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Apple Adds Features, Drops Price of iPhone

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BIG Price Drop = Problems In iPhoneLand?

SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 2:17 PM
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections?

I'm sure Apple will put on a brave face and turn the spin machine on, but I'm thinking they really want momentum in the US market before intro'ing the iPhone in Europe later this year, and Asia in '08. And it looks like they weren't getting said momentum at the old price points, even with all the hype.

That said, I do think the 'iPhone 2.0' will be a very good product, assuming it addresses most of the current iPhone's weaknesses (no 3G, no voice calling, no GPS, no Flash support, no MMS, etc.)
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ygbhen

Sep 5, 2007, 2:32 PM
I doubt if there are any problems in iPhoneland. It probably has more to do with the attention span of gadget-gobbling consumers. They are off to the next thing now. You know how it is. You buy a phone and then after a month you are tired of it and want something else. It really does not matter whether you paid 200 or 600 bucks. Most of us on here are phone whores and get pimped by the phone manufacturers! I get smacked up by my pimps (Samsung, SE, & Moto) at least 4 to 5 times a year 🀣
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Bigbmc26

Sep 5, 2007, 2:37 PM
the only company i'll bend over for is sony ericsson. iphone is garbage compared to the k850. i can't wait!!!! 😁 😁
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ygbhen

Sep 5, 2007, 2:44 PM
That one does look nice (too w810ish for me) but the iPhone is still a nice a phone. I think it is great how you have all of media available from iTunes to use on your phone. The only real issues I see is no 3g or MMS. Other than that, it is a great device in my books with a couple of faults.
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Bigbmc26

Sep 5, 2007, 2:52 PM
i guess that's my disconnect. i still buy my music on CDs and import them into itunes. i don't buy video or music from itunes. i put all my content on my phone separately. hell, my ipod isn't even color, 🀣
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ygbhen

Sep 5, 2007, 2:55 PM
🀣 I just use it for the dvds/tv shows. I did not know that non-colored ipods still existed!
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maokh

Sep 5, 2007, 2:59 PM
Sweet! a touch STRIP!

Thats hot.

This is going to make the iPhone's capacitive multi-touch screen blow chunks.
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 3:24 PM
ygbhen said:
I doubt if there are any problems in iPhoneland. It probably has more to do with the attention span of gadget-gobbling consumers. They are off to the next thing now. You know how it is.


Mmm... no, sorry, I don't buy it. You don't cut the price by a third almost right out of the gate just for grins. That's leaving an awful lot of money on the table. 😲

It's also without precedent for Apple in recent years. No Mac or iPod ever got price cut by that much, that soon after launch.

Maybe if the price cut had been only $100, I could see it as more of a marketing thing as you do. Something is definitely up...
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muchdrama

Sep 5, 2007, 5:47 PM
SystemShock said:
ygbhen said:
I doubt if there are any problems in iPhoneland. It probably has more to do with the attention span of gadget-gobbling consumers. They are off to the next thing now. You know how it is.


Mmm... no, sorry, I don't buy it. You don't cut the price by a third almost right out of the gate just for grins. That's leaving an awful lot of money on the table. 😲

It's also without precedent for Apple in recent years. No Mac or iPod ever got price cut by that much, that soon after launch.

Maybe if the price cut had been only $100, I could see it as more of a marketing thing as you do. Something is definitely up...


Ahem. Attention Mr. Geniu...
(continues)
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 7:59 PM
Wow, Mr. Mensa, ever hear that analysts' estimates vary widely, and are pretty much an educated guess a lot of the time?

Yeesh.
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muchdrama

Sep 7, 2007, 3:21 PM
SystemShock said:
Wow, Mr. Mensa, ever hear that analysts' estimates vary widely, and are pretty much an educated guess a lot of the time?

Yeesh.


A variance of 1 million to 4.5 million?

That's a pretty big variance, Captain.
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Cellenator

Sep 5, 2007, 2:48 PM
hell yeah you know sales got to be in the toilet when they cut the price by a third.
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maokh

Sep 5, 2007, 3:15 PM
They already have 1% market share and a million handsets sold within a 2 month period -- at a redicious price point.

Although, in order to sustain those sales, Apple has paid a visit to reality if they want to sell to the masses. There are already incredible margins on the phone, so a $200 price cut is not going to hurt, especially with the volumes we are talking about. A few components of the iPod Touch are shared, which should drive down production costs further.
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 3:21 PM
maokh said:
They already have 1% market share and a million handsets sold within a 2 month period -- at a redicious price point. .

