Apple lobs $100 credit at iPhone buyers

Can't win

They can't win with you can they?

Problem - iPhone too expensive.

Solution - Price is droped.

Problem - Apple are ripping off the early adopters

Solution - They offer a refund of $100 to anyone who wants it..

Problem - This money they arn't obligated to give, and for all you know were going to give anyway isn't enough...

What about other sudden price drops? Were they a full refund of the price difference? I'm willing to be not..

The price drop on the Xbox springs to mind, once the price dropped their were two free games given to anyone who wanted them - Since I was far from an early adopter on the Xbox I wasn't paying attention to this, but were those two games instantly given to members of the public after the drop - was the public instantly told of these two games when the price dropped? Was the price of the two games equal to the difference in the price??

I'm honestly curios, since as I said I wasn't around.. I have a feeling that the answer to all my questions may be no though..

Sounds perfectly fair to me

Those who bought earlier got the value of having the cool iPhone early. That's what they wanted.

Giving them back all $200 would be to devalue that benefit. Giving back $100 in Apple merchandise is an excellent compromise. And those who bought at full price in the last two weeks didn't get that benefit, so they get a full rebate.

Can't be fairer than that.

I'm pleased.

After a decade and a half of supporting and building various favors of Windows boxes, I went to Mac last December, I enjoy the reliability, and the quality , and until now I hadn't minded the price. "much" I'm not the picture of the average Apple "kool-aid drinker" I didn't go for shiny, and I don't care about trendy. It simply fits my needs.

But the $200 snub was infuriating. I expected a new iPhone in a year or so with twice the features and half the cost. "All iPod owners are used to that one" But TWO months? And I don't believe for a moment it was not planned. I was wishing for the first time I had stayed with Linux.

I like my iPhone and it does everything I need it to and does it well, but now that I'm on a more fixed income $200 is no longer an "oh well" for me. I like Apple, I like the product, I like the fact I get my technical support from the US, not from Bangalore, "thank you Dell for putting me off PC laptops"

If they had not made some real effort to make up for this, it would have been my LAST New Mac as well as my first, But the $100 gift card will do nicely in paying for my copy of Leopard next month. $200 cash would have been perfect, but buying me my OS upgrade, I can live with that.

Lastly I'm glad we have finally showed Steve that although an extra $200 may be nothing to him, to some of us, it means a great deal.

Stuffed apple?

You can find a recipe here

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/dessert/stuffed_baked_apple_recipe.html

I wonder what it feels like to be a lemming?

You said: "Much to our surprise..."

Keep in mind, these are Americans, NOT British sheep who buy what they are told and then whimper silently when screwed.

Americans complain and sue at the drop of a hat.

Brits take their punishment and just buy what they're told, usually at near-double what Americans pay.

What's up with that, then?

Cade:

I don't even know what to say. I think you'll be embarrassed when you read that post tomorrow. Put it this way: it's not the most rational rant I've ever read.

I'm sure every iPhone owner in America is currently slitting his/her wrists over the fact that they're getting $100 to spend, when they didn't think they'd get anything at all.

Colossally smug wankers

El Reg used to be somewhere to get down-to-earth, irreverent but informed comment and news. Recently it seems to have been overrun by retarded children with terminal penis envy, and a propensity to throw a hissy fit every time some company fails to blow the requisite amount of smoke up their collective arses.

If some fuckwit thinks that his iPhone wasn't worth $600 then he shouldn't have bought it, simple as that.

Conversely, if someone felt that it was reasonable to pay a premium to get onboard early, it's absolutely none of your business, and your fat-arse ego should go and spend some time on the naughty step until it learns the true nature of its own irrelevance.

Grow up, you twats.

BET

If you buy BET (Bleeding Edge Technology) you know that the price of your toy will be slashed within a few months.

If your ego does not depend on the latest gadget you would wait for the price cut that is always going to happen soon after launch or even better wait for the second generation.

It is because of those "early adopters" that companies get away with delivering crappy products.

Great news

I bought the phone for my wife a couple of weeks after launch. It made sense as she has little fingers, is not really a power user and everything else she runs is apple.

Now, after much beard scratching, we think that she left it on top of the car and drove off on day 3 but we can't be certain.

I have been told by Cingular, now the new AT&T (or was it AT&T formerly Cingular, I don't care!?) that I'd need to pay either $175 to cancel her new 2 year contract or I'd need to buy iPhone. The later seemed like a lot of good money after alot of bad until today.

I was perhaps the only new iPhone buyer that was happy to hear about the price reduction as now for $400 I just might buy her another one to sacrifice. And the news of a rebate is now reducing the cost of the loss to $300! Credit to Apple for being big (rich?) enough to back down.

One moan though - given my wifes propensity to generally dispose of things of value, I did ask if I could buy insurance when I bought the phone but alas they don't offer this at the Apple store and AT&T don't either!

Me, I'll be upgrading my HTC TYTN for the new TYTN II at the first available opportunity: 3.5G, nice big keyboard, loads of short cut buttons, connects to my slingbox, nice opera browser, shoots video through a superior lens - are you listening in Cupertino? You should add a keyboard and stop listening to that one fingered mouse inventor...

