Apple does not owe you a refund...but they should give it to you.

[glide]

This has obviously been discussed in many threads; but I think it is clear that Apple does not owe ANYONE a refund for their iPhone purchase. Regardless of if it was 2 months or 14 days ago.

They SHOULD however offer something to their early adopters to make up for it.

The iPhone was my first Apple purchase. Because I liked the interface so much I went out and purchased a macbook (which I am now considering returning.)

My experience with price cuts is they do NOT happen within the first 2 months of a product release. And they certainly do not happen without some sort of hardware upgrade to justify it.

The only recourse seems to be to wait a few days for Apple to offer a refund of some sort (cash, iTunes credit, anything...), or to simply take your business elsewhere next time. If they want to make their loyal or new customers feel the sting of a seemingly unjustified price cut; the best way to make them feel the same is to reconsider your next purchase with them. Complaining on a message board (yes I realize the irony) is not going to get you anywhere; complain with your wallet and that will more than get the point across.

 

[D1G1T4L]

I would been very happy if Steve would have said everyone who had an account registered already with iTunes with an iPhone will find a $50 iTunes credit on their account by this weekend for being an early supporter.

That would have been fine with me.

 

[lasuther]

They should give you back some money as soon as you give back all the envy from your friends and family for being one of the first people to get the coolest new device of the year.

 

[angrygolfer]

I would been very happy if Steve would have said everyone who had an account registered already with iTunes with an iPhone will find a $50 iTunes credit on their account by this weekend for being an early supporter.

That would have been fine with me.

I think that is a very fair offer. This way he is not hanging the early adopters (2 months early) out to dry. I am a technologist. I always want to be on the bleeding edge. However this truly is a smack in the face.

 

[clevin]

hard to say, Its business, apple isn't charity, don't put too high an expectation on a company. SJ said:

That's technology. If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology.

I would change that "technology" to "business" tho, since no technology drops 33% in two month.

 

[dreamteam]

my point exactly. They don't owe us anything, but it's just the right thing to do. The next time they release a very much hyped new product, people will remember this and wait it out a bit. And their much hyped new product may seem like a failure.

People on here are telling us to stop whining, it's obvious who doesn't own an iphone. They claim it happens all the time and we should have expected this. I disagree totally. The iPhone was the most hyped product release in years. Jobs repeatedly claimed sales are going as well as predicted. Customer satisfaction couldn't be any better. If any of this wasn't true, I wouldn't be as angry. But since it isn't, apple can't justify such a dramatic price drop.

 

[dejo]

My experience with price cuts is they do NOT happen within the first 2 months of a product release. And they certainly do not happen without some sort of hardware upgrade to justify it.

Hmm, so you would've been happier if Apple dropped the price AND upgraded the hardware too? I doubt most early adopters would feel that way. They'd be more pissed off that the new iPhones are now cheaper and better than the ones they bought.

 

[St. Germain]

People upset about this should be sending email to sjobs@apple.com about this. While it won't be read by Mr. Jobs himself, it is read by "high-level customer service representatives" and many people gotten other issues resolved using that address before.

Hmm, so you would've been happier if Apple dropped the price AND upgraded the hardware too? I doubt most early adopters would feel that way. They'd be more pissed off that the new iPhones are now cheaper and better than the ones they bought.

I'd be willing to bet that the 16GB version will be out for $499 just in time for the holiday shopping season.

 

[atszyman]

Hmm, so you would've been happier if Apple dropped the price AND upgraded the hardware too? I doubt most early adopters would feel that way. They'd be more pissed off that the new iPhones are now cheaper and better than the ones they bought.

My thoughts exactly. You've had the best iPhone on the market for 2 months before anyone else. It's still the Best iPhone, just cheaper. I'd be more pissed if it was upgraded and price reduced than just a price reduction.

If you really want to be fair then Apple should have you present your receipt and refund $4/day after June 29th that you purchased it. This way someone who just missed the 14 day window gets a bigger refund than someone who bought it 3 days after launch and fairness is preserved since the launch buyers had more bragging rights and playtime on their phone.

