Comments on: Apple Salvages Reputation with iPhone Consolation

By: UK Accountant

UK Accountant — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:48:32 +0000

They had to strike an accounting balance.

By: Owen Cutajar

Owen Cutajar — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:17:56 +0000

@Joeychgo: I don’t agree that it was too fast. If Apple had been thinking about their loyal following, they probably would have announced the deal for existing customers when announcing the new pricing. It’s always a fine balance between being competitive and undercutting yourself …

By: Joeychgo

Joeychgo — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:41:47 +0000

Yes, as I said, this was inevitable, but I think, too fast. But they need to get phone owners quickly, because competition is also inevitable and people wont buy new phones just because a competitor came out with one.

By: Webmaster Money

Webmaster Money — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:48:10 +0000

They had to come to this at some point since there would be competition with better phones.

By: Andy Beal

Andy Beal — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:49:05 +0000

Thanks guys!

I agree that a price drop was inevitable. The severity of it is what likely annoyed those who bought first.

By: Mark Barrera

Mark Barrera — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:55:55 +0000

I think Apple’s quick response will be great for keeping their loyal customers happy. However, I think that it wasn’t necessarily needed. The people who purchased at $599 did so, because they wanted one and chose to pay at that price. It is just basic economics at work here, so I don’t see why they are so up in arms.

By: autospider

autospider — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:55:26 +0000

a bad news for Apple loyal lovers.

By: Eric Lander

Eric Lander — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:31:04 +0000

While commendable actions like these are a great way to boost consumer interest and loyalty — I think that they (Apple) have failed in one major way.

They’re still branding themselves as a computer company, and they’re simply consumer electronics. Aside from the random one percent of the population with a Mac — everyone and their dog has an iPod or two.

By: Will Critchlow

Will Critchlow — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:10:20 +0000

Strikes me that this is pretty effective reputation management. I think the long-term fallout of this will be small for exactly the reasons you list. Jobs handled this well, I think.

The biggest risk with this particular issue is that they were annoying their very best and most enthusiastic fans. For that same reason, however, I suspect those people won’t stay cross for long. Once you’ve drunk the kool-aid, you’re pretty much onboard, I think.

By: Owen Cutajar

Owen Cutajar — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:05:04 +0000

I think Apple’s move is excellent. It shows existing customers (who are really Apple’s life blood) that Apple still cares and ensures that the next time Apple comes up with a new innovative device, they won’t be apprehensive about jumping in.

By: Bushido

Bushido — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:08:33 +0000

I think that what Steve did is an example to all the companies out there. If they didn’t refund the customer’s cash, they see an impact on the next product’s deploy. Many would just wait a couple of months for a price drop and buy it then.

It appears they didn’t make the same mistake with the new iPod Touch.

By: William

William — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:12:22 +0000

Now iPhone will try high pressure of its iPod Touch brother. In this case reducing of price was unavoidable.

By: Mark from Just Accountants

Mark from Just Accountants — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:50:40 +0000

It seems to me this whole iPhone thing has been handled terribly from launch. Tying customers into AT&T was a bad move; the initial ridiculous launch price of the phone itself was a bad move; the sudden price reduction was a ….well, I’m sure you get the picture.

As for CPA Affiliates point: no 3G ? That’s madness…that means you won’t even be able to use the thing in most of the known world.

By: CPA Affiliates

CPA Affiliates — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:44:26 +0000

While that is nice of him to offer the 100.00 credit. Personally i think it is the price you pay for being an early adopter…. they didn’t have to pay the opening price.. While i see why they offered the credit, price reductions happen all the time to drive new customer base. To me good for the earlier adopters but i personally think Apple is giving money back when they didn’t need to. People should be CRYING about no 3G support (this kept me from even considering an Iphone)

By: Buy and sell

Buy and sell — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:45:32 +0000

Now i might even consider buying one. If you were to have a look at the new nokia (n95 it was?) that had better features for half the price… I guess at the end of the day its the matter of supply and demand.

By: Joeychgo

Joeychgo — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:11:59 +0000

I expected the proce to be reduced, but not so quickly or so dramatically. I imagine the reduction was always in the plan, but it left many iPhone customers feeling robbed, even with the $100 credit.

By: Michael Samuel

Michael Samuel — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:32:24 +0000

Yeah, it is very illogical of Apple to reduce the price after 2 months only! I don’t know the real reason behind this strange action..