Apple has the worst whores...

So the Macolytes got shafted like the good little numpties that they are, and what? We're *not* supposed to laugh?

The iPhone was always a tool for Macolytes and people with more cash then sense, so suck it up!

default

What Ian Davies said.

I've enjoyed this site over the years but you're losing the plot. sort it out.

so...

Instead of fully shafting early buyers, it only shafts them half-way ... with $100 credits for ... apple store stuff.

If they're screwing them up like that, why not give them back $200 in credits? Its toy money anyway!!!

So even Apple fanbois do get mad at Apple for getting shafted. Wake-up call, anyone?

Love,

Dax

Stupid Apple

Don't get me wrong - I'm not a fan of Apple but I think Apple did great things with the iPod in terms of "the right product at the right time". But when it comes to the iPhone, they just keep on piling up the mistakes.

Not only is the iPhone nothing new (my old phone and my current one both do what the iPhone supposedly does and more), not only is it expensive, but now Apple has kicked the "early adopters" in the teeth.

As an IT geek, I am used to seeing parts and gadgets drop in price - but they generally do it a 6, 12 and 18 months, after that they're obsolete so who cares about the price ^_^ . This is an average, but is as good a rule of thumbs as Moore's Law. (another good rule of thumb here in Australia seems to be that a great computer will cost you AU$5000* all inclusive, a good computer will cost you AU$3000 and an average one about AU$1800 regardless of when you look. There's cheaper, but they're the mom-and-pop computers)

For Apple to lower the price after TWO months is ridiculous. That's not enough time to ramp up or streamline production, so the only reason seems to be (to me at least) that the iPhone is not selling as well as they'd hope so they're making it more attractive by lowering the price.

As I said, this is how it appears *to me*. YMMV and probably will.

* in UK money, that'd be about 2100, 1250 and 750 respectively. US money would make it 4000, 2400 and 1450 at this morning's rates.

If Cade Metz writes more articles

.. I think I'll totally keep the Reg.

I just hipe he is not older than 16 ... What an A!!

Rebate

That's not really the full story. I don't particularly like Apple, but in this case I think they might have done the right thing.

The $100 in store credit only applies to phones older than 10 days if bought online or older than 14 days if bought retail. Everyone that bought an iPhone earlier than those time frames are going to be offered a $200 rebate.

Those whose phones are in the box unopened can get a full refund if returned within the same 10 days if bought online or within 14 days to retail outlets. This seems a somewhat unlikely scenario though, because besides the unlikelihood that someone would leave their $600 phone in the box unopened for a week or two, surely they need to be opened to install and activate the simm, in the store itself? If not, how do Apple and AT&T protect themselves against theft?

So it seems Apple have offered 3 options. If your phone is older than 2 weeks, you get $100 credit. If your phone is out of the box, but newer than a couple weeks, you get $200 back, and if it's still in the box (unopened), you can ask for a full refund.

As much as I hate to say this, that seems pretty fair to me.

full disclosure :- my normal opinion of Apple is they're no better than the likes of IBM, Intel or Microsoft. I'm not suggesting their products are bad, it's their attitude towards their customers that usually makes me steer well clear of anything they sell.

Screw Whinny iPhone Owners

You know what, most Apple customers are whinny bitches. If any other phone company or provider did this nobody would get a dime, other than the return policy. Why should Apple owe you anything. I commend Apple and Steve Jobs for even offering the store credit, that didn't have to do anything for you. You got exactly what you paid for, and iPhone at market price on that day. Nowhere does Apple or AT&T have a 30 Day price guarantee, if you want that, hit up Best Buy or another high volume retailer.

And yes, I own plenty of Apple gear. Probably way more than most of you, so stick it.

People can't accept any responsibility for their decisions...

Since when is it unacceptable to lower the price of a product? Those who bought ridiculouslyl expensive cell phones have only themselves to blame.

http://www.smargue.com/smargument.jsp?id=2f0e4af2a9a0492db1a96eb0ccb4e7bc

@Ian Davies:

What a fantastic title to your post.

I wholeheartedly agree: and I am not directing this post towards Cade, but to the Master Vultures, whoever they may be.

The strong criticism that is becoming ever more apparent in comment threads really ought to concern you. The sensible reaction is not, "Good, we're generating controversy, we must be doing something right!" - because it's not controversy; it's genuine revulsion. A better reaction would be, "My God, long time readers are starting to hate us! What's going wrong?"

The rest of the internet takes the piss out of you guys, and it's painful. They used to take the mick because *you* took the mick, and that was great - they were the good days. The days that gave birth to BOFH, and black helicopters, and that fantastic JOKE gif... I was even sad enough to own one of your t-shirts and wear it with pride! Now, you're just bad journalists, and the contempt in the rest of the media feels too right on occasion. I'm sorry. I keep hoping I'll wake up, and everything will be ok again.

Not an apple fan but really...

Anyone bought a PC video card lately? New releases every 6 months and obsolescence within 18months...

So next time you get a credit note from nvidia or ATI/AMD... oh wait, other hardware manufacturers don't give early adopters credit, they just profit from them.