No, Apple has said they're on track to sell a million iPhones by end of September, i.e. a three month period. This is Steve Jobs' quote from the event today:

β€œAnd so we want to make iPhone even more affordable for even more people this holiday season and so we’re going to do something about that today. We’re on track to ship our millionth iPhone by the end of this month...

They haven't sold a million already.
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robtheman

Sep 5, 2007, 3:36 PM
iPod Touch: bad idea for people that plug their iPod into their cars.
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robtheman

Sep 5, 2007, 3:38 PM
I feel bad for the guy that bought his last week.
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NoanswersonlyQs

Sep 5, 2007, 3:39 PM
why he should be covered under his states return laws to get the price difference back.. esp with a major price change like that
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 3:59 PM
robtheman said:
I feel bad for the guy that bought his last week.

Go over to AppleInsider.com, and check out some of the forum comments... its gettin' pretty ugly. 😲

On the plus side, Apple's refresh of the entire iPod lineup top to bottom today was a definite winner, crowned by the iPod Touch. Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Creative, etc must be curling up into the fetal position right about now.
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Rich Brome

Sep 5, 2007, 4:04 PM
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections? ...

Who knows what they were aiming for, but it's selling pretty darn well:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136731-pg,1/articl ... »
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 4:31 PM
Rich Brome said:
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections? ...

Who knows what they were aiming for, but it's selling pretty darn well:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136731-pg,1/articl ... »

It's puzzling to me too. The July sales figures you quote are strong.

I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.
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xjittianx

Sep 5, 2007, 5:13 PM
maybe to get more of the phones out there at a more rapid speed so the users can show them off to non iphones users? ...thus increasing sales? hell, i dont know, im just making a guess.
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Rich Brome

Sep 5, 2007, 5:28 PM
SystemShock said:
...I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.

Not necessarily. All reports seem to agree that the actual parts don't cost very much. I think the new price is simply the real price that they always hoped to be able to charge. They can charge the "real" price now precisely because it is selling well, so they're benefiting from economies of scale.

They had to price it high initially in case it wasn't as successful, so they could have at least still covered the high cost of developing and launching it. Something like the iPhone is very expensive to develop, and they clearly spent a ton on advertising at launch (especially ...
(continues)
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 10:47 PM
Rich Brome said:
SystemShock said:
...I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.

Not necessarily. All reports seem to agree that the actual parts don't cost very much. I think the new price is simply the real price that they always hoped to be able to charge. They can charge the "real" price now precisely because it is selling well, so they're benefiting from economies of scale.

They had to price it high initially in case it wasn't as successful, so they could have at least still covered the high cost of developing and launching it. Something like the iPhone is very expensive to develop, and they clearly spent a ton
...
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Rich Brome

Sep 6, 2007, 12:20 AM
My thinking is this:

Apple is very, very good at making money. They know how to turn a profit, as evidenced by their numbers every quarter and the absolutely massive amount of cash they have on hand.

Based on that, plus the consensus among experts and analysts that no iPhone costs Apple more than $250 for parts, manufacturing, and packaging... and I'd say Apple has always known they could charge $399 for the iPhone and still make a handy profit. They also knew there would competition and other market factors that would force them to lower the price sooner or later. (Most likely sooner just given how competitive this industry is.)

I really think Apple always planned to charge no more than $399 for the iPhone on a long-term basis.

...
(continues)
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SystemShock

Sep 6, 2007, 12:44 AM
Rich Brome said:
...or maybe Apple was just really evil and wanted to bilk all of the Apple fanboys and early adopters for every last penny they thought they could get away with. I'm open to that possibility, too. πŸ˜‰

Either way, I think the initial high price was always intended to be a short-term thing, and now we're simply seeing the "real" price.

I agree with that... there was always room to drop the price. But Apple being Apple, it wasn't going to happen without a reason, and they would've much preferred it happend later, rather than sooner. πŸ˜›

Regardless, given today's Wall Street Journal article, which discusses softening iPhone sales being a factor in the big early price cut,

http://on »...
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muchdrama

Sep 5, 2007, 5:44 PM
SystemShock said:
Rich Brome said:
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections? ...

Who knows what they were aiming for, but it's selling pretty darn well:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136731-pg,1/articl ... »

It's puzzling to me too. The July sales figures you quote are strong.

I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.


Oh, please give it up...they're selling FOUR POINT FIVE MILLION this yea...
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 7:56 PM
muchdrama said:
SystemShock said:
Rich Brome said:
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections? ...

