I paid $600 for my iPhone. Am I a sucker?
My editors here at News.com have been poking fun at me for being the first reporter in the newsroom to buy an iPhone--and having no end of trouble getting AT&T to activate the blasted thing followed by paying one-third more than someone would if they went shopping today.
In fact, they thought it would be a hoot for me to write about the perils of early adoption. One editor gleefully told me a moment ago that he had bought a refurbished 8GB iPhone for $350 after today's price drop. Call it institutionalized schadenfreude, with a readbehind from the copy desk.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
So, sure, I'm not delighted about paying $600 for a phone that's being sold for $400 just over two months later. And, as much as I like my iPhone, I doubt that I got $200 worth over the value my old beater phone would have provided during that time.
I'm not alone. One iPhone-related blog said "it looks like Apple doesn't care about early adopters who just paid $600+ no more than 2 months ago." Another estimated, with depressing precision, that the iPhone Early Adopter Tax was $3 a day. Macenstein is "thoroughly pissed" and wants a $100 iTunes gift card (a perfectly reasonable thing for Apple to do, by the way, but more on this later).
Apple's forums are flooded with complaints and scattered reports that store credit or partial refunds are being granted. There's also talk of using a credit card company's price-protection guarantee to seek a refund of the difference, and price protection from Apple or AT&T if you bought it in the last few weeks.
But should people be all that peeved? Not really. It's no secret that computer prices tend to fall: The PlayStation 3 got $100 cheaper this summer, and the Motorola RAZR V3 was originally $500 with a service agreement. Now it's just $50. All of us iPhoniacs knew the price would fall by a third or so.
The only surprise was how soon. I had expected a revised iPhone in January (maybe with a video camera and 3G) to be accompanied by a price cut of around $200.
So am I truly harmed? Nope. I and my fellow early adopters obviously thought that the 8 GB iPhone was more valuable to us than $600 in the bank, or we wouldn't have coughed up the cash. I'd be facing that $200 loss if I wanted to sell my iPhone today, true, but I'm not planning on it. So it's more akin to an unrealized loss, and probably no harm at all if I sell it in a year; Apple merely made my iPhone worth a few hundred dollars less a few months earlier than I expected.
The real harm could be to Apple. Customer expectations are important. Apple adored the publicity that it received when announcing astonishingly high initial iPhone sales. If Apple customers come to expect price cuts after 60 days, early sales of the the Next Must Have Gadget will be anything but stellar.
If Apple needed to reduce the price because of market pressure or to meet its sales goals, that's perfectly understandable, of course. But the reason it should show flexibility in terms of rebates or gift certificates is not simply my unrealized, earlier-than-expected loss: it's to preserve Apple's own bottom line in the future.
Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan. 
Apple is most likely already blowing out this current phone, with a new one coming down the pipe, even if they are not admitting to it...
Many people said they plan to wait till the second gen iPhone, so they can get it at a lower price, and have 3G support, as well as extra little features. I plan to wait till the second gen iPhone. But when it does come out, I'll definitely have my money waiting in my pocket!
I think what this does (at least in my mind) is "cheapen" Apple's image....that the product price was so over-inflated that it makes ppl think twice before buying.
While I do not own an iPhone and planned on doing so next year, I will not buy one now.
THAT, my friend, would make you a sucker.
Today's new top of the line whatever is tomorrow's paperweight. That's the way it's always been. That's the way it always will be.
If you've got an iPhone, enjoy it.
should be a lot of cheap iPhones flooding eBay.
Which is good, because I have many friends who want one but
couldn't afford the old (or even new) RRP.
They'll buy the eBay iPhones, love them, and Apple will have a
whole new batch of fans!
being the first reporter in the newsroom to buy an iPhone--and
having no end of trouble getting AT&T to activate the blasted
thing followed by paying one-third more than someone would if
they went shopping today."
Actually you are paying one-half more than someone would
today.
they, however, are paying one-third less than you did.
400 to 600 -- difference 200 -- one-half more than 400
600 to 400 -- difference 200 -- one third less than 600
Apple listened and gave you the iPodTouch. Basically a 8GB and 16GB iPod Nano with the touch screen technology. Charging $100 more for the touch screen is reasonable. Charging $100 more for 8GB more of storage is also reasonable. But at that price the 16GB iPodTouch would destroy the iPhone market. To keep things competitive they had no choice but to drop the price to $399, else there was no incentive to buy the iPhone.
I think that we will see a 16GB iPhone for around $499 + 3G network integration within the next 6 months.
So now the same iPhone deal is $1840. Not too much different. Get it?