It's called the technology market and it's been this way for many years now. As for iPhone users - if people want to waste their money on a fairly dubious image (ie, this person thinks they are cool, but are actually quite ignorant) then that's their choice :-)

Re: Not an apple fan but really...

You beat me to the punch..

Although I would say new video cards every 3 months and obsolete within 12 months.

iPhone early adopters, you got to walk around smugly and look uber-kewl for TWO WHOLE MONTHS in front of the great unwashed masses.. surely that's worth a couple of hundred bucks (less with rebate, kinda). A movie every day at, I'll say US$10, would've been over $600 and that's only 2 hours a day of entertainment whereas I'm sure you were all ogling your 'toy' 24/7.

Also we Aussies are 'unlucky' enough to not be getting it until next year? I guess we won't be stung in the same way :-) Not that I'll be getting one.

@Dana W:

You 'went Mac' and 'wished you'd stayed with Linux'?

Relevance?

You bought a phone.. you didn't marry Jobs.

I'm tired of this double standard.

"Anyone bought a PC video card lately? New releases every 6 months and obsolescence within 18months..."

Apples and oranges. No pun intended.

If it had been a newer, improved iPhone, I'd have understood, if it had even been six months, I'd have understood.

It was not obsoleted, it was not an improved version, it was not a DIFFERENT PRODUCT, it was exactly the same. it had not even been selling long enough to claim production price breaks. Simply put, most regular purchasers expected Apple to do what it always does, lower the price and improve the product in eight months to a year.

What they did is milk the fashion chumps, AND the people who really believe in Apple. Two different but distinct groups, both represented in this early adoption.

All I hear here is how Apple users are chumps and blind sheep who will buy anything Steve boy sells, no matter how badly priced the product nor how badly we are used. BUT when we actually stand up to him, enough of us to get Mr.Ego to actually APOLOGIZE and make up for his blatant gouging attempt you call us whiners and tell us to shut up!

You can't have it both ways. If we sit down and take it, you brand us sheep, if we stand up and complain you call us crybabies. Make up your goddam minds and get back to us ok?

Admit it you just hate Apple and no mater what we do you will piss and whine about it. You have to justify your faith in Microsoft's deformed child Vista any way you can. Let's see the millions of Vista users get anything back from their hopelessly broken $400 OS. Going to get any refund from Steve Ballmer? Not likely. An admission of any wrongdoing? Not a chance.

I think this is the proof that Apple users are not all sheep, some of us are RAMS and we are getting angry enough not to be sheared. Funny part is 10 months ago I sounded just like you.

Brilliant

Apple is doing it's best to prove how suckers buy it's products

and feel greatful for more it's not so much infuriating as it is validation of complete contempt most corporations

hold their customers nothing really new or unusual here.

Re: Ian Davies

ha ha, well said Ian Davies....and nice to see someone tell it how it is :D

couldn't give a toss...

yawn

next story please

wheres the bofh?

Regarding the anon "Great news" post

The phone may be covered on your household insurance. My wife put her brand new unlocked (sim free) Sony ericsson T610 in the washing machine... it was never quite the same again. It was a very sad day - she loved that thing so much, it was all pink and shiny. Fortunitely it was covered by the household insurance. Price of a new one divvied up no problems. Because yours was on a network contract it may be different, but before you drop 299 of your own money on a new iphone, make sure you arent due a cheque for 399!!!

Also, never buy network operators' insurance anyway. It is way overpriced - you'll find yourself having paid the replacement cost of the phone within 15 months or so, taking falling phone prices into account. Also they are notorious for not paying out - they have soooo many loopholes - at least in this part of the world anyway, the states might be different but I doubt it.

@iksteh

>if people want to waste their money on a fairly dubious image (ie, this person thinks they are cool, but are actually quite ignorant) then that's their choice :-)

Are you really so invested in your cynical anti-establishment, sudo-socialist myopathy that you will accuse people of ignorance for buying something with their own money because they like it? You dont like iPhones? Fine, I'm sure you have your reasons. Don't buy one. Insulting people that do buy them is only a testament to your own insecurities. Did you post that because you though it would make you sound cool? That's really quite sad indeed. Sad and what's the other word I was looking for? Oh yeah: Ignorant!

Agreed, Mr Brooke

BofH brightens up every IT Professional's day (Not that i'm at all professional).

As for the iPhone story, I stand by my comment the last time around. Fair play to Jobs for giving the unwashed-but-expensively-beperfumed masses the unconditional shaft and getting rich from it. Boo sucks to him for trying to cover it up with a poxy gift token.

Can you think of one, ONE apple product not made outdated by owning an iPhone that costs less than $100? Will you have to spend more money in store when you use this token?

Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all...

Okay

As an entirely disinterested neutral, this seems fair enough to me. Move along now, nothing to see here.

Re: Dana W

See you started off so well and then descended into pointless willy-waving about Vista. As any self-respecting geek knows, Vista is the deformed bastard-child from the unholy union of Beelzebub and Microsoft, allegedly (and i say again ALLEGEDLY so back off you jack-booted attack lawyers!) :)

Ahem... as i was saying, any self-respecting geek wouldn't touch Vista with a barge-pole for at least 2 years, seeing as XP, for all its flaws, does everything Vista does, just a lot quicker and less buggy. And without a plethora of pointless cpu-sucking graphical widgets. Or broken file-copying system.

