.

"My name is M [redacted]. I'm a [redacted]."

Is the second redacted "loser"?

i understand this guy's complaint, and the others Apple 'fanboys' that feel cheated by this. it really it awful for a company to drop the price of something so soon after introducing the product and dropping it so drastically. 90 days for a $200 price difference is quite steep, and very atypical for Apple to do something like this.

this guy isnt complaining about over-paying. he clearly understands that electronic prices drop in the makert place with time. he knows he paid more to get it the first day, and that was ok in his book. they just shouldnt change so drastically and recently.

Sorry, but $599 for the phone was an acceptable price for you, and you paid it. The price of most consumer goods, electronics in particular, drops over time. You should be neither surprised nor mad that they dropped the price. If you are, then $599 wasn't really an acceptable price for that product to you, but you paid it anyway. No one screamed when Motorola introduced the RAZR V3 at $500, then incrementally dropped the price by $50 every 2 months or so. They were merely selling it to everyone at their maximum acceptable price.

A common argument against those complaining about the price drop is that they were perfectly fine with the price they paid for it at the time, and that this sort of thing happens with technology.

Yes, it's true that we (I am an iPhone user as well) were fine with the price we paid for the product 2 months ago, and this sort of thing DOES happen with technology all the time.

What angers us is not that it happened, but that it happened 2-fucking-months later. When I bought my iPhone, I expected the price to drop eventually as Apple does with every iPod product they make. If you look at their history, they oftentimes will lower the price of their product 6 months to a year later. Then, once a year has passed, they'll introduce a new iteration of the same product. This is what I and every other iPhone-buyer expected to happen.

But instead of doing what they are known for, Apple went and cut the price by $200 only 2 months later. What this shows is that the value of the product is significantly less than what we paid for it, and it also shows that Apple obviously gouged the price at the start when they didn't necessarily need to. It makes me feel betrayed, as well, for being essentially coerced into paying more for a product that costs less.

I can't think of any other product that naturally loses value so quickly. Yes, it is true that all technology becomes obsolete the second you buy it. But no technology, in my memory, has lost close to 50% of its initial value in only 60 days.

I don't expect Apple to turn around and say "oops, our bad. Here's your $200 cash." That'd be foolish business. They'd be giving away $200 million all at once. What I DO expect, however, is for Apple to offer something. Give us a credit towards other Apple products and maybe an extended AppleCare warranty on our iPhones. Show us you care, Apple, about your die-hard fans: the people who have allowed your business to thrive and begin penetrating the average consumer marketplace. Just give us SOMETHING as a consolation for the sucker punch we just received right in our gut.

When...

ever...

in the history of gadgets...

ever, ever....

has it been a good idea to be an early adopter...

or buy the fricken thing the day it comes out?

Consider it a fanboy tax.

Pay it with pride.

@ptkdude:

Nice example. $50 every 2 months, or so. That's not $200 every 2 months, is it?

Someone call the waaaaaabulance.
You waited in line for a device that was overpriced and, like all first gen products, would most likely have flaws or user issues(which has been proven).
You are a sucker. If you get a woody from being the first to have a new device, so be it...but don't cry when you finally realize you weren't as smart as the rest of us.
Survival of the fittest..in this case the smartest. Lesson learned...move on...stop being a band wagon, uppity show off.

Common sense FTW! L3rn some restraint

Dear Mr. Jobs,

Please make life fair! It's not fair that life isn't fair!

Yours Truly,
John Q. Crybaby

@icruise: "The people who bought iPhones in the last 2 months have had to defend their high price to family, friends, and strangers, and now we look more than a little foolish."

CLUE CLUE CLUE!!!!!!

You were foolish. Even if the price hadn't dropped. They all know it. You should have listened and didn't. You wanted what you wanted and were willing to pay whatever to get it. Part of that price is that you now look like a HUGE moron to family and friends instead of just looking like a GREAT BIG moron.

"I own (and currently use) a Macbook Pro, an iPod Video (80 GB), a 2G iPod Nano (8 GB), and a 2G iPod Shuffle, two Airport Expresses, and an 8 GB iPhone; and through my family am an Apple shareholder."

