yes, Apple is *evil*

[nostatic]

it seems the people here who are crying about the price thing are ones who didn't buy them. Funny thing that...

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by nostatic

it seems the people here who are crying about the price thing are ones who didn't buy them. Funny thing that...

I doubt they're the ones that e-mailed Jobs though

[motion]

Anyone in this day who isn't familiar with the rapid pace of tech advance/price decline is just asking for it anyway. When you consider that the 2 year cost of the iPhone and contract is somewhere around $3,000, why should $200 make much of a difference? Besides, no doubt Apple has figured out how to lower manufacturing costs now that they know what the demand for their shiny new gadget will be. Normal course for a new product. Those reduced manufacturing costs are being passed along to the consumer in this case. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by motion

Anyone in this day who isn't familiar with the rapid pace of tech advance/price decline is just asking for it anyway. When you consider that the 2 year cost of the iPhone and contract is somewhere around $3,000, why should $200 make much of a difference? Besides, no doubt Apple has figured out how to lower manufacturing costs now that they know what the demand for their shiny new gadget will be. Normal course for a new product. Those reduced manufacturing costs are being passed along to the consumer in this case. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

Normally I'd agree, but this was just a couple of months and they went to great pains in claiming it "had to be that expensive". Considering wholesale cost on these is(was) likely $150 or $200 I find it hard to buy that 60-90 days resulted in a 50% cost reduction. It's not really that big of a deal, but they do look bad on this which is the only reason for the rebate.

[stomachmonkey]

So consider this.

The device is in great demand in other markets especially Europe but you are stuck with ATT for a while.

You have buyers clamoring for something that you can't give them.

They sold 500,000 in a month tied to a network that everyone hates and is only available in the US.

The device is now basically unlocked.

Still only hardcore guys will risk bricking a $600 phone.

Make the price attractive and sell a crapload in Europe where hacked cell devices are more common than stock ones.

[red-beard]

In Europe, locked cell phones are basically not allowed. I do not expect to see the Phone anytime soon.

My issue with the phone is the hype vs. the real functionality. And no, I will not be buying one. It can't do the essential functions I need. If that changes, I may consider it in the future.

OTOH, the next release of the Palms will mark a move to a Linux based operating system. Very open for software developers.

[Gogar]

If you bought an iPhone and feel you got ripped of, then get stop playing your PS3 or your PS2 and put down your "Tickle me Elmo" and hop in your FJ Cruiser and go down to the Apple Store and get a refund. I'm sure they'll accomodate you.

I don't really care one way or another, but I feel that Steve Jobs apologizing for his product being TOO 'EN VOGUE' is a bad business idea.

However, now is the time for unconventional business ideas, especially in entertainment and 'fashion tech', which IMO the iPhone is.

[}{arlequin]

lmao.

higher price to be the first to have something is a bad business practice??? lol

xbox360 is a good example. my, they have a TON of zealots waiting in lines overnight to pick up a new console. and get the full price treatment. and all this while they KNOW there will be a price drop. is that bad business?

as for apple not 'giving' you enough time to be the first w/ the coolest etc? spare me. how much time do you want? 6 months??? why, i bet you'd want them to completely stop selling it right after you bought it maybe?

this has been going on since the dawn of time, especially w/ auto industries.

in the 90's when i was shopping for an integra, i wanted a type-r. honda assured us the type-r wasn't coming to the u.s. few months later it was here. then they assured us it would ONLY be in white. again, we got black and yellow after a while.

above sticker dealer prices for the privilege to be the first to drive elise/cayman/350z/ariel atom down your block??
huh, never heard of it. never heard of auto maker throwing 40 more cars at each dealership a month later so your 'moment of being a first' only lasted so long? yeah, you're right, this sort of thing NEVER happens, and only apple are guilty of it and only apple will suffer the 'consequences'.

that kind of thinking can't even be labelled as 'not smart', it's downright moronic.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by }{arlequin

lmao.

higher price to be the first to have something is a bad business practice??? lol

Don't forget (those of you old enough to remember) that Porsche originally promised to build only 400 Turbo Carreras in 1976. Oops.

