Steve Jobs is the smartest man alive
First, watch the keynote from this week's Apple announcement of the new iPod line-up.
He's a brilliant marketer. Everything is calculated, setting themselves up for the forthcoming holiday season. Whether you love him or hate him, you've gotta admire the poise.
He rolls out a huge improvement to the iPod lineup and then says "Oh wait, just one more thing..." and rolls out the iPod Touch (aka iPhone clone w/o the phone). They figured out why wi-fi enabled music devices are so hard to do...it's those pesky Hotel Wireless sign-up screens. The iPod touch has Safari built in with a keyboard, problem solved.
Then he goes onto to talk about the success of the iPhone and (gasp) drops the price by $200.
As an early adopter iPhone user, I felt immediately slighted, pissed, taken, lied to and generally upset. Then of course I shrugged and say, 'thats what i get' for running to something so soon. It was only a matter of time before they dropped the price, I just didn't think it would be so soon.
But he's a smart man. He knows that price was the biggest barrier, and now everyone and their mother and for their mother will be buying an iPhone because they've heard from all their friends how great it is to use.
Then, for those who feel the pain of having already thrown down the extra $200 for the privilage of being able to say you had one early, Steve just came out with an open letter explaining his position and offering a $100 gift-certificate for any early iPhone buyer at the Apple Store.
This in no way makes the pain go away. It does nothing to change the fact that I bought something 7 weeks ago which is now $200 cheaper. But what it does do is show that Steve understands his customer.
He obviously knew this was going to happen. He realized that if he lowered the price that people would scream bloody murder. At no point in the last 3 days was he taken off guard by any of the reactions. But he knows that the people who own iPhone are Apple lovers and devotees, and even though they felt slighted, they'd all grin an bear it.
The $100 gift certificate is a token of appreciation and simply more money put towards marketing and advocacy. I'm impressed.
and yes, I'm trying to figure out how to fix the new jambase search and give all our users a time rebate...stay tuned for some improvements :)
He's a brilliant marketer. Everything is calculated, setting themselves up for the forthcoming holiday season. Whether you love him or hate him, you've gotta admire the poise.
He rolls out a huge improvement to the iPod lineup and then says "Oh wait, just one more thing..." and rolls out the iPod Touch (aka iPhone clone w/o the phone). They figured out why wi-fi enabled music devices are so hard to do...it's those pesky Hotel Wireless sign-up screens. The iPod touch has Safari built in with a keyboard, problem solved.
Then he goes onto to talk about the success of the iPhone and (gasp) drops the price by $200.
As an early adopter iPhone user, I felt immediately slighted, pissed, taken, lied to and generally upset. Then of course I shrugged and say, 'thats what i get' for running to something so soon. It was only a matter of time before they dropped the price, I just didn't think it would be so soon.
But he's a smart man. He knows that price was the biggest barrier, and now everyone and their mother and for their mother will be buying an iPhone because they've heard from all their friends how great it is to use.
Then, for those who feel the pain of having already thrown down the extra $200 for the privilage of being able to say you had one early, Steve just came out with an open letter explaining his position and offering a $100 gift-certificate for any early iPhone buyer at the Apple Store.
This in no way makes the pain go away. It does nothing to change the fact that I bought something 7 weeks ago which is now $200 cheaper. But what it does do is show that Steve understands his customer.
He obviously knew this was going to happen. He realized that if he lowered the price that people would scream bloody murder. At no point in the last 3 days was he taken off guard by any of the reactions. But he knows that the people who own iPhone are Apple lovers and devotees, and even though they felt slighted, they'd all grin an bear it.
The $100 gift certificate is a token of appreciation and simply more money put towards marketing and advocacy. I'm impressed.
and yes, I'm trying to figure out how to fix the new jambase search and give all our users a time rebate...stay tuned for some improvements :)
posted by Andy at
2:04 PM
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