More Apple pwnage

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Richelieu
And Iginla sucks.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
I think the price drop, which was meant to be dramatic, was very poorly thought through. Offering a $100 credit (vs. the $200 price drop) is a fairly lame way of admitting, "yeah, we screwed you over, but good."

And if Apple loses the goodwill of its early adopters, future product intros will be a tougher sell.

I was expecting the PR outrage when I was sitting with a mobile client here yesterday morning. The Steve Jobs response was rather amusing, but sad at the same time: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

I found it funny that he starts with 3.5 paragraphs of text trying to defend what's happened and then come to the point... Come to the point directly, *****... the people who sent the angry emails aren't interested in your motives!

[Tingkai]

The speed of Apple's response to the outrage suggests that they planned the $100 rebate in advance. I mean they must have known they would be pissing people off. Now, they can claim they're a caring company that responds to their loyal customers, yada, yada, yada.

As for the price cut itself, I don't think it is a result of low sales. If they wanted more sales, Apple could just start selling the iPhone in the rest of the world.

Besides, what's important is profit, not number of units sold.

So Apple probably looked at the initial sales info and decided they could make more money by dropping the price and selling high volumes at a lower profit rate, rather than selling low volumes at a high profit rate.

[Pekka]

Tingkai, I think the problem is, the problem is that they don't want to release it to the Euro or Asian markets just yet, because its' too late. Apple has been a traditional "Christmas" company, meaning it makes the big profits in that quarter, big on Christmas sales.

Of course with the iPod, it's been more steady, however, you wouldn't want to eat your Q4 with the release of iPhone, meaning that you could have a better Q2, Q3 before that and Q4 will be good anyway, so make a good result for the whole year. Now if you'd release it now in Europe and Asia, there's a big chance the iPhone will flop and get negative news. Better just do it in the beginning of the 2008, not risking the Christmas time plus hope for a good result so you can get the next year going on strong.

[Tingkai]

So you're saying they don't want to release the iPhone in Europe in time for the Christmas sales period?

Europeans don't exchange Christmas gifts?

[Pekka]

Maybe right before the Christmas, but not too early. For example not now. And no, they aren't bringing it to the Christmas sales either. It's going to be 2008.

[Tingkai]

But that's what I mean. If they just wanted sales numbers, they could introduce it in Europe now to get the surge of initial sales and then another increase from the Christmas sales season. Instead, they're sticking to their original plan for Europe.

I think they just misjudge the price level that would generate the optimum profit, which is not surprising given this was their first venture into cellphones and they had a revolutionary product.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by Tingkai
The speed of Apple's response to the outrage suggests that they planned the $100 rebate in advance. I mean they must have known they would be pissing people off. Now, they can claim they're a caring company that responds to their loyal customers, yada, yada, yada.

If this was planned in advance, then they should've been more pro-active in offering the coupon IMO. That would've prevented an outrage in the first place.

[Pekka]

Tingkai, yeah, pretty much what I think also. Classic Sony mistake .


What really happened with the whole price cut, who knows. It's way too early to cut the price even if it is inevitable, however, I think maybe they got pressure from some analysts saying that they really are slowing down and it'll affect their value soon unless they do something about it or something like that.

They must have been forced to do it now, because this is bad business, this reflects poorly on their image, the fact that they're sending $100 back, I mean ok, but this still reflects poorly on their image. It's not that they want to give money away...

Plus that's a million customers who are loyal Apple consumers with the kind of money that buys iPhone for that price even though it doesn't compare to competitors in its feats, so it's basically loyal Apple customers, I think they want to keep that customer base.

[Tingkai]

If you give someone an inch, they'll want a mile.

Give them nothing at first, and they'll be happy with an inch.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Tingkai
As for the price cut itself, I don't think it is a result of low sales.

Besides, what's important is profit, not number of units sold.

Woh. You make profit by selling things at higher prices. Why would they drop the price if the phones were selling.

So Apple probably looked at the initial sales info and decided they could make more money by dropping the price and selling high volumes at a lower profit rate, rather than selling low volumes at a high profit rate.

No. They want to maximize profit for the product not the time period. Dropping the price means when there are customer that will pay more they make less profit. They drop the price for the product after most every customer that will pay at the current price has already bought the product.

[Provost Harrison]

Paying over the odds for an inferior product sounds like manipulation by marketing. I find Apple absolutely insidious. None of their marketing has tried to extol the technical virtues of their equipment, just this wishy-washy notion of "coolness" and trying to implant their product in the middle of popular culture. I am not saying they are the only ones to practice this, but they are by far the worst. As I have said before, A triumph of style over substance.

They are the worst culprits for the very thing they accuse Microsoft of.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Zopperoni

I was expecting the PR outrage when I was sitting with a mobile client here yesterday morning. The Steve Jobs response was rather amusing, but sad at the same time: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

I found it funny that he starts with 3.5 paragraphs of text trying to defend what's happened and then come to the point... Come to the point directly, *****... the people who sent the angry emails aren't interested in your motives!

Another reason why I think that response might piss those who paid the higher price off more is that they paid the higher price to get a product that few people could really afford, and they really get ripped off here with the early price cut. Apple talking about how they are going to get a bunch more people to buy the product is only going to piss them off more. And he looks like an idiot. Well he is an idiot in a lot of ways.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Kidicious

Woh. You make profit by selling things at higher prices.

So Wal-mart doesn't make a profit?

Originally posted by Kidicious
Why would they drop the price if the phones were selling.

Which is better: Selling 100 phones at $300 profit for each, or selling 1,000 phones at a $100 profit for each?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Tingkai
So Wal-mart doesn't make a profit?

Wal-mart prices are only as cheap as they need to be. They won't make more profit by dropping their prices when people are buying at the current price.

Which is better: Selling 100 phones at $300 profit for each, or selling 1,000 phones at a $100 profit for each?

Both is better. First you sell the phones for $300 profit then you sell them for $100 profit after everyone has already paid the higher price. If you only sell the phones for $100 profit you make less profit.