I bought an Apple Lisa… Where’s my refund?
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2007/09/jobs-offers-apple-lisa-early-adopters-store-credit.html

$100/month to be ahead of the game. That sounds about right, if you ask me. I’ve overpaid to be one of the first on the block with a new gadget.

What’s hilarious is that Steve Jobs isn’t giving anyone any money back, it’s all in gift certificates.

Just about every iPhone user that I’ve met can’t stop going on about how wonderful it is. When I’ve brought up the price drop, they’ve claimed that they’ll just use the money to discount a new Mac system entirely.

He’s giving up the slimmest of profit margins, and leveraging people to jump further into the Apple product line. Even if you just buy some songs, a movie, and a couple of TV episodes from the iTMS, you’re now locked into the system, and for the low low price of his overhead and some lost margins, you’re now deep in Apple’s world.

Me, I’ll wait for the iPod Touch nano.

Over here in the UK I know a lot of people are looking at this whole storm in a teacup and thinking WTF?!?!? I know people who bought the N93 (my phone) on release day for £300 and I got it 5 days later for FREE as a Vodaphone High Value Customer (HVC). I’ve been offered the N95 for free too. Everyone knows that the price of the phone on opening day represents the demand rather than its true value. Throughout the hype in the US… constructive folk over here were wondering if and when T-mobile would be offering it for free (and with a Sony PSP thrown in). I think Steve Jobs blinked, he should have shrugged and let them eat cake. It is a really poor precedent to set for all technology companies everywhere.

This is why I stopped being an “early adopter” of anything a long time ago. “Early Adopter” is an industry phrase meaning “chump”. It’s a phone. People who stood in line any length of time and willingly shelled out $600+ did so for a phone. There was no sense of perspective then and there’s still no sense of perspective now. These people shouldn’t be upset with Apple, they should be upset at themselves for being such lemmings over….a phone.

Kevin Tofel’s comments on iPhone pricing made the Boston Globe’s weekly “Quotes of note” feature:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/08/quotes_of_note/
“I just felt so used as a consumer. They hyped up the iPhone for six months and built up our expectations, and then they grabbed our extra $200 and ran.”
KEVIN TOFEL, on Apple saying it will drop the price of the iPhone by $200.

Rhis certainly hit a chord.

I’m kind of jealous. I wish all the manufacture’s that I got in line for would do a rebate now. Even if it was instore then I could have more tech gadgets to play with and such….

We’ve all had buyers remorse from time to time and we’ve all had bragging rights from time to time, you take the good with the bad in the gadget worlds. I think the I-phone early owners got a sweet deal.

As always Jobs is out of the box thinking and inovations. I’m not an Apple fan and would personally love to see the I-phone bite the big one. but hey kudo’s where they are deserved, hell maybe I can drop an email to samsung and get a gadget rebate for my early purchase of my q1 that is seriously reduced by now… lol

Excerpts from an article published in January 07 !!!!! There are TONS more of these articles strewn about the internet/blog scene. Of particular interest is: “With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward,” While hindsight is 20/20, it seems that foresight was also 20/20, at least for those who chose to listen. The price drop is nothing surprising, it was forecast even before the iphone was released. You guys just didn’t pay attention.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2085669,00.asp

According to a preliminary bill-of-materials estimate by iSuppli, the $599 Apple iPhone could net Apple over a 50 percent gross margin, the analyst firm said on Jan. 18.

ADVERTISEMENT With the cost to manufacture an 8GB iPhone estimated to be about $280 in total expense, the remainder of the $599 total retail price is estimated to be pure profit1—which will flow back to Apple, as the company is forbidding carriers to subsidize or discount the phones.

Unlike other “teardown” services performed by iSuppli, the firm did not have an actual iPhone in hand to disassemble. The company said it was working off of its own component estimates, based on similar teardowns of competing phones, laptops and other devices.

Working models of the iPhone must also be submitted to the FCC for approval. However, a small number of working prototypes have already been distributed for hands-on previews, proving that the iPhone is nearing its final design.

High-profit products are no stranger at Apple, which has claimed margins of 45 percent on the iPod nano, said iSuppli analysts, who predicted that Apple will have to cut prices to keep up with the market. “With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward,” said Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst with iSuppli, in a statement.

I’m seeing the main argument from the whin… err the disgruntled early adopters is that Apple hyped their product so much “forcing” consumers to purchase it. This is WEAK on so many levels it’s not even funny.

First of all most if not all companies hype their product, this is an obvious fact of life and business. The marketing budget of a product is usually one of the highest costs. What about the hype for the video cards? What about the hype for Windows Vista? Hell, what about the hype for the ipods themselves? It is such a non argument.

As for the price drop, all I can say to you guys is DOH! There were articles out BEFORE the iphone was launched stating that the estimated cost to make was in the mid to low $200′s. It was clear that Apple was making $400 PROFIT off of every iphone, why didn’t you complain then? Was Apple ripping you? Yes. It is what makes Apple a genius and successful company. Marketing is all about deception and making you think you need something you don’t.

To even further illustrate the story of misplaced rage I think we need to fast forward a bit here. In an Apple induced fervent blindness the sheep ran over each other in a chance to purchase a shiny, yet strangely functionless device. With no 3G, no true smartphone capabilities, and a walled garden of applications the iphone was crippled out of the gate. What the price drop should be telling you guys is that Apple plans on releasing the TRUE iphone sometime in the very near future. Yeah, you should have listened to those who said they would wait for the iphone 2.0. I am confused as to why there was not more outrage at the paltry specs of the iphone. With the release of the ipod touch, don’t you see that’s all you got, just with a dialer slapped in?!?

So seriously, what is the argument here? That Apple marketed a product, you fell for the marketing, then their business plan dictated they drop the price by 1/3? Nothing has been done wrong here, or different than many other products. WHY IS APPLE HELD TO A DIFFERENT STANDARD THAN OTHER COMPANIES? Sorry for the caps, but it just isn’t sinking in to anyones Apple addled brain. It’s like Apple fanboism turned against it’s own company.

Bottom line, there just is NO legitimate reason to complain or be dissatisfied, even before Jobs gave his $100 credit, which I don’t think you guys even deserved. The time to be outraged was when the iphone was released. Outrage at the huge profit margin that was clearly published. Outrage at the substandard features which will be replaced with a better model soon.

Apple fanbois wake up…

Sorry.. I quoted Lloyd not JK.

“Yea, I guess I would of been pissed if I had stood in line all day and found out that sixty days later I could have got one cheaper and without the wait…good points made by all.”

Sorry JK I don’t understand your reasoning here. Technology is always getting cheaper and easier to acquire. It is just like the boys and girls patiently waiting for Dell to ship their back-ordered notebooks. If they just wait a couple of months to order they can get the same machine for less money and they don’t have to wait two months for it to ship.

I love your website and what you do for the community, but sometimes it seems that you really try to fan the flames. I don’t know if you do it for page hits or that you just see things from a different perspective. I have noticed you’ve been particularly transfixed on pointing out perceived issues with the iPhone. For a site that caters to those who place extreme value in mobility your coverage of the iPhone is lacking. If not for Kevin’s experiences with the device I would get the impression that it’s just a gimmick or fad. When in fact those of use who own or use the device know that it’s a game changer.