You know the saying… the higher you go the bigger the fall…well Apple is living with that scenario right now.
From when the iPhone ‘roadshow’ started rolling in January with Jobs announcing the product at the Comdex exhibition in Las Vegas, and the subsequent six months as the company built up to launch day, the iPhone was the perfect product pitched into a hugely competitive market and coming out on top.
Americans love Apple and if the company was releasing a phone then the faithful were there to buy it. Apple’s hardcore turned up in those first few days in droves when it was launched in the US, to make for great media visuals of crowds of people lining up to buy their own iPhone.
The "be cool, be hip, impress my friends; let’s have an iPhone popping out of my pocket" factor must have motivated more than a few buyers. A lot of people did want to be the first person on their block to have an iPhone.
Three months later to show its appreciation to all those hardcore Apple users, the company turns around and makes them look quite foolish by lowering the phone’s price by a third
From being cool and hip iPhone users now look like mugs who ponied up US$200 too much to Apple for not a lot.
I’d say right now in the US being cool and hip is not owning an iPhone. ”You didn’t rush out and buy one? That was a smart move!"
How did Apple screw it up so bad? The price drop certainly indicates an out-of-touch-from-reality marketing department. Now everyone important at Apple would have got free iPhones and the executives clearly did not take on board that real people, i.e. not Apple executives, actually had to pay for the phones.
Moreover, it would seem, highly-paid Apple marketing people are so out of touch they must have thought $200 was such a piffling amount why would anyone care.
Well, that reality check came through loud and clear to Apple within minutes of the $200 price drop announcement. It arrived via the internet’s message boards lighting up with iPhone owners who didn’t regard $200 as a trifling sum.
Apple is backtracking with its $100 rebate. But, really, that only halves the pain for iPhone owners.
It’s too little to late; the damage is done. The company has insulted its core audience and forever tainted itself with this maxim; ”Don’t buy that new Apple product now. Wait for the price drop in three months.„
Silly, silly Apple and silly, silly Steve Jobs. That price drop will have severe, long-term ramifications for the company whenever it is releasing new products.
And the score is:
Apple 0, All other cellphone companies 1.
(Referee’s report: Own goal by Apple.)
Heh. Own goal? You clearly don't understand either the market or human nature. People are happy to be part of the revolution, to own what has become known as the "Jesus phone", regardless of price.
Peace out.
Rodney's Reply: Steve, human nature had all those people complaining about the price drop. Technology-driven price reductions are standard in IT, cellphones and gaming. You were just too quick with yours on the iPhone. November would have been a better bet.
Posted by: steve jobs | September 18, 2007 3:45 PM