usa today Some early iPhone buyers irked some other no regrets

usa today Some early iPhone buyers irked some other no regrets - Transcript

Some early iPhone buyers irked others have no regrets USATODAY com

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Some early iPhone buyers irked others have no regrets
Updated 9 6 2007 12 15 AM Comments

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By Jim Hopkins and Michelle Kessler USA TODAY AN FRANCISCO Some of the first iPhone buyers were divided about the news that Apple is slashing its price by 200 barely two months after the cellphone was launched Apple on Wednesday announced the lower price 399 for the 8 gigabyte model as it rolled out a new iPod Touch with features similar to the iPhone without the phone capability story 1B The company also said it is eliminating the 4 GB iPhone model I feel like I have been ripped off by Apple said Laura Carter of San Antonio They should give all the early adopters a gift card of 200 to use in an Apple store Clinton s views
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In Maplewood N J longtime Apple customer Roberson Lazare also wants a rebate By buying their product he says we showed loyalty to the Apple brand and it s like we re getting a nice swift kick There were plenty of early buyers who knew being the first carried a price I ve already gotten my money s worth and more from my initial purchase said David Miller in Yorktown Heights N Y And in Tallahassee Fla Tony Archer said Apple could cut the iPhone s price all the way to 99 cents and he d still have no regrets The fact that I was one of the first ones to have one is worth every penny I paid he says CEO Steve Jobs offered a ray of hope to customers who bought an iPhone this week saying they should return to the store and try exchanging it Otherwise he told USA TODAY That s what happens with technology Although price declines as steep as the iPhone s 33 cut aren t common they re not unheard of in the electronics industry Liquid crystal display LCD TV prices could drop more than 30 this year with some models declining even further TV maker LG Electronics said last month Apple probably cut the price to reduce the disparity between the iPhone and the iPod Touch says electronics analyst Ross Rubin with researcher NPD The 8 GB Touch sells for 299 half the 8 GB iPhone s original price Rubin says many cellphones are heavily discounted although the cuts usually come from cellphone carrier subsidies instead of manufacturers As the new iPhone price was announced AT T was offering a 280 Sony Ericsson music phone for free after rebates with a service plan Contributing Jefferson Graham Share this story
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Posted 9 5 2007 9 38 PM Updated 9 6 2007 12 15 AM E mail Save Print Reprints Permissions

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Some early iPhone buyers irked others have no regrets USATODAY com

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Quietspeaker 1 friends send message wrote 9 8 2007 6 33 12 PM

I can t wait for the next big hoop to come around to see how many fools will jump through it
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MannyG 0 friends send message wrote 9 7 2007 8 50 28 PM

Suckers

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FredG 0 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 5 51 45 PM

That is Apple for you No care or the least concern about their loyal customer base Years ago we ran our small business using exclusively Apple Macintosh products We started with them and continued to upgrade to newer systems Mac Plus etc Our offices were full of Macintosh computers and printers that were easy to use powerful excellent to train new employees on etc They never rewarded the loyalty of their customer base Each year or 18 months they would come out with a new Mac system and not give their existing customers any upgrade path I suppose that we were expected to just scrap all of the equipment that we had invested in and keep purchasing their latest version of the Mac Too expensive for a small business to keep up with Nothing that Apple does surprises me We switched to PC and have been happy with that choice ever since Fred G
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daveNaustin 27 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 4 46 40 PM

Dear iphone whiners hope you all get 300 page phone bills from AT T
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highspire 7 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 2 01 43 PM

I m think that it s mainly people with little to no experience with Apple products namely computers that are complaining This is fairly common place in the Apple product world They put out a product recoup much of the development costs then cut the price back a little down the road to get those who were on the fence or those who know how Apple works and waited for the cut to buy in I don t see what the big deal is It was obvious from the initial release s starting price that they were gonna have to cut it back before the competition came up with something similar for cheaper I ve played with some friends iphones and they really are quite stunning Worth 400 Yeah at this point in time I think so Really I don t see how the price cut is that disimilar from most electronics I know I bought a nice 1080p flat screen for 1500 last August which I then saw in the CC ads around black friday selling for 750 Essentially a 50 drop in the matter of around 4 months It s always been like that I remember when a DVD player cost 1000 a year later they could be had for 250 An1MB Ram 5 MHz 512 KB not GB not MB but KB Apple Lisa in 1983 cost like 10k which would be over 20k these days
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ewbray1 0 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 12 40 24 PM

All Apple did is the same thing that U S Auto Companies and others have done for years once they have recovered their development costs the company then prices the item at its actual consumer price minus the fee for the development cost That is why the cost for most products actually decreases after the product has been offered to the public for a while Apple just recovered their development costs in a couple of months instead of a few business quarters
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James38745 0 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 12 19 53 PM

Quite complaining people This is what happens when you early adopt new technology People like me who don t care about showboating to everyone that I was first to buy can come in a couple

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Some early iPhone buyers irked others have no regrets USATODAY com

http www usatoday com tech products 2007 09 05 apple reaction N h

months later and grab it for a more reasonable price Too bad suckers
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rjmorita 0 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 10 55 32 AM

Well get used to it folks That s Apple for you This is not the first time and it won t be the last If you want to be a pioneer sometimes you have to pay an extra price to go with it I try to be one step behind technology Well most of the time anyway
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Dominatore 0 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 10 38 45 AM

If you are not comfortable with an items price don t buy it With electronics you know they will reduce the price eventually To the people who bought the phone early Too bad if you weren t comfortable paying 600 for a phone you shouldn t have bought it stop complaining What are you going to say when Apple comes out with a 20gb iPhone for 300 in 2008 Will you still be crying It is technology this is the way it has always been and always will be
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mlrodman 12 friends send message wrote 9 6 2007 9 37 30 AM

I guess Tony Archer has more money than sense
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