If he stopped buying anything and everything Apple he could probably afford to own some of Apple's stock himself, instead of having to own it "through his family" (e.g. "Daddy bought it but I call it mine anyway".

@icruise: "The people who bought iPhones in the last 2 months have had to defend their high price to family, friends, and strangers, and now we look more than a little foolish."

No. You just have to explain how electronics pricing works. Who's a little foolish? The person who doesn't understand what's going on, or the person who decided $x was a worthy price for item Y at the time the purchase was made?

@Odwalla: I used to have stock in Purina. I didn't expect them to bow to my every whim.

The ones who are really crying now are the douches who are selling Iphones on ebay. Now with the price drop they get to eat a $200 fee for each one they bought to resell.. HA! HA!

So noone is blaming AT&T? I'm sure they wanted their share of the money to be made from the iphone, hell they invested enough in it so its pretty damn stupid to not consider that they are to blame. Or maybe that because of all the iphone sells, and the manufactor of countless more ipod videos (The new ones) Apple got a huge break on all the parts and is passing down the savings.

Or maybe you should consider that PRICES TEND TO CHANGE AT THE DROP OF A HAT!

Let's see.. every reviewer out there and people out there said the price was too steep.

There was a report saying that Apple's margins with around 50% on the Iphone by the component breakdown anyalist.

Logical path.. drop the price to be in line with industry standards.. Apple tried to sell high, but didn't get the market penetration they wanted, and you know AT&T is trying to push up the subscriber rate. Everyone and thier mother saw the price drop coming.

Even though I think early adopters are idiots, I can't help but regard this as a stupid move on Apple's part. When you make so much of your money off of customer devotion -- not just loyalty, but devotion -- it's really not a good idea to throw your most dedicated worshippers under the bus like this.

Apple doesn't "owe" these people anything, but they owe it to themselves to avoid alienating the people who give them the most money.

As an AAPL shareholder, I'd be irritated if Apple DIDN'T extract maximum value from the fanbois. A subsequent price drop is just about selling to the next tranche of demand.

Is it REALLY so stupid, immature, whiny etc to be upset at this kind of price drop? Even if you don't think Apple should do a darned thing about it, I would think that you could understand the psychology involved. This is a pretty major drop, and one that flies in the face of Apple's previous behavior. I'm not saying that we're *entitled* to anything -- just that from a customer relations standpoint (and isn't that what this site is all about?), this seems like a bad move. I don't think anyone would have been this upset if they had dropped by price by $100 instead of $200, or if they had waited a bit longer.

"So that this message might have some meaning to you other than the ramblings of a disenchanted fanboy, allow me to introduce myself. My name is M [redacted]. I'm a [redacted]."

Mongoloid. God awful dummy.

I *LOVE* Mad Libs! Thanks Consumerist!

Why is the Consumerist now a defacto iphone price-drop complaint site?

@icruise: "The people who bought iPhones in the last 2 months have had to defend their high price to family, friends, and strangers"

You might be a lot happier in life if you'd stick up for yourself and realize that it is no one's business how you spend your own money but your own. Maybe a spouse has a right to challenge your purchase. But friends and strangers?

When you released the iPhone I was one of those pathetic fanboys seen in pictures around the country depicting the spell you had cast over my generation.

I hate to say it but it sounds like you still ARE a pathetic fanboy. Suck it up. You paid to get your iPhone before everybody else.

If his first Macintosh was a Performa 575, then all you are is a bandwagon Mac user.

@Franklin Comes Alive!: At least they didn't do it with a YouTube-video-post copout.

Two telling quotes from the letter:

"I paid $600 for the 8 GB iPhone without complaint."

"I'm not hurting for the two hundred dollar price drop at all, let me be clear."

Translation: Hi! I got my toy and paid what I thought was a fair price and anyway, what does it matter because I don't care about the money at all. That's right, at all. Am I clear? I just want to be very clear. So there is no mistake I don't care about the money.

Now...let me spend the rest of the email refuting my own words.

Waaaaah.
You lowered the price.

shut up, apple fan boy.
Jobs didn't hold a gun to your head and force you to buy your stupid iPhone when it first came out.
Welcome to business 101.
If you buy a house at a premium and then your neighbor sells his for far less, you don't complain to the previous owner. You made the choice to pay to have it first. Deal with it.
L.O.S.E.R.