So you're not a sucker. You just need help managing your expenses.
Used it for a month as a super-iPod, then when an unlock
solution became available, have used it as a fully functioning
iPhone ever since (minus visual voicemail).
Amount paid to Apple: $599
Amount paid to state: $53
Amount paid to AT&T: $0
I used it on my regular carrier, so I paid the same as my previous
phone (a WM5 based device), so it doesn't make sense to add
that cost to the iPhone.
Hint: I'm not in the US.
wireless phone requires a plan from somewhere. And people
buying iphones are probably looking for web and email access.
We switched to AT&T from Verizon and got two iphones with
unlimited web and email for $10.00 a month less than we were
paying for one crappy Palm Treo with email and web access I
never used, and one crappy Motorola Razr with no web, email or
sms plan. So by your stupid reasoning our iphones were less
than 600.00 They were only 480 bucks.
If you are going to talk about iphone in terms of its two year
service price, you have to talk about every phone in terms of two
year service price. This argument is FUD.
then my Treo actually cost me more money than my iPhone. My
phone/data charges are cheaper now than before.
I paid $800 for this DVD player and now they cost $50 " because
prices drop. I'll grant you that they normally don't drop this quick,
but whatever. I paid large for my BB Pearl and not to long after that
my buddy got his for free when he switched to TMO. Was I upset ..
nope .. things happen.
I'm not a sucker, just a trusting consumer who has been duped.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/storecredit/
The pricing scheme was a marketing stunt that blew back in their faces. I know as well as anyone that technology costs go down. 6 months or more is reasonable. A one third price cut in 2 months reeks.
So you put that up at $299 and then try and charge $300 more (PLUS AT&T service) for the additional iPhone functionality?
It doesn't compute.
There was no other option, aside from delaying the Touch just so that early adopters would feel a bit better about themselves, and that's hardly good business strategy.
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
anything like this? Guess not.
OF US KNEW THAT THIS WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN SOONER OR
LATER. THATS THE WAY TECHNOLOGY IS. YOU BUY SOMETHING
TODAY AND TOMORROW IT IS OUTDATED. YET ALL OF US WERE
BRAVE ENOUGH TO GO OUT AND GET ONE, KNOWING THAT IT
WOULD BE OUTDATED AND KNOWING THAT WE WOULD FACE
THE BUGS. THATS LOYALTY. AND TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT
LAUGHED AND MADE FUN OF US REMEMBER THIS... THE ONLY
REAON THAT YOUR PHONE IS SO GOOD NOW IS BECAUSE WE
WERE THE ONES THAT HAD TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS WRONG.
WITHOUT US, APPLE WOULDNT KNOW HOW TO MAKE YOUR
IPHONE BETTER. YOUR WELCOME.
Second point - Don't be so smug. I'm sorry you are upset that you got ripped for $200 and can't admit it without getting defensive and claiming that you are the reason that the product is good now. Posts like this are the reason that a lot of people shy away from Mac - they are afraid they will turn into the same arrogant jerks that Apple has apparently turned other users into.
Third - If Apple would beta test their products, like other companies do, instead of being so paranoid about "leaks" then all of the bugs would have been taken care of before it went to market. Defending this action and even applauding and condoning it shows how delusional you are. Companies like Motorola, Samsung, BB, MS, etc all beta test, so that when they are ready to sell their product, it is (for the most part) ready to sell.
Maybe, on second thought, you should pat yourself on the back for being one of the "brave few" to take it upon youself to pay $600 for a beta product. No one else pays for betas. That must make you special. Or gullible. Either way, Apple is very happy with you for putting money in their pockets while de-bugging their product. Saved them loads, made them more.
Funny how they are viewed as the "friendlier" company. Seems to me like all they are really good at is taking advantage of people who are too concerned with style to consider any other factor of a major purchase. I guess they really figured out their market - the naive, easy-to-dupe, more-money-than-brains masses (well, 5% of the masses at least...).
- You are NOT a sucker!
- by abe517 September 24, 2007 7:51 AM PDT
- I completely agree with you! Nobody forced you to pay the $600 initial price, and yes we all know that electronic gadgets drop price very fast; we just didn't expect it to be this fast. "You get what you paid for", you paid for an 8gb Iphone and thats what you got. Do you regret you have bought it? Do you hate your iphone? I am planning to buy one myself this christmas. Though, my question is: should I wait for the next generation? And I am very aware that if I do so, the iphone that I get will drop its price soon, but I don't think I really care. I know that i will be very content with my purschase, cause I will be getting what I paid for!
- Reply to this comment
-
(29 Comments)