 

[TurboSC]

I think I'll try emailing the Steve jobs email I'm sure they're beingnflooded with stories etc. We shall see In a few days how apple wants to handle this.

 

[nikhsub1]

Apple has proven they don't care. Ponder this, if the iphone can be priced at $399 today for the 8GB version it SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRICED THERE FROM THE GET GO. Sure companies have the right to do as they want, consumers won't buy if they don't like what they are doing. But this doesn't feel like just a 'price drop'. To me this is more like apple milking every penny out of people over the hype of their new product. Once the hype dies, in the case 70 days later, we'll just slash the price by 33% because we've made our money by RAPING the sheep that bought the iphone too soon! This is how I feel about it.

 

[sushi]

my point exactly. They don't owe us anything, but it's just the right thing to do

This sounds reasonable. Some sort of certificate/coupon for $50 to apply towards other Apple purchases.

 

[dejo]

Ponder this, if the iphone can be priced at $399 today for the 8GB version it SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRICED THERE FROM THE GET GO.

And who's to say that the production costs were the same then as now? Perhaps, because Apple was able to prove the success of the iPhone, they were able to re-negotiate certain costs. Just surmising...

 

[kdarling]

Apple has proven they don't care. Ponder this, if the iphone can be priced at $399 today for the 8GB version it SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRICED THERE FROM THE GET GO.

Well, yeah, but that was known since almost the beginning, and people still lined up to buy it.

1) The cost of materials was well known... yet fans said that Apple deserved hundreds of millions in return for "all their R&D". Sure.

2) Apple also took everyone's ATT buyer's subsidy of ~$200... and no one complained.

3) Apple was taking royalties out of your pocket each month... and no one complained. (They still are, and still no one complains.)

So it's no wonder that Apple thought they could continue to do anything, and keep fan support.

I don't think it's the price gouging that makes everyone mad. It's simply that they helped Apple hype / advertise the phone, plus gave them all the money they wanted... and now other people get to buy it with far less of an emotional / monetary investment.

It's like spending tons of emotion and money courting a woman, and then she runs off with someone else she just met.

 

[QCassidy352]

I don't think there's a "right" thing to do, ethically or morally speaking, in this case. However, there *is* a right thing to do from a business standpoint, and IMO that would be something akin to the $50 iTMS certificate already mentioned, or a discount on Leopard, or something like that. The cost to apple would be minimal (and if they did something like apple store credits they might even make money as people put those credits towards larger purchases they wouldn't have otherwise made), and while the early adopters would still have paid some premium, they wouldn't feel "slapped in the face."

$200 extra profit per iphone is a lot, but goodwill is worth a lot too. I am an early adopter who does not feel "cheated" in the least, but I damn well will think twice before buying apple's next fancy toy in the first couple of months (not because I'm mad, just because they've shown that it makes economic sense to wait a relatively short time).

 

[kdarling]

... I damn well will think twice before buying apple's next fancy toy in the first couple of months (not because I'm mad, just because they've shown that it makes economic sense to wait a relatively short time).

Exactly. What's ironic now is that so many oldtime Apple fans DID publicly warn everyone: "Don't buy right away. Always wait for Version 2. The price will drop soon. There will be more features." Et cetera.

Everyone was warned, but ignored the advice.

 

[Daiden]

Apple has proven they don't care. Ponder this, if the iphone can be priced at $399 today for the 8GB version it SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRICED THERE FROM THE GET GO.

This is a key issue. Anyone who thinks that production costs could lower in TWO MONTHS does not understand how manufacturing products or economy of scale works.

All that happened is Apple took a hit to their sales margins. They could have done this two months ago.

 

[nikhsub1]

Meh, everyone seems to think price cuts are normal. Well, normally they are but not 33% in 70 days. $100, fine makes sense. There is NO OTHER PRODUCT IN HISTORY that has ever been discounted so soon after release. Why can't the fanboi's absorb that fact?

The most sickening part is the NY times article that states Apple 'planned' these price cuts LONG AGO?!?!?!? OK, like When? This is bold deception.

For some reason Apple thinks this raping is justified. I for one don't get it.

