Saturday
Sep082007
The $100 Credit
Saturday, September 8, 2007 at 9:24AM
My take...
It wasn't planned in advance as some people think.
The original price was pitched high to match the incredible demand for the launch of the iPhone.
They got the initial price spot on as can be seen by the balance of the initial limited supply meeting the demand in the first few weeks. Had they priced the iPhone too low, demand would have outstripped demand several times over causing lots of negative vibes and disgruntled customers.
Now the supply channels are in full production and they can reset the price to the intended mark price plus, they needed to reprice the iPhone to fit into the new line up plus make some room for the 16GB iPhone.
The problem was the speed at which the price dropped (and the amount not so much).
It left the faithful feeling cheated not so much that they'd lost the money, but the fact that it made them look slightly foolish for standing in line for so long and being an earlier adopter - more about loosing face than loosing money.
So the backlash from the early adopters which took away completely the buzz surrounding the launch of the new nano and more critically the iPhone touch. What should have been the second largest product announcement this year for Apple (and one that might even be more significant than the iPhone) was completely overshadowed by the fury of the $200 dollar price drop.
Apple needed to act and act quickly to get the focus back onto the revised iPod line and the iPod Touch. They also needed to smooth the waters with the early adopters and repair the damage for future product launches to make sure that early sales of new products are not damaged by the perceived unfairness.
So the $100 credit was mooted and the open letter drafted.
Apple smoothed the waters, are precieved as a "listening" company and entice the early adopters back into the store.
All's well again!
So now we can get back to trying to decide between the iPhone and the iPod touch.
Just do me a favour Apple, launch the iPhone in the UK sometime soon!
It wasn't planned in advance as some people think.
The original price was pitched high to match the incredible demand for the launch of the iPhone.
They got the initial price spot on as can be seen by the balance of the initial limited supply meeting the demand in the first few weeks. Had they priced the iPhone too low, demand would have outstripped demand several times over causing lots of negative vibes and disgruntled customers.
Now the supply channels are in full production and they can reset the price to the intended mark price plus, they needed to reprice the iPhone to fit into the new line up plus make some room for the 16GB iPhone.
The problem was the speed at which the price dropped (and the amount not so much).
It left the faithful feeling cheated not so much that they'd lost the money, but the fact that it made them look slightly foolish for standing in line for so long and being an earlier adopter - more about loosing face than loosing money.
So the backlash from the early adopters which took away completely the buzz surrounding the launch of the new nano and more critically the iPhone touch. What should have been the second largest product announcement this year for Apple (and one that might even be more significant than the iPhone) was completely overshadowed by the fury of the $200 dollar price drop.
Apple needed to act and act quickly to get the focus back onto the revised iPod line and the iPod Touch. They also needed to smooth the waters with the early adopters and repair the damage for future product launches to make sure that early sales of new products are not damaged by the perceived unfairness.
So the $100 credit was mooted and the open letter drafted.
Apple smoothed the waters, are precieved as a "listening" company and entice the early adopters back into the store.
All's well again!
So now we can get back to trying to decide between the iPhone and the iPod touch.
Just do me a favour Apple, launch the iPhone in the UK sometime soon!
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Apple, Hardware, iPhone
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