IMHO the iPhone is a case of pure and simple greed and profiteering, off the back of Apple devotees and fashionistas. You all got taken for a ride and quite rightly should be pissed. Any product that can have 33% sliced off the retail cost after merely 68 days means it was never worth that price in the first place.

Exactly. Could give even less of a toss.

I agree with the sentiment of Ian Davies - the quality of the reporting at the Reg is noticeably in decline and has been for months. I have no idea what the editors (if there are such people) are up to but it's really depressing that their policy seems to be so lax.

It's actually indicative of the whole industry. It's getting so boring. Doesn't matter which company or product is being discussed but it's the same. You've got the lovers, the haters and the trolls. It's the same at ThinkSecret, at Slashdot, at ... I want to know what caused so many people to get so wound up by issues that rarely affect them. I've no idea why the comments here are moderated, because it seems like any old crap gets through, so instead of the comment system being used by people to actually further the discussion of the original article, it invariably gets filled up with shite.

Case in point - Apple released an iPhone and some people bought it, then they dropped the price. That's what happened. Why are there so many morons who care so much? Haven't you got anything better to do with your time?

I've been reading The Reg for almost 7 years or so and it pains me to say this, but someone needs to start doing some serious editing of its stories and its comments. Otherwise, the only reason to visit will be on a Friday afternoon for the BOFH.

Pilfered?

"But couldn't he pony up a store credit for at least $200? That's how much the company pilfered from all those gullible souls over the past month and change."

Pilfer:

v.tr. To steal (a small amount or item).

v.intr. To steal or filch.

So Apple actually *stole money* from early iPhone buyers? Seems to me they'd be after more than a store credit if that was the case. How about a class action lawsuit, they're always popular?

Seriously, El Reg's journalistic standards have plummeted recently. Keep it up and you'll be gone from my bookmarks toolbar.

@William Donelson

Funnily enough, "sheep who buy what they are told" is how the British view American consumers. The US is the original consumer culture: acquisition is the be-all and end-all of The American Dream; your advertising is unsophisticated; product placement in films and television is laughably blunt; and you actually buy American cars. Oh, and more than half of you bought the WMD story, too; it doesn't get much dumber than that.

It's true that we Brits get ripped off on prices, though. Blame the Labour government for that.

Re: Ian Davies

Excellent post, I just hope someone at El Reg actually listens and acts.

Here's hoping!

@Dana W

You say..

"What they did is milk the fashion chumps.."

"All I hear here is how Apple users are chumps.."

Well stop saying it then.

Apple haters...

...who are criticising the company for offering 100 bucks back are the people who are so pissed off with Vista that they wiped their hard disk and re-installed XP. How much did Microsoft refund them on a product that they, the so-called smart PC users now deem unusable? - nowt. They don't shout about it from the rooftops though, they just shut their pieholes and load some more bullets to shoot down a company that at least goes some way towards putting things right when it makes a mistake regarding its' customers.

Re: Ian Davies

Well said! Although reading these comments it appears that the hacks here are on a par with a vocal proportion of their readership. El Reg are now appealing to a whole new audience, I just wish I could find what the old audience are reading...

Re: Can't Win

The original Xbox was reduced in price by £100 about a month after launch but existing owners got any two current release games and a free controller which was actually worth more than the £100.

tough

I bought a Samsung 1080p HD LCD for roughly £1200 earlier in the year.

2 months later Samsung's new line was introduced and shortly after the new better models were as cheap as what I paid.

Now mine can be had for less than £800.

So I can demand the £400 depreciation over the 6 month period and expect a free replacement with the latest model too.

Or on the other hand I live in the real world and know that's just how life (and business) works. I can kick myself for not having better foresight, insight or just pure luck, but that's all.

It's just tough.

Im a sheep now???

To set the scene... A few years back I had an argument with my cousin about the fact that she was going to buy a Mac. I thought she was an idiot paying top dollar for a shiny non standard computer (and everything else PC geeks say about Macs and Mac geeks).

Then I tried one. It was actually pleasant to use, everything is well thought out and easy. Most applications conform to a set of UI guidelines that go a great extent to unify the system. This is more than I can say for Windows and Linux, even MS's own applications have Non-standard UIs,THe latest Office for example.

I have been converted and I feel dirty.

To the point... I didn't buy a Mac because they look cool or are fashionable, I'm a typical Geek, I don't do fashion! I own an SonyEricson m600i, its an ugly phone, people do comment on it, but never on how cool it look. I don't care.

I will however, buy an iPhone when it is released in the UK. Not because its 'Cool' but because its designed to be used and to be simple to use.

Current mobile phone design seems to be an effort in checking boxes. Bluetooth check, MMS check, Email check etc check. You get the picture. The next best phone always has to have more stuff, the menus get bloated the phone itself slows down even when doing simple tasks. I think the iPhone breaks this mold. Sure you can criticize it for missing X or Y but with the exception of 3G i think you should ask do I really need X or Y.