 

[atszyman]

Apple has proven they don't care. Ponder this, if the iphone can be priced at $399 today for the 8GB version it SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRICED THERE FROM THE GET GO. Sure companies have the right to do as they want, consumers won't buy if they don't like what they are doing. But this doesn't feel like just a 'price drop'. To me this is more like apple milking every penny out of people over the hype of their new product. Once the hype dies, in the case 70 days later, we'll just slash the price by 33% because we've made our money by RAPING the sheep that bought the iphone too soon! This is how I feel about it.

They were entering a new market with a new product. The price could have just as easily been set as a "If this thing bombs we need to make some money" point as well as a barrier to keep from completely swamping tech support should a bug rear it's ugly head.

How do you know it could have been priced like that from the get go? Do you know what the vendors were charging Apple? How do you know that they didn't get a recent price break on the multi-touch hardware and memory due to the impressive iPhone sales and the introduction of the iPod touch. Apple's vendors may have cut them some more price breaks on parts due to increased sales.

 

[7on]

Apple didn't force you to buy it before yesterday.

I bought a table from wal-mart for $7. the next time I went it was $4. WHERE'S MY $3 WAL-MART!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[clevin]

Apple didn't force you to buy it before yesterday.

I bought a table from wal-mart for $7. the next time I went it was $4. WHERE'S MY $3 WAL-MART!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, $3 is for a burger, $200 is for two monthes' burgers.

 

[nikhsub1]

They were entering a new market with a new product. The price could have just as easily been set as a "If this thing bombs we need to make some money" point as well as a barrier to keep from completely swamping tech support should a bug rear it's ugly head.

How do you know it could have been priced like that from the get go? Do you know what the vendors were charging Apple? How do you know that they didn't get a recent price break on the multi-touch hardware and memory due to the impressive iPhone sales and the introduction of the iPod touch. Apple's vendors may have cut them some more price breaks on parts due to increased sales.

Wow you're naive. The mfgr RARELY (and Apple never) passes on vendor price savings to YOU the consumer. Get real.

On a side note, I was just directed to an article. Care to LOL with me?

"Apple has indicated that it has no plans to drop the price of its iPhone any time soon. Good, because that would make a lot of consumers who just shelled out $500 and $600 quite angry."

From here: http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/apple-no-plans-drop-iphone-price/2007-07-30

 

[s8film40]

They should give you back some money as soon as you give back all the envy from your friends and family for being one of the first people to get the coolest new device of the year.

In a way with this price cut Apple took back all of that envy. While it certainly has been fun having people say "oh is that an iPhone" I have a feeling it is soon going to be replaced by "wow you paid $600 and now its only $400" or "oh is that an iPhone did you pay $600 for it, that's too bad I'm glad I didnt waste my money"

I'm very happy to have an iPhone and I don't regret purchasing it but I think all that envy that others had is going to turn into embarassement on our part.

Oh well

 

[atszyman]

There is NO OTHER PRODUCT IN HISTORY that has ever been discounted so soon after release.

Have you ever looked at the cell phone market in the US and watched how much phone prices fluctuate? With 2 year contracts rebates and all that fun stuff a $300 phone released this week will be $50 next week and back to $200 the week after that. I've been in "upgrade" mode for my wife's and my current phones for about 2 months and phones that show up one week on at&t's site will go through massive fluctuations.

I know the iPhone is not supposed to have any subsidies or rebates associated with it but how do we know that this was all Apple's doing? Couldn't at&t have entered an agreement to cut the costs to encourage more sales? There seem to be a lot of people having luck getting $200 billing credit from at&t. How do we know this was 100% Apple's idea?

 

[JoJoCal19]

I am fine with the price cut, and yes I have owned mine since 6-29. However the thing I am not fine with is the possiblity that the european version that is soon to be released will be 3G and possibly be compatible with our network. If that is true and Apple has cut prices because it decided it wants to release a 3G v2 in a month that would piss me off because they were adamant about not needing 3G and so forth. I will wait and see what happens. If they do in fact come out with a new 3G version then I will never buy another Apple product again, no matter how much I love Apple products. And I do spend a lot of money on Apple stuff.