Who knows what they were aiming for, but it's selling pretty darn well:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136731-pg,1/articl ... »

It's puzzling to me too. The July sales figures you quote are strong.

I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.


Oh, please give it up...they're sell
...
(continues)
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ppcmd

Sep 5, 2007, 8:36 PM
Good thing that AT&T was still charging $599 for the 8GB as of this afternoon . Nice to see they are on the same pricing page.
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 10:24 PM
ppcmd said:
Good thing that AT&T was still charging $599 for the 8GB as of this afternoon . Nice to see they are on the same pricing page.

LOL, gotta luv ATT. Some ppl are gonna be xtra pissed. 😲
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muchdrama

Sep 7, 2007, 3:19 PM
SystemShock said:
muchdrama said:
SystemShock said:
Rich Brome said:
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections? ...

Who knows what they were aiming for, but it's selling pretty darn well:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136731-pg,1/articl ... »

It's puzzling to me too. The July sales figures you quote are strong.

I can only assume that sales fell a lot after launch... nothing else really justifies the huge early price drop.

...
(continues)
...
SystemShock

Sep 7, 2007, 5:37 PM
muchdrama said:
They're on pace to sell 4.5 million iPhones by the end of this Christmas season.

Any other questions?

Thanks for playing.

LOL. Nope, not exactly. The 4.5 million figure is what ONE analyst is saying, iSuppli.

Care to hear what another one is saying?:

The price cut was unexpected. Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said he wasn't aware of Apple previously cutting prices so quickly after the introduction of one of its new products, and questioned whether Apple could meet its goal in the absence of a price cut. "It can't be a bullish signal about iPhone volumes," he said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118900567113618144. »...
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muchdrama

Sep 5, 2007, 5:39 PM
SystemShock said:
Whoa. 200 buck price drop, THAT soon? 😳

Apple does NOT like to drop prices, at least not that much and that soon. Something's up. Perhaps the iPhone isn't meeting internal sales projections?

I'm sure Apple will put on a brave face and turn the spin machine on, but I'm thinking they really want momentum in the US market before intro'ing the iPhone in Europe later this year, and Asia in '08. And it looks like they weren't getting said momentum at the old price points, even with all the hype.

That said, I do think the 'iPhone 2.0' will be a very good product, assuming it addresses most of the current iPhone's weaknesses (no 3G, no voice calling, no GPS, no Flash support, no MMS, etc.)(continues)
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jex

Sep 5, 2007, 10:08 PM
"omg, price too steep for what it lacks"
"omg, price dropped! there must be something wrong"

why don't we just enjoy the price cut, if there was something crucially wrong with the device it would have been found by now by joe blow or all of the hackers/crackers and lip smackers out there! lol, maybe it's just for the holiday season to up sales... next thing you know everyone will be back complaining again when they raise the price after the holiday season... gimme a break, haha.
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SystemShock

Sep 5, 2007, 10:23 PM
muchdrama said:
Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

I love when folks pass themselves off as "insiders".

Lol.

Did you ever think they've sold a bazillion of these things and that future sales are virtually assured?

What I love is ppl who say "wrong, wrong, wrong" and then don't really back it up with much.

Lol.

Did you ever think that they have yet to sell a mil of these things and that great long-term sales AREN'T ensured, given that Apple is a new player to this space?

Apple seems to agree, judging from the steep early price cut. But hey, I'm just pointing out logical things like that, sparky.
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muchdrama

Sep 7, 2007, 3:18 PM
SystemShock said:
muchdrama said:
Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

I love when folks pass themselves off as "insiders".

Lol.

Did you ever think they've sold a bazillion of these things and that future sales are virtually assured?

What I love is ppl who say "wrong, wrong, wrong" and then don't really back it up with much.

Lol.

Did you ever think that they have yet to sell a mil of these things and that great long-term sales AREN'T ensured, given that Apple is a new player to this space?

Apple seems to agree, judging from the steep early price cut. But hey, I'm just pointing out logical things like that, sparky.


They're virtually assured to sell 4.5 MILLION of the...
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SystemShock

Sep 7, 2007, 5:41 PM
muchdrama said:
They're virtually assured to sell 4.5 MILLION of these overpriced things this year alone. 30 million in the next few years.

YOU do the math.

Investors already have. Apple's stock took a huge nosedive after the price cut announcement.

Apparently the one analyst you're listening to isn't 'virtually assuring' much of anybody. πŸ˜›
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brandonabe

Sep 6, 2007, 3:45 AM
probably just started subsidizing it
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