The criticism of Apple is funny to me. There is a subset of people here who hate anything American -- designed or built. Then there's the other faction that insists that elegant engineering and design isn't worth a small premium (on a Porsche owners board???!!!)

[RKC]

Wyane: This was a blunder, but not one that will go down in the business school textbooks. New Coke? THAT was a blunder for the B-Schools....

I like Apple products, but don't remember drinking any Kool-Aide. And Jobs does a good job for Apple. However, along with his vast talent, he is known to be pretty cold and pretty mean. Right or wrong, and taking morality out of it, that is the most successful mix for a business leader.

So, as blunders go, the $100 softens everything just enough to keep the wheels on the Apple train rolling....so it could be considered about perfect: apologizing just enough and giving just enough to sink the anger into insignificance.

If that is how it winds up....well, then the Apple refund may just make it to the B-Schools afterall - like the Tylenol response in the early 1980's.....

Again, don't say it is right or wrong, but the fact that it pacifies without giving away the store is what a business leader strives to do. Pretty shrewd.

I'm sure I'll find a way to plunk down that $100 credit in the next month or two......my daughter has been patiently saving up for an iPod when she turns 11 later this month but isn't quite there....hmmmmm..

[red-beard]

Couple's Verdict on iPhone: It's a Split Decision

Friday , September 07, 2007
By Courtney Friel and Carter Evans

FOXNews.com reporter Courtney Friel and her husband, WWOR-TV reporter Carter Evans, picked up a pair of Apple iPhones the day they came out.
He loved his, but she hated hers — so much so that she took it back for a refund and is now happily pecking away again on her BlackBerry.
What's right and wrong with the iPhone? Ask no further:
COURTNEY:
I remember first hearing about the iPhone when Steve Jobs debuted it in San Francisco in January. I was watching the coverage on FOX News and thought, "Uh-oh, another new toy my husband is going to want."
Carter is also a TV reporter and was assigned the iPhone unveiling for the local news that day. You could see the twinkle in his eyes during his live shot. From that point on, he was stoked. The six-month wait began.
CARTER:
OK, I admit it. I'm a geek. If that's the label I get for loving the iPhone, I can live with it.
I'm a big Mac fan, so when I first saw the revolutionary handset after its debut in January, I knew this phone would be big.
• Click here for FOXNews.com's Personal Technology Center.
COURTNEY:
I never really got hyped up about the iPhone, but Carter and I decided we would both get one. Geraldo Rivera asked me to cover the June 29 launch for his "At Large" show.
I went to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York to interview the insane folks who had waited in line for days. I got excited after seeing all the commotion. I couldn't get the iPhone then and there because the line was too long, so Carter brought back two to our house.
Instead of opening the box, I went to bed because we were going to the beach early the next day, but Carter stayed up all night like a kid at Christmas playing with it.
CARTER:
Courtney and I both got our iPhones the day they came out in June. The hype was unbelievable, so of course everyone wanted to check out my new toy. For weeks, people would stop me on the street just to have a look.
COURTNEY:
We showed them off to our friends all weekend, and on Monday when I returned to work, Shepard Smith's producers were looking for someone to talk to about his or her iPhone on "Studio B."
I volunteered, and I admit — it was the coolest show-and-tell ever. People would stop me at FOX and on the street to ask me to show them how it worked. Someone at a gas station actually congratulated me on getting the iPhone. I felt special.
CARTER:
Now that I own one of these little gems, I'm getting an idea of where the future of wireless communications is heading.
I barely use my laptop anymore because I can do almost everything on a slick little device about the size of a deck of cards, but thinner.
The big difference between the iPhone and other smartphones on the market right now is that smartphones are phones with computer-like functions. The iPhone is a computer that just happens to be a phone.
E-mail, Web browsing, Google Maps, YouTube — it's all there and very useable. It's also an amazing iPod and spectacular video player. Oh, and did I mention you can make calls on it, too?
COURTNEY:
But then the problems started settling in.
I am a textaholic and my fingers are very dexterous! The iPhone's keyboard was awful. The letters were way too small and that "prediction" function does not work.