@liquisoft: The amount of the price drop is irrelevant; the early adopters would be bitching just as much about a $50 price drop. The people lined up around the block outside of every Apple store willing to shell out $599 for the phone sent pricing signals to Apple: that the price was fair. Add to that the limited availability of the product at the time, and the price premium makes perfect sense. Once higher inventories of the product eliminated the availability problem, the price would naturally come down. When all hot gaming consoles first go on the market, stores can charge whatever they want (and early adopters can sell on eBay and charge outrageous prices). But once they become widely available, that price premium disappears. That's exactly what happened here.

@OKH:

MADLIBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My name is M [LoserFanBoy]
I'm a [groupie].

@liquisoft:

It makes me feel betrayed, as well, for being essentially coerced into paying more for a product that costs less.

I'm pretty sure "coerced" isn't the word you wanted here. No one but you can force you to buy an iPhone.

It's true that we all generally expect electronics prices to drop after some period of time. But if that's true, why is a $200 price drop after two months worse for you than a $200 price drop after six months? If you can expect to pay less for it at some point in the future, your choices are to wait for that price cut or buy before the price cut, and you chose the latter. I'm not here to knock anyone's choice, but it really is a choice and I guess I don't understand why people might feel they deserve some kind of compensation for choices they made freely.

I'm honestly just curious about this, not trying to be judgmental or provocative: you say you expected the price to drop six months to a year later, and with this knowledge/assumption, you decided to buy at full price. If you had known the price would drop after two months, would you have waited for the price drop?

BTW.. the price drop I believe is a preeminant attack on upcoming smart phones that'll feature alot of the same technology the iPhone currently features.

you DID get a "service" for paying $200 extra over the now-current price. you got to use it first. And it's perfectly "fair", when you consider that back in early July, EVERYBODY was speculating on price reductions in the future. Too bad that the future happened a little to fast for you, but them's the breaks for being an early adopter.

Being the kind of consumer that you proclaim to be, you should be familiar with the way Apple does business, so cry us a river. keep it up long enough and you might just be able to raise the level of the Aral Sea, but those of us who waited, or are STILL waiting, have every reason to cry tears of joy instead.

Good things come to those who wait. ;)

I can understand why M is upset, but M is speaking as if Apple owes him something for his willingness to overpay for a phone in the first place. It's not like they forced the thing on him, he willingly chose to take the risk of getting screwed. Maybe he'll think twice the next time Steve Jobs offers up some "revolutionary" device for fanboy consumption...

Yeah, yeah. Boo hoo. If you spent $600 on a phone for the first three months it was out, you should expect bugs, problems, and a higher price. Hasn't this guy ever heard of being an early adopter?

Anyway.

The real thing people should be pissed off about is the ringtone deal. Pay the same price - again - to use a song you already bought as a ringtone? What the fuck kind of nonsense is that?

And while I've heard that ringtones are considered seperate from full songs for DMCA purposes, I still think Steve Jobs has got a lot of balls to put a dumbed-down waveform editor in iTunes and charge us a buck every time we use it... and THEN act like he's done us some great big fucking favor. I mean, did you watch the keynote?

Pbbbt.

Dear [Redacted]:

While you're at it, please mention in your follow-up correspondence with Mr. Jobs that a year ago, I purchased a Macbook Pro. Apple has since moved to Dual-Core 2 processors, Santa Rosa, LED backlighting and is about to introduce a new release of OS X.

I'd like to get something back as well, since it's only fair. Would it be greedy to expect something for the sturdy Apple ][/c in my basement as well?

Thanks,

Zentec

Dear [Redacted] and Zentec:

[Redacted], your $200 was spent creating envy and awe in all your friends as well as used for amusing yourself for hours at the office when you should have been working. You were an early adopter and Apple loves its early adopters; it's just a tough love.

Furthermore, some old crusty programmer once told me that there's nothing wrong with being a pioneer; just some days, you come back to the fort stuck full of arrows.

Zentec, no and no.

Hope this helps,

Steve Jobs