Am I a Sheep or have I just found good design?

Rant over. Back to the topic... If you are an early adopter expect to pay an arm and a leg for your tech. If you chose to buy early then (as mentioned in an earlier post) you obviously thought the iPhone was worth its original price. Apple had no duty to offer a rebate and I think they are generous to do so.To reiterate; People who spent $600 on their IPhone did so because it was worth that to them.

One last little rant... Have you ever wondered why Apple users are so ready become Steve's brain washed minions? Perhaps its because Apple make's good products that satisfy their customers. This seems to me to extend to there customer service (though i've never had to use it). Ask yourself would Dell offer such a rebate or would they just give their customers the finger?

Stop lower prices

People should get together and DEMAND that prices do not drop - this anti-inflation crusade from Apple is sickening, there's only one direction a price should go and that is up. Otherwise people will be confused and be left wandering around streets with extra money in their pockets, not knowing what to do with it, possibly causing lop-sided walks which can be a HEALTH HAZARD. Important point that - I hope Apple is putting a suitable warning on the box of all the newer, cheaper iPhones ... akin to the "having speakers up full might be loud" ones they were forced to use.

Journalistic integrity

Where did it go? You used to be able to take a swipe at mega-corps with style, this guy 'Meths' or whatever his made-up name is, is amateurish.

You've got competition now, you know? Lighten up, please!

Declining Standards

"The strong criticism that is becoming ever more apparent in comment threads really ought to concern you."

Maybe the lack of concern is caused by the fact that the vast majority of "El Reg is going down the pan" comments are generated by articles on Apple or people complaining about the lack of a tech angle in an article filed under "Odds and Sods".

If that's the kind of readers they risk losing, I'm not surprised Vulture Central couldn't give a crap.

Completely of the topic. And not even relevant.

My gf wanted new earphones for her ipod. I sourced a reasonable priced, excellent quality set of seinnhiser ones. If i were buying them these were what id buy. However they were dismissed out of hand cos they were not white. "WTF" i asked. You see if her earphones were not white, no one would know she was listening to an ipod. hmmmm. Is this the mentality of all apple product owning people, or mayby just woman.. i don't know.

We argue a lot.

TFI Friday.

@ Ian Davies

All else aside, do you know what penis envy is? Misusing terms in random rants is not unheard of, I know, but thought it was worth asking.

Re: tough

That's unfortunate, but how long had that model been out before you bought it?

It's a different situation with the iPhone because it has "just" been launched.

It does seem a little suspect to slash the price so quickly after purchase.

It's nice that people are getting something back, I guess.

I'm so glad more people are moaning

I commented on this general sentiment a couple months ago, and I'm just happy to see that more people are getting irritated as well. It really does seem like the writing staff are made up more and more of 18 yr old's with an axe to grind rather than common sense or some journalistic sense of moderation or maturity.

I hate to state the cliché, but I really have been reading the Reg for seven or eight years now. I'm not a moron, I DO understand the humour. I DO appreciate irreverence and I've learnt a lot from some great written pieces here, both on technology and on social and legal issues. But, you guys are reminding me more and more of The Inquirer (yes, I know there's a shared history).

A couple years back, when Sun refused invitations to Inquirer writers and did some things that the Inquirer didn't like, the stung Inquirer staff openly and childishly declared Sun a has-been company and stated that they wouldn't write about them anymore. The nicknames for Sun and it's staff became less about humour and more about playground nastiness and tantrum bitchiness. Then quietly when Sun came out with some good stuff again, the coverage was back. The Inquirer insists on writing the iPod as 'Ipod' - you see, they think it proves that they've got their own minds, they're not sheep oh no...

For years, when Apple was the under-dog and commanded less attention, they were just another company amongst others that had intelligent Register pieces written about them as news came along. Achievments were lauded, fouls were called (the G4 and G5 MHz stalls and "myths") and there was some even-handed criticism. Now that they're doing well, now that they sell millions of products and seem to be on a roll, they're just not cool enough for you guys are they? You're even using the tired 'Kool-Aid' reference in your stories. That's the most common unimaginative teenager troll there is.

You spend more time throwing somehow-smug attacks at something (and the people who bought it) that you obviously hate than covering normal stories. The hype around the iPhone, it's features and price, it's users and activation was created mostly by dozens of web journalists and bloggers. It was created by YOU. YOU guys turned it into a religious issue - not Apple.

Nowhere has anyone panned the iPhone. Nowhere has anyone said it just doesn't do what it claims to do. But you've spent more time and words on griping about every tiny little thing you can find to sneer at... because.. well I don't know... It's expensive? Get over it. Don't buy one.

It's a transparent attempt to distance yourselves from seeming like you 'follow a trend'. You and others throw around words like 'fashionista' and 'cachet' like it's really as big a factor here in people's purchasing than it really is. Plenty of people buy phones that are coloured or have diamante glued on the front without knowing how or how well they work - plenty of cell-phone manufacturers sell their products by endorsements, how swish you'll look in your business meeting or literal slogans like 'Have a better life'. Somehow this form of advertising and the weak products escapes the indignant wrath of Reg writers. Somehow this is all fine, because they're not doing quite as well as Apple.

