Some random stories of why Apple is still great, and why the momentary questioning of said greatness I had yesterday was premature at best:
I had a friend bring his older iBook to me last week. The hard drive had died and I wasn’t able to recover it or any of the data. The machine was out of warranty, he told me, but I suggested he take it to the local Apple Store and get their opinion.
When he showed up the Genius recognized him from church and told him they’d take care of it. Turns out the machine was just a few weeks past its Apple Care coverage expiration, and the Genius was able to “work something out”.
A co-worker brought his iPod nano to me – it had a broken screen, and looked like it’d been sat on. The co-worker swore he didn’t drop it or sit on it, so I (again) suggested he take it to Apple.
He returned the next day with a smile on his face. Apple had replaced the nano, no questions asked.
Dave Shea, who lives in Vancouver, Canada, visited Seattle last week and bought an iPhone at a local Apple Store. Yesterday he was – ahem – surprised to find out the iPhone’s price had dropped. Since he was still within the 14 day period, he only needed to return and buy back the iPhone for a $200 credit … but he lives 4 hours away.
Today he Twittered: “Hi, Apple Store Seattle? Can’t make it back in, I can haz refund?” “Sure, over the phone we can get you back $200”. “Yay!”
So, now that we’ve got all that nasty “does Apple really care about us, or do they just want to make money?” garbage out of the way, let’s get back to those awesome product announcements from yesterday …
Apple - To all iPhone customers. Now this is what I expected from Apple/Steve … and only a day later! Here’s what I wanted to hear (emphasis mine):
[…] even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Think he read my blog post?~
Infatuation is a scary thing. It can drive passion, but it can also impair judgement. In the case of Apple, Inc., it’s clear they’ve become more infatuated with their products and business plan than with their users.
To be clear, I’m writing this in an admitted state of frustration and confusion at Apple’s recent decision to drop the price of the iPhone. It’s not the price-drop itself that I’m frustrated with, it’s the timing. It’s easy for some early adopters to justify the $200 premium we paid, most got theirs on day-one. For those of us who waited a month to six weeks to make the plunge, we just paid an extra 30% for 30 days of iPhone ownership.
If the AT&T rep had told me on July 30th – the day I got my iPhone – I could pay $399 on September 4th, or pay an extra $5.50 per day for the next 36 days to have it then, I wouldn’t have blinked before saying I’d wait. It’s not that I don’t think the iPhone is worth $599 (and thanks, John, for the reminder of how supply and demand works), it’s that Apple doesn’t think it is; they just told us so today.
So was the iPhone priced too high to begin with? Sure, maybe. But almost half a million people didn’t think so, and bought the thing despite having never used (or even touched) one. In doing so, those brave people validated all the hype that led up to the iPhone launch; which, ironically, has now enabled Apple to more aggressively price it.
What Apple should do is reward the early adopters. It wouldn’t take much; something as simple as an iPhone software update that includes the top 5 requests they’ve received. Heck, I would’ve even taken a shout out at the media event today. It would’ve been nice to hear: “Thank you, by the way, to those who purchased the iPhone prior to today. It’s because of you that we’re able to offer it to the rest of the world for this price.”
Who knows. Maybe Apple does have some plan to make it up to us. I hope they don’t think the ability to buy music over WiFi is it.
Update: A day later, and Steve’s made amends. Told you it wouldn’t take much.
Smashing 1st Anniversary Giveaway. Lots of great stuff to win here.
Foreshadowing.
Only three new iPods, iPhone ringtones, a wireless music store and a $200 iPhone price cut? You people call this news?
Pfft. Wait until tomorrow.
Here’s my draft results from last night. I play in an IDP league with two starting QB’s (read: deep), and had the third pick. I had a couple of really dumb selections, but overall I’m satisfied with my team – especially considering our league’s unique scoring and roster settings.
- Peyton Manning (3)
- Tony Romo (18)
- Laurence Maroney (23)
- TJ Housh (38)
- Marion Barber (43)
- Santonio Holmes (58)
- Alex Smith (63)
- DJ Hackett (78)
- Charles Woodson (83)
- Ray Lewis (98)
- Devin Hester (103)
- Adalius Thomas (118)
- Dre’ Bly (123)
- Michael Turner (138)
- Najeh Davenport (143)
- Isaac Bruce (158)
- DeAngelo Hall (163)
- Damon Huard (178)
- Heath Miller (183)
- Shaun Phillips (198)
- Bart Scott (203)
- Matt Stover (218)
My 8th round pick is obviously a reach, but I’ve got a good feeling about DJ this year. I also got a lot of flack for the Santonio Holmes and Charles Woodson picks. Whatever. All the guys had their noses in their dated fantasy magazines while I was busy looking up live and accurate-to-our-league stats on my laptop. One guy (and I won’t name names) even drafted Corey Dillon (retired), Jared Allen (suspended), and Darrent Williams (dead).
The pick I regret most is the 15th round, Najeh Davenport. In fact, I’ve already dropped him in favor of Antwaan Randle El.
And I know your asking yourself, “why’d he draft 4 QB’s?” Good question. Let’s just say, it was intentional.~
© 2012 Sean Sperte, please don't steal. More info.
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