I need physical buttons to push so that there is no mistake in what I am trying to write. I don't have time to waste, especially when I am sending important messages to my best friend about life and shoes!
Seriously, we text for 20 minutes straight before realizing we should just pick up the phone and talk to each other.
CARTER:
I've got no problems with the "soft" keyboard — it works a lot better than I expected. You control everything on the phone by tapping, flicking and pinching images with your fingers. It's a completely different computing experience.
Even when my clumsy thumbs hit the wrong key, Apple's text-correction software almost always figures out what I meant to type. You've probably seen the commercials. It really is that simple.
There are, however, some major issues.
COURTNEY:
Turning the iPhone sideways when it was on the Web and expanding the screen with my fingers was cool, but the loading took forever. The fact that Apple and AT&T put it on the old EDGE data network instead of on a faster 3G system is ridiculous.
The iPhone never asked me if I wanted to join random Wi-Fi networks around the city. If I wanted to get Google Maps (super neat), the weather, time zones, stocks or e-mail links, it was sooo slow — like the dial-up days back in '97.
This factor did not help when I was trying to show it off. It was great to have the YouTube videos, but again, they couldn't load and play properly on that slow connection.
CARTER:
First and foremost, Wi-Fi is great if you can find a hotspot, but when you're on the road, you've got to rely on AT&T's EDGE data network, which is painfully slow. Remember dial-up? Enough said.
For a $600 phone, I don't care what Apple and AT&T say: There is no excuse for not making the iPhone compatible with the blazing fast 3G networks, except maybe planned obsolescence.
COURTNEY:
I liked the photo album a lot, but the iPhone's camera took bad pictures. There was no video camera. No instant messenger. Plus the device got super-dirty.
The phone reception was bad. People would call me and the unlock screen wouldn't work, or would freeze, and so I would miss my calls.
CARTER:
The good news is that because the iPhone is a little computer, most of the complaints, except the EDGE issue, can be remedied with a simple software fix.
I fully expect an update in the next couple of months that will take care of these seven iPhone sins:
1. Still pictures only, no video.
2. No chat program.
3. You can't cut and paste text.
4. No voice dialing.
5. You can't rotate the screen in the Mail application.
6. The speakerphone is way too quiet.
7. No third-party applications.
COURTNEY:
If nothing else, I thought, I can at least use this as an iPod.
But then I'd be running on the treadmill at the gym and would want to scroll through to another song — and each time, I would have to slide the unlock key.
I could never get back to the screen with my songs, so I'd have to revisit the home page and start the whole process over again — all while attempting to run, which messed up my pacing and frustrated the heck out of me.
CARTER:
Now let's talk about durability. Like all of Apple's products, the iPhone is fairly rugged, but consider this a warning: Don't toss it around like you did your old phone.
Apple outfitted the iPhone with a glass screen to withstand all the tapping and touching. It's optical-grade and tough enough to survive some pretty serious drops, but somehow I broke mine after about a month.
AT&T does not sell handset insurance for the iPhone, so if you break it and it's not covered by Apple's warranty, you've got a $600 paperweight!
COURTNEY:
Overall, I just thought the iPhone was too big of an investment for me to not be happy with anything about it, and Carter did not want to hear my complaints.
Five minutes before the Apple store closed on the day my two-week grace period was up, I returned it and paid my 10 percent restocking fee.
CARTER:
When I called AppleCare about my cracked screen, they sent a loaner iPhone the next day with a prepaid shipping box for my broken phone. Two days later, they sent me a brand new iPhone for free!
Unfortunately, the FedEx man also delivered some bad news with my new iPhone. The plain brown box it came in wasn't even labeled "Apple" — but somehow he still knew it was an iPhone.
Why? Because he's been delivering lots of replacements!
He even guessed the problem: "Broken screen?"
Not good.
COURTNEY:
Now I use my work BlackBerry for everything. It is simpler, but all I care about is the texting anyway. Good thing text messages are free!
Just because the iPhone wasn't for me, though, doesn't mean it isn't for you.
CARTER:
I certainly don't want to steer you away from an iPhone. I still love mine and believe the pros far outweigh the cons. If you've been thinking of getting an iPhone, don't let these issues stop you as long as you can afford it.
It's new technology, so it takes a little getting used to — but the iPhone really is the phone of the future.