For some reason, I think if Apple had quietly releases a crap product and spent years slowly making it better, you would all have been happier. If they'd licensed a Linux-based OS and used bits of Opera and fudged a reasonable interface and sold it cheap you would all have smiled - especially if it hadn't sold well.

Sometimes something genuinely good comes along and lots of people buy it. Sometimes it's expensive and sometimes it's cheap. Not everyone that bought it is a genius or an idiot. How about reporting on the facts and leaving YOUR ego's out of it for a change?

You know what? People got an unexpected refund for queuing up to buy an expensive product that works well and works AS ADVERTISED. They knew that when they bought it and should be happy a refund-voucher happened at all. Well done to them for getting a result to their complaints.

This is a news site, with a good helping of humour and some healthy irreverence - it's not a social experiment to see how you can prove your own cool-factor by making your own readers tired of you.

Prices drop, old news

They sold a million and now they've cut the price, presumably to sell more, they're a business, that's what successful ones do. If you don't like it:

a) get in your time machine and head back to pre-industrial revolution times.

b) never buy first generation anything.

Regards,

A late adopter.

PS thanks to all you early adopters for the cheap tech gear. And thanks to all you lottery ticket buyers for the playground upgrade, my kid loves it.

I say again...

You start off by arguing that $600 is too expensive. Then when Apple drops the price to $400, now you're complaining that they were screwing the early adopters. Are you guys ever happy with anything iPhone related?

>That's how much the company pilfered from all those gullible souls over the past

>month and change.

It's a fair stretch of the imagination to say that Apple pilfered (read: stole) the money from the buyers...

A remainder...

I honestly think that apple did no wrong, and in fact, surprisingly, did a very weird almost good thing. From the start the phone was priced high for a lot of reasons. One of them, was obviously that APPLE didn't know how many devices they were going to flog. Demand for a product can be expressed as a function of price. However, this relationship need not be simple; and in fact, I suspect that in Apples case too low price would somehow confuse the consumer into not taking the product seriously. Much like you wouldn't like to buy buck for a gallon perfume. Besides, if they could sell at higher price, why shouldn't they? It's a business, after all. Now, it seems that they would and did sell a lot of iPhones, but after the 1m mark all the hype is dying down, and the holiday season is coming up. Rebrand/refurbish iPods + slash prices. Business do this all the time, and in apples case, you just can sense a textbook example of perfect execution. Ideally you want to sell your product on individual basis, for the price people can afford. This is what apple did, and I applaud their business savvy.

I don't know any apple products, except an ipod mini that I don't use. And I gave a few "nanos" away as presents. Ironically, i'm typing this on a mac at my university.

Get Real!

If you go shopping in May and buy some summer clothes do you expect the store to give you a refund when they mark those same clothes down in July. When you go shopping in early November do you expect the stores to give you refunds when they mark items down the day after Thanksgiving. No, even though you know the store knew they were going to mark things down when they sold it to you.

It is a chance you take when you buy anything so some of us lost in this deal. I have an iPhone that I purchased day one, but I always knew that they would be marked down once the hipe fell some. It didn't stop me from buying it. Why should I expect Steve Jobs to pay me back when I made the decision to buy when I did. Give the man a break, it is a business. Apple would not be around anymore if they weren't out to make some money. If you have one and you like the phone, you got what you bought.

When you bought it you were fine with paying the price you paid, so it must have been worth it to you at that price.

@Mark Rendle

Hey Mark,

At least the U.S. still makes cars and movies. We even built England's cars for a little while (think Aston Martin, Land Rover) but even our consumerist economy wouldn't have them. You guys seem to like the Ford Focus well enough though. Well enough to sell the Mini to the Germans anyway.

Oh and on that WMD thing, the line went "We have learned from British Intelligence that..." and ya'll came right along with us. Blood for Oil rings out just as loud over there as it does here.

Good job, Jobs

Jobs is both an idiot and a genius: He should never have kowtowed to the twits who paid $600 for an iPhone by giving a rebate of any sort (the idiot) but, realizing what twits they are, he is now luring them into his stores to spend even more (the genius).

Brilliant!

The iPhone was *offered for sale* at $600 - no one forced anyone to buy it. I wanted a T-Mobile MDA when they came out and they were offered for $400; I declined. The MDA is now going for $80; I'm thinking about it.

68 days is actually what everyone is whining about, not the $600. I think it's miraculous that Jobs waited 68 days at all. It was really quite considerate of him.

It is time...

..to move on. I don't particularly like Apple products and don't own any. I think a lot of their value is preceived not real. I also love to laugh at the people who camped out to buy an iPhone and now got what was coming to them with the drop and secretly I wished they didn't offer a refund, however...

Move on from the Apple bashing. We get the point you don't like them and enjoy when they screw up but try and swing your storries back to being more objective and not beat us over the head with emotional anti-Apple stuff.

I have beed reading this site for many years and this is the first time I have strongly felt you have lost your way in writing relvant news. If you want to keep writing these kind of stories put the word Commentary under the heading so people like me know to skip it.

