Keep in mind that the $100 has to be used to buy things at the Apple store. Apple gets to keep probably anywhere from 10-40% (depending on whether it is an Apple product or third-party). So Apple is going to get back some of that $100 for sure.

...a lot of people, myself included, will be drawn into the store, and spend well beyond the $100 credit. It will also likely pull in buyers from the online and AT&T iPhone purchases who have never bought directly from an Apple Store.

Brilliant.

So the story is that the price cut and the refund as a "business move"? WTF else would it have been? Lower prices to move more units (and earn more kickbacks from AT&T, remember Apple gets a pretty penny from the monthly plans), and if necessary give a refund to the whiners (AKA damage control). Yep, that sounds like that kind of decision business people make. What a revelation.

What I find annoying about the press coverage of this is the conclusions related to the share prices.

1. Price drops Tuesday, therefore Apple cut the price of the iPhone too much. If you look, the share price drops after almost every announcement since people's expectations are so high going into them. The stock just went back to where it was a few days ago.

2. The price dropped again today, therefore the rebate idea is also bad or "not enough." Ignoring the fact that the entire market tanked thanks to bad employment numbers.

"a carefully and tightly scripted exercise in marketing and ego gratification,"

The documentation supporting that statement would be appreciated. To some degree, the statement may be accurate, but where is the hard evidence? Was Cringley sitting in on the planning/project meetings? Did he receive an internal memo on such and such a date?

Without the documentation, this is just opinion and supposition.

...to see if the rebates are transferrable and end up offered at discount on ebay by non-Mac rebatees.

Are there any FACTS is this piece? (other than the price drop and rebate)

More click grabs by one of the best(WORST) in the business.

Let it go, dude...

Who the h*** bought and iPhone and said, "And it's so cheap too!" NO ONE. Did they expect this pricing to continue? I stood in the Apple store and heard people talk and talk about "As soon as the price goes down, I'll get one." Uh, so Apple does a logical and predictable step, and Apple has to pay people back? Did you not know what the phone cost when you bought? Did you not agree to that price?

As long as Apple refunds folks for the last 2 weeks of purchase, I say its a fair deal. Everyone wants something for nothing, that's the sick truth. What product on Earth is as bug free as the iPhone on first release? None that I can remember. Apple hit a home run. I can't see how anyone could b**** about a $100 credit. Buy two video games for your home computer, you'll come out ahead and have fun at the same time.

As an Apple fan and professional since 1989, I agree with this remarks. I concidered Jobs a God until the damn Intel move and the company name change. So, this move is more proof of the things he does without any respect for Apple computers and its followers!

>Cringely also says Apple's chief makes >most of his business decisions as >reactions to the company board >firing him back in 1985

What is this guy smoking? Would would a multi-billionaire like SJ care that a bunch of suits no longer at Apple fired him more than 20 years ago. They were proved wrong a long time ago by the Power Computing farce and the premiership of Gil Amelio. SJ is CEO of Apple and the largest shareholder in MF Disney.

Apple is trying my patience. I've always bought Apple computers and software. Now having seen the HP Blackbird and the lack of features in the MacPro I'm considering moving over to Windows Vista once the service pack comes out. The reason is simple, HP wants to make money like Apple but it does so without this cult of "one dollar" Jobs. I know that HP will survive no matter who is in charge. I will not have to listen anymore to the drivel on Mac sites about what a genius Jobs is for ripping us off. Frankly he is a rip off artist. The touch iPod has come out with no Blue tooth? That means an easy upgrade for Apple after suckers have paid for a high end sticky finger interface but with mental patient style white wires hanging out of your ears. You know the Bluetooth is out there waiting to fill the gap if as expected he has nothing else to grift. We all know there is an iPhone 16gb for the holidays but Apple has to make some more of us feel stupid. My MacBook Pro sometimes cannot take a recharge as the superior MagSafe will not connect. Imagine plug and recharge? Bet you can't recharge on a Dell? But that's all cool according to Mac freaks. My fault for buying Apple. iPhone does not even have industry standard software but that's cool as no one buys until they do? I'm sure he did have the $100 all set up. Really nice person eh? This is the man everyone admires for making customers feel stupid for being manipulated into anger? Frankly when I'm in Adobe software I cannot tell which OS i'm working in. I'm working on Adobe software pure and simple. So keep making me feel like a chump. Have fun. I spend only 15k a year on hardware. The MacPro compared to the Blackbird from HP is pathetic. All this would be fine if "one dollar" Jobs did not have so much fun playing us like he owned us. Well I'm not playing .... though if the upgrade to MacPro is better than the Blackbird i'll play.:) Jobs is not special, he's no more than any other hustler selling illusions. Remember, this is the man who sold gadgets to rip AT&T off long distance charges, ironic eh? then he moved on to an easier grift, ripping off his own user base. He couldn't make NEXT work but needed the skills of others at Apple to so. What a jerk but how stupid are we willing to be. This article just makes my blood boil. Yeah he's a crook alright. Really special my bottom. Frankly anyone owning an iPhone, touch iPod or iPod has jerk and I'm Jobs slave written all over their thick heads. O.K. I'm just angry at being played. I kid Apple. I love Jobs. But you know it's not good to read this kind of stuff. grrr.