[gprsh924]

That article sums everything up perfectly. For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that whatever works well for them is always going to be the perfect product for everyone else too. If everyone else isn't so convinced, then person A gets mad. But who really gives a ****? If you got an iphone and you love it thats great. If you didn't get one because it wasn't for you, thats great too.

Everyone always *****es about the Razr. For me its a perfect phone. over the past 18 months I have been pleased with battery life and call quality, while at the same time its very small and light. All i do is make phone calls, i dont really use it as a camera, I dont text, so I all i need is the phone function. oh and its my sole alarm clock too

[island911]

Originally Posted by techweenie

... Then there's the other faction that insists that elegant engineering and design isn't worth a small premium (on a Porsche owners board???!!!)

Thing is, the premium is justifiable on products which have complete engineering and design.

All to often (in new products) style (styling) is pushing function aside. the iPhone is a perfect example of this. The iPHONE, and it's stylish tiny touch tablet can be a real pain to . .(drumroll) .. make a Phone call. How is that elegant engineering and design?

Or you can communicate with text. (see red-beards post above).

Maybe use the elegant engineering of EDGE . . .in a 3G world.

Does it have stereo wireless (Blutooth) engineered in, like so many contemporary music playing phones?

Good gawd, you compare this iPhone to the elegant engineering and design of Porsche? What, did you buy a 924 back in the day?

'Styling' (a slick look) does not make 'elegant engineering and design!
'Novelty' (Lobster-claw zoom, for example) does not make 'elegant engineering and design!

[KFC911]

Did any of you guys pay over $3K for a pc back in the early 90s? Boy do I feel dumb...I could have waited . One can debate the technology pros/cons, loyal customer base, etc., but imo, this is simply marketing genius (whether by design or ???). The total cost of the rebate, and the "ill will" to those who have already purchased is trivial compared to the free advertising that the iPhone has recieved since it's announcement back in Jan (and this is just the latest thing to keep it visible in the media). I mean, how many threads have been on the iPhone here in PPOT? There is no such thing as bad publicity right now...just wait & see. Yes, I do have a vested interest, but am not an Applehead...

[island911]

Originally Posted by KC911

...is trivial compared to the free advertising that the iPhone has recieved since it's announcement back in Jan (and this is just the latest thing to keep it visible in the media). I mean, how many threads have been on the iPhone here in PPOT? There is no such thing as bad publicity right now...just wait & see. Yes, I do have a vested interest, but am not an Applehead...

Good point.

After all it worked out well for the apple Newton.

[KFC911]

I've still got my Betamax, so what do I know . I do have my "money where my mouth is" on this one however as I bought back into AAPL the day I heard the announcement...time will tell.

[island911]

I hope it works out well for you, KC. But do note, Jobs is a big risk taker. He also will drive designs with emotion. Sometimes that pays off (iPods). Sometimes it bricks spectacularly. Contrast that design approach w/ our good Dr Porsche's.

[lendaddy]

What ever happened to the Apple TV?

[KFC911]

Trust me, I won't be driving a GT3 or homeless either way . I simply based my decision on the past couple of years (I've been in & out of AAPL several times), and was counting on the iPhone being gobbled up by the masses. I'm holding at least until the holiday season is over. I agree, that Jobs is key...AAPL will crash & burn the day he announces an exit.

[Granite]

First off, I don't own an Iphone! But I think the rebate was brilliantly done by Jobs and Apple. This will get alot of those same customers back into the store / website to redeem the credit/ refund. This won't shake the loyal Apple fans as they will jump on the next cool thing Apple brings out. What they are banking on is the NEW Apple fans jumping on board and becoming loyalist.