Steve Jobs posts open letter to iPhone customers re: price drop: offers $100 credit

Posted by tkelly4
6 September 2007 @ 12pm

Here’s a few wrinkles in the American Express refund. It only works for the 8GB, since the 4GB is no longer for sale and likely doesn’t qualify, and it is only good for 60 days. Guess what? I have a 4GB and bought it on day 1, over 60 days ago. SCREWED. I won’t even get a fancy JobsVoucher, as it is also for 8GB owners.

Good thing I drank my Kool-Aid today, so I still loves ya, Jobsy. But no Xmas card for you.

Todd

Posted by R. Roche
6 September 2007 @ 12pm

Looks like thew whiners got something. I’ll bet every single one of them strutted around for 2 months acting cool because they had an iPhone.

Posted by SUGilbert
6 September 2007 @ 1pm

OH Great! Another slap in the face for me from Apple! I bought two 4gig iPhones on day 1—meaning I get nothing–NADA! Only the 8 gig buyers get a credit.

Posted by billhiltonjr
6 September 2007 @ 2pm

As the dad in a FOUR iPhone family, I was really smarting that Apple dropped the price $200 on each of our iPhones so soon after they debuted.

I’m fully aware that new adopting new technology when it first appears is a gamble, but I never thought I’d see a 33% price drop in less than 60 days. It looks like Steve Jobs has seen the error of his ways in offering a $100 store credit per phone, which is an appropriate gesture. This is acceptable to me–yes I still love everything Cupertino–but I may think twice next time about buying right away when something new and wonderful comes out from Apple.

Posted by bosjty
6 September 2007 @ 2pm

This isn’t about being cool or about usual price drops that happen over time. This is about a 33% pricing error made by Apple and their awkward and naive handling of the situation.
I bought my 8GB just 17 days ago, 3 days beyond the point of which Apple’s own price protection policy would have given me $200 back. Chase Platinum card has no price protection… going to have to look over that Capital ONE junk mail more closely next week.
And now Steve Jobs has published an “open letter” promising a $100 store credit (details to be disclosed next week) for all of us.
Their exception product skills are now blunted by their blunder on the handling of this marketing mistake. I think that they would have been much better to co-announce with the price drop a $200 store or iTunes store credit to their iPhone early adopters. After all, first Jobs said ‘tough luck” and now he says $100 credit. What’s $100 more for the inspiring good will it would have created and the great press they would have got. Oh well.
let’s see, maybe there is a fire and my expensive iPhone got burned up. Now Chase will cover it under their damage protection plan. This is all so silly.

that is upsetting what would arguable be their most loyal and in some cases (like me) newest customers.

Posted by jtalarico1
6 September 2007 @ 3pm

Sorry, but I think your information is incorrect. Nowhere in Jobs’ letter did it restrict the offer to 8GB iPhone owners. In fact, it’s pretty specific: “every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone”.

Posted by jerrytaft_dotmac
6 September 2007 @ 6pm

The beauty of being an early adopter is in the EARLY part. I would not trade the experience of the last 2 months for $200. Quit whining……..

Posted by bluemeal
7 September 2007 @ 8am

HOW I EXCHANGED MY 4GB iPHONE AND UPGRADED TO AN 8GB MODEL… along with a bit of frustrated ranting!

For me, I was fully prepared to wait out the hype and ignore the impulse to buy the first release of iPhone… then my AT&T mobile along with my first generation iMac G5 died making the decision to go iPhone at least more justified. Not wanting to part with $599 I opted for the 4GB
iPhone. But it soon became clear that my 4GB model was plagued with system freezes, a far to frequent need to reboot and several software restores. Google searches on the 4GB model revealed an anecdotal pattern between system freezes and using more then 2GB of available memory. After explaining this to Apple Care they agreed with my conclusion and gave me a repair ticket number. With the repair number in hand, I return to the store where I purchased the phone and requested an exchange to an 8GB model. Basically, I purchased the 4GB on July 25th exchanged it on Aug 17th with an additional $100 and received an 8GB model.

