Apple Refunds $100 To Angry iPhone Customers September 8, 2007
Read more Apple , Gizmodo UK , Mobile phones , Smartphones , iPhone
Sony, take note. Steve Jobs has apologised for the big price cut of $200 on its iPhone, just two months after it launched. The original fanboys are understandably upset that they had to fork out top dollar for the device. Still, unlike other corporate apologies, Jobs has said he’ll give them back $100 in credit to help unruffle their feathers. Considering how it's selling like hot cakes, what's $100? In his now common open letters, Jobs wrote:
“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. 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.”
So, those customers that got one early from Apple or AT&T will get a $100 store credit at Apple’s retail or online stores. Details are being worked out but information will be posted online soon.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Shows how much profit they are making on each unit/ripping people off if they can afford a $200 price drop and a $100 'calm down' bung to previous customers...
"After reading every one of these emails"
Sure. Whatever you say.
I don't think many iPhone users were "angry", but yes they wanted some kind of compensation and they got it. Only the 8GB buyers had the $200 drop, the 4GB buyers (about 40%) got $100 back, so they got it for $399 anyway. It's wonderful device, I've purchase 12 so far for family and friends.
Glad Apple is now going to get them into even more peoples hands, now that more can afford this amazing device.
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""After reading every one of these emails""
yes, Steve read every email, that's partly why Apple's products are so well tuned to customer's needs. And customers love Apple products since they are one of the few big companies that acts like a small company, always listening, always doing what is best for the customer.
Kinda cool!
Thanks for the $100! I'm going to buy one of the new iPod nanos with this :)
Actually, they refunded $100 to all iPhone customers, not just the angry ones.
Actually, what's nice is that they didn't offer the $100 just to the angry iPhone customers. They offered it to all of us, angry or not. Most of us were grownups and understood that there are risks in being a first-adopter, and that this is one of them. Furthermore, it's one of the most benign of the first-adopter risks, if you pause to think about it.
Frankly, I was a LOT more relieved that it was only a price drop and not a new iPhone with 20 times the capacity. That might have hurt :-)
Nobody was forced to buy an iPhone. Every single person who dropped the $599 did so because they thought it was worth it at the time. And there will probably be people running around who didn't quite think it was worth $599 but do think it's worth $399. (There are also people who DID think it was worth $599 but didn't have the $599, because honestly no, that's not monopoly money we're playing with; it's a buncha cash). The people who will now get the iPhone at $399? I do NOT begrudge them their savings. To them, I say, welcome. Enjoy your iPhone. It's a lot of fun.
Think of it this way: what if Jobs had said "The iPhone will go on sale in September in a big way. However, if you want to pay $200 extra, you can get it a couple of months early." How many people would have dropped that $200? I don't know, but it would have been a lot of people. And I would have been one of them. And now, having had an iPhone for a couple of months, I can truthfully say I'd have had no regrets. It's really one helluva device.
And for the people who really were running around having tantrums about the $200 price drop: grow up, people. This is exactly how the tech world works: whatever you buy today is obsolete tomorrow. And it's just money anyhow. It's not the end of the world. Get some priorities.
Oddly enough the only ones "having tantrums" seem to be people that don't have iPhones.
I've read several forums over the last few days, and it appears the "angry" people are the ones that have been indirectly affected by the $399 price.
Not the "owners" of current iPhones mind you, but the ones that are hurt by Apple so aggressively coming onto their turf.
This action wipes out Nokia (on the high end), Blackberry, Symbian in one fell swoop, and yeah, I'd be mad too if I now were stuck with one of those phones and not an iPhone at $399.
Nobody at this point can compete against the iPhone, anyone that has used one for several hours knows that. So what I think we are seeing are all "the detractors" all upset... not the iPhone user population in general.
Interesting...
if they are "selling like hotcakes", why drop price by a third?
to pre-empt ur answer/question-whines, iLemmings, if Steven Godds is so infallible, why not start straight with the new price-point in June? What's $150m? (750kx$200)
Well they have eggs on their apple-face now and all the Apple-doministas now will think twice when supporting their cult with their top dollar.
"if they are "selling like hotcakes", why drop price by a third?
to pre-empt ur answer/question-whines, iLemmings, if Steven Godds is so infallible, why not start straight with the new price-point in June? What's $150m? (750kx$200)
Well they have eggs on their apple-face now and all the Apple-doministas now will think twice when supporting their cult with their top dollar."
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Grow up, dork.
jss, tks that was a very clever response, complete with supporting facts and arguments.
oh and by the way, I am older than you, so no "growing up" will cure me.
I want a 100 USD refund for the PC I bought last year, it's much cheaper now!!!
O Rly?
I have to tell you (all the bitching people out there that bought the Iphone early) that you have nothing to bitch about you wanted it for a price and you where happy to get it for that! its NEVER an advantage to buy technology when its first released, (barring bragging rights) yet your lust for technology has led you to buy early (somthing that I personly NEVER do) so get over it!
I understand the pricing curve for products but I still think they should have planned the initial pricing a bit more carefully. You can't just start to dump the price points in order to rush to the next stage.
wow im glad i didnt buy a iphone lol