PS. I under stand people are willing to spend the money to be the first own something as I've bought items days one to be one the first (just wouldn't wait in line). IMO the only rational people in this arguement are the ones that say that is just the way it is in the tech/phone world and it is up to the people who where affected to repond accordingly.

WTH?!

El Reg needs to shut the hell up and get off their high horse.

I could list 1000's of companies who had higher prices of their products and started slashing them.

You people are losing it!

Damn idiots.

Grow a brain! This is just trolling for apple bashing.

I'm insulted!

I Swear... you people never heard of capitalism?! I'll bet if they had given the full 200 or more you'd still throw a fit.

Stop complaining like a 3 year old idiot and start giving IT news!

A tip for our chum Stevo Jobbie

Stevo,

Next time you're going to be so smug to drop the price by that much, take a step back, and re-think.

Instead of dropping $200, you could have conserved your smugness and dropped it $100. This would have been "reasonable", the sheep wouldn't have gotten upset, but the "second batch of sheep" would still have thought that $100 is a lot of money off. And you would have come across as a "generous" person that's "trying to lower the prices".

Then, another 68 days later you could have lobbed another $100 off, and again, you could have received more kudos. End result, to the "sheep" would have been the same result, BUT, you would have had these benefits;

- Another bunch of people buy the iPhone, but at $100 higher price than now, let's say 500,000 sheep, that's $50 mill in your pocket - Kerr-ching!

- You wouldn't have had to come out with this silly "excuse"

- You wouldn't have had to print the "excuse money" of $100 worth of Apple Gadgets (gladly you're probably only having to shell out about $50 for the real value). Still you're "throwing away" about $50 mill (see above about making an extra $50 mill).

Net result, you're out of a cool $100mill... give or take a few...

Now, how about some commission for me?! Stevo!?!? STEEVO?!?! COME BACK! I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE MEAN! SORRY, I LIKE YOUR TURTLE NECK TOP!!!

:-D :-D

How long does it take before a price drop is OK?

If you're an early adopter and are angry over the iPhone price drop, exactly how long should they have waited before they dropped the price? If two months is apparently "too soon", would it have been OK if they waited three months? How about four? What if they had dropped the price by $50 once a month for four months, would that be OK?

At what point do they get to change it and you're not pissed off?

Although it does put the whole "$80 battery" issue into perspective. :D

@ anonymous penis envy questioner

Wiki it. While you may be technically correct in that the Freudian definition is not appropriate, it's common enough to be used, and understood, to describe penis anxiety between men. Is that what made you click the 'Post anonymously' box? hmm?

Oh FFS

PLEASE SHUT UP ABOUT THE iPHONE!

The constant blithering about it makes me long for Paris Hilton news.

And another thing, it's gone 4pm and you haven't put up the BOFH. Hurry up lads, talk about declining standards

The Register is going down the plughole ....

I agree with Ian's sentiments and I still only read the site really for Tony Smith's hardware reviews 8-)

The rest of the site is either regurgitated press releases, rants or jibberish from mars man and bile from Phreaky Plonker.

Come on "The Register" (el rubbisho) get a clue and go retro back to decent journalism!

Penis envy

Actually, I thought folk comparing mobile phones generally indulged in a sort of reverse penis envy:

"Mine's smaller than yours is"

I use unix/Mac OS X/Apple/iPod to rebel, and am called a sheep?

I don't get it. I used to be made fun of for buying Apple products because I was a rebel. An outsider. And weird. I took those as compliments because I don't like doing the popular thing.

Now if I do it, I'm called a sheep and a follower? Give me a break. I liked Apple gear before it was kewl.

apple store voucher - not really a problem for the faithful

the fanboys will run, hands flapping (I'm picturing Jack from Will and Grace) straight to the Apple store with $100 regardless whether or not it's cash or a voucher.

Don't get me wrong, it was their choice to buy the thing in the first place. If they think it was worth it, great, now they've got $100 "for nothing" from Santa Jobs. They're still mugs though, IMHO.

And this is different from everyone else how ?

Intel's latest CPU premiers at $990 and is slashed 60 days later

Nvidia latest and greatest vid card......

X-Box........

PS3.......

It's called "bleeding edge" not only cause you gonna suffer with 1st on the block technical issues but it also because it "bleeds" ya wallet.

RE: Chizo Ejindu

"See you started off so well and then descended into pointless willy-waving about Vista."

Sorry, I should have stayed on topic. But Vista is a sore point with me. If it hadn't been for Vista I wouldn't have bought my first Mac, and I wouldn't be dealing with this stupid iPhone stuff, and high priced, hard to get Apple parts at all. I resent the hell out of Microsoft for making Windows so bad that it was switch platforms or quit in disgust.

Hopefully that clears that up.