So for anyone wondering how to get rid of their 4GB “Lemon” the recent backstepping at Apple and ambiguity surrounding the $100 credit may leave room for negotiating a full store credit. And, while Apples true strategy may never be fully disclosed, it’s possible the decision to discontinue the 4GB model may have been more a strategy to avoid a huge marketing liability 3 months prior to an anticipated spike in holiday sales.

So everything aside, my experience with the 4GB model leads my to conclude the discontinuation has less to do with price point and is more about design failure.

Regarding American Express and Return Protection it seems they have been swamped with calls for refunds on the price difference. They did file a claim for me but mentioned that no refunds will be credited to cardholders until a policy review is made by corporate. Seems that along with Steve Jobs American Express is not quite sure how to handle the volume of what has become a huge marketing blunder and the offical response Amex is “we’ll let you know our decision in one week”. But depite their reluctance Amex may have little choice but to give in and refund the difference because the alternative is a mass return of devices purchased at $599 and having to credit cardholders with the full amount verses a refund of only $200.

Good Luck - John

Posted by bluemeal
7 September 2007 @ 8am

HOW I EXCHANGED MY 4GB iPHONE AND UPGRADED TO AN 8GB MODEL… along with a bit of frustrated ranting!

For me, I was fully prepared to wait out the hype and ignore the impulse to buy the first release of iPhone… then my AT&T mobile along with my first generation iMac G5 died making the decision to go iPhone at least more justified. Not wanting to part with $599 I opted for the 4GB
iPhone. But it soon became clear that my 4GB model was plagued with system freezes, a far to frequent need to reboot and several software restores. Google searches on the 4GB model revealed an anecdotal pattern between system freezes and using more then 2GB of available memory. After explaining this to Apple Care they agreed with my conclusion and gave me a repair ticket number. With the repair number in hand, I return to the store where I purchased the phone and requested an exchange to an 8GB model. Basically, I purchased the 4GB on July 25th exchanged it on Aug 17th with an additional $100 and received an 8GB model.

So for anyone wondering how to get rid of their 4GB “Lemon” the recent backstepping at Apple and ambiguity surrounding the $100 credit may leave room for negotiating a full store credit. And, while Apples true strategy may never be fully disclosed, it’s possible the decision to discontinue the 4GB model may have been more a strategy to avoid a huge marketing liability 3 months prior to an anticipated spike in holiday sales.

So everything aside, my experience with the 4GB model leads me to conclude the discontinuation has less to do with price point and is more about design failure.

Regarding American Express and Return Protection it seems they have been swamped with calls for refunds on the price difference. They did file a claim for me but mentioned that no refunds will be credited to cardholders until a policy review is made by corporate. Seems that along with Steve Jobs American Express is not quite sure how to handle the volume of what has become a huge marketing blunder and the offical response at Amex is “we’ll let you know our decision in one week”. But depite their reluctance Amex may have little choice but to give in and refund the difference because the alternative is a mass return of devices purchased at $599 and having to credit cardholders with the full amount verses a refund of only $200.

Good Luck - John

Posted by bluemeal
7 September 2007 @ 8pm

While Apple does historically lower the retail on its devices, such a price drop has always been accompanied by a newer more improved model that has more features and is offered at the retail price of the previous model. The iMac is an excellent example of what devoted Apple followers expect as the norm from Apple. When Steve Jobs announced the discontination of the 17″ iMac and the introduction of bigger, cooler and faster 21″ model with a price point matching the old 17″ iMac I could only imagine how many others, like me, gasped with utter joy.

Apple has been a leading innovator and earns high marks for being one of the coolest progressive companies out there but not following thier usual price strategy makes them unpredictable and customers may be less likely to run out and snap up the latest offering from Apple. Perhaps the smarter course would have been to admit their marketing error and offer all beneficiaries of the error a $200+ credit to be spent at the store.

In the end it was unpredictable behavior that threw a wrench in Apples perfect machine and you only need to look as far as Wall Street where Apple stock traded at a 5% loss.