And I'd have to have a willy to wave one, when I said Rams I was being metaphorical, I sincerely hope you were as well.

bad journalism.. or just good entertainment

being a long time reader(first time commentor(i know, i made up a word)) i can understand how some would be upset from the reg not giving us unbiased perspectives and stories that don't resemble a 15 year old girl's blog. however, i think that it is the author's choice.. just because you don't like what you're reading doesn't make the author wrong or a bad journalist. in fact, it's pretty entertaining. especially watching all of you squirm and whine about it on the comment page. so much that i couldn't resist registering so that i could join in on the fray... =D

if you buy newly released products you'll pay more than you would if you waited. we live as consumers, we buy products, and sometimes we pay outrageous prices, and still the pigs in suits get fatter. that's how it works. i don't have a love for it, but i do practice smart buying so i don't have to worry about getting ripped off.

kudos to the writer for treading these waters. i know spider jerusalem would approve and be proud.

and btw, apple is getting more trendy and more popular. not to mention they're making a buttload of money nowadays. don't be fooled and think that you actually are "thinking different" when you buy their products. they're a corporation trying to make money and trying to get people to buy their products just as much as microsoft does. they're clever enough to use angst towards windoze to make you think you're going away from the poor standard and to something better. whether or not it is i think is up to whoever is paying for it. you decide.

@Ian Davies

Completely agree with Ian,

Come on el reg put your cocks on the blocks and give us some decent stuff to read!

@ Dana W

Heh fair enough, i did think for a while that you were Apple-head going for the hijack rant but as you are in fact an ex-macrobloat user i feel your pain :)

And yes i was being metaphorical wrt willy-waving, i apologize if i came across as sexist. As Forrest Gump said, life is like a box of metaphors... or something :)

Humm...

NOT.. I do not want Apple products.. I called my Credit card and they rebated me the 200... What a slap in the face..

Title

Agreed to a certain point but I’m not a Apple lover, I did my research and Apple holds its value or at least it use to on the hardware.. I have been in IT for over 25 Year and have seen major drops in price of RAM and CPU chips but nothing that fast… WOW never in my wildest dream would hardware drop in price that fast. It’s all about the money for Apple which after doing my reviews of Apple I thought they were different NOT… They are just like any other Hardware / Software maker…

Beta test the IPHONE without the benefits that BETA tester gets. I have been a beta tester for Microsoft and normally I get the product much cheaper than the release. Not here I get shafted by the company that makes it and then get shafted again on the price reduction.. For a Microsoft guy to switch to Apple and then switch back should be a clear cut indication that Apple made a major mess up… Heck look at the stock price

Too little too late

Apple's actions are encouraging people to WAIT before purchasing.

I think the idea is to encourage people to buy now and NOT wait. We've all been taught that waiting is a virtue - not when it comes to capitalism.

By rewarding people for waiting, you delay purchasing, which delays the whole cycle of development. I know I would have waited if I knew the price would drop within two months, as the Apple execs by their own admission knew it would. They planned it that way.

I think the new price point is EXACTLY where it needs to be, when it needs to be. I only question why some kind of incentive wasn't put out there to reward those who jumped right in, especially since the price drop came unusually quickly. Remember, these are the folks who enthusiastically went forth and sold it to their friends who are now the ones to reap the benefit of waiting. So they've been rewarded for waiting. Again, waiting is not good.

And would it have been so hard to acknowledge and thank all those true believers at the time of the announcement, especially since they are adopting a whole new product? What would that have cost? Nothing. And the price drop would have been much easier to take especially with the store credit.

NOW the belated thank you rings hollow, as it is forced. And thus the compensation is necessarily higher. Sorry Steve, but your $100 bread crumb that can only be redeemed by purchasing yet MORE of your overpriced products is just another SLAP IN THE FACE.

iMac Intel core 2 duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) 24" screen, 2GB,

About time

Its been 20 years of Micro$oft this and Micro$haft that, now its

App£e

Welcome to our world, suck it up or shut up fan boys & girls. Your beloved company is just like the rest of them, get used to it.

ROFL

Shame on you

I like my news fairly unbiased but opinionated and I remember when El Reg was a quality tech news site. If I didn't have adblockers hiding the adverts, I'd give serious consideration to notifying your advertisers I'd decided against their products simply on the grounds that they run this ad-rag and pretend it's journalism.

Well, I would if I weren't so lazy.

New Game

Back in the day when I used to work in the phone farm, we used to hold off answering the phones for thirty seconds, and guess how many calls would end up in the queue on the wallboards..

I now have a new version of the game which involves opening the Reg and guessing how many comments there are going to be on any given Apple story.

One of the more educational articles on evangelical Christianity was written by a psychology graduate who talked of the services he attended at a local evangelical church, with people talking in tongues and feeling the presence of God; experiences he ascribed to mass hysteria.

I can't help but be reminded of that diagnosis whenever I play the "AppleReg" game.

To fanboys of all descriptions: please stop assuming we non-believers inhabit a dark world devioid of hope and joy. I personally use a computer, which does everything I need it to and a mobile phone, which makes phone calls and sends text. I have actually made a conscious decision not to upgrade either, being able to think of much more productive ways of spending my time and money. I couldn't give a flying fuck about the Ipod, Iphone, Imac, Vista, Nokia N95 or Zune. Please do not believe that this view is a result of apathy or ignorance, just think of it as a technological form of agnositicism. I read the Reg because it tells me all about these wonderful bits of technology and why not to worry about missing them.