Based on what we know from certain biographies and anecdotes from people who have worked w/Jobs over the years, this is in character. There's some opinion and guessing here but it's inline with what we already know about Jobs. I like the Mac first and whoever does good for it. I could do with less of Jobs lovefest with Dylan, Lennon and all things hippie but that's who he is. Both Gil Amelio (even in his short stay) and Jobs have done a lot to save Apple and make great stuff.

good riddance.

Doofus.

While I couldn't say what crinkles says is true or not, I am sure that neither can crinkles. How about I just say this:

It is clear in this article that Cringely maintains a passive aggressive posture against Steve Jobs, which he continues to masked as professional journalism. This becomes clear in his admission of self failure in his one and only great piece of work, Triumph of the Nerds, in which he states he would have been worth $$$$ had he not sold off his Apple stock, and it is clear to the viewer that he somehow blames Steve Jobs. Cringlely continued his crusade against the evil jobs in regular articles meant to emphasis the ego of Jobs as only he can truly see it.

Of course I wouldn't say that b/c I have nothing real to base any of that on, crinkles article is 100% opinion as his only "evidence" is self invented, ie the Vanity Fair interview that never happened.

Game companies drop the price of games ALL THE TIME. When you buy a game for $50, you do so because you're the first kid on the block to get it and you don't want to wait. You know the price will drop (it really doesn't matter when) but you buy it the first day anyway. Regardless of your "loyalty", you got use of that product for 2 months while other people did not. I don't understand if you feel entitled to not only pay the same price now as a user that has waited 2 months, but to also keep the bragging rights you've had since July too. That joy and pleasure was NOT free. Nothing is free. Frankly, that's pretty petty of you people who expect everything to be handed on a silver platter to them.

Genius in this technological age is the ability to instinctually and successfully move, rather than over-think, with the current or flow of energy. Steve Jobs has great instincts. By contrast, Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer do not. The former can feel the market pulse and respond effectively, the latter wouldn't know a pulse if it hit them in the head.

While Jobs may not have anticipated fully the strong adverse customer response to the price drop, he quickly moved to make it a win-win for Apple and the Customer Base.

Around 1999-2000, about 3 years before the debut of the iPod, Jobs knew music was the key to the digital age. When the iPod made its debut, mindless critics scoffed at the invention, much like they attempted to FUD to death the iPhone. Jobs knew better then, as he does now. The man is pure genius because of his instinct. Having intelligence on top makes him that much more formidable in a very fluid, rapidly changing technological landscape.

Genius in this technological age is the ability to instinctually and successfully move, rather than over-think, with the current or flow of energy. Steve Jobs has great instincts. By contrast, Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer do not. The former can feel the market pulse and respond effectively, the latter wouldn't know a pulse if it hit them in the head.

Yes, that's why Bill Gates is worth like $50 billion and Microsoft products are entrenched all over. Oh, right, they just fell into the OS market, stole the Mac OS to make windows, managed to con every computer company and business to use their software, then wielded their monopoly power to keep their profits coming. Sorry, but it takes some business acumen to get to a monopoly position in the first place.

While Jobs may not have anticipated fully the strong adverse customer response to the price drop, he quickly moved to make it a win-win for Apple and the Customer Base.

But if he's a genius, shouldn't he have seen the backlash (h***, just do a quick rumor on MacNN and AppleInsider, see what the response is - geesh, it ain't hard). And its not Win-Win. Apple still loses as much as it gets back. They've lost the trust of a lot of their customers. They've also had a full day's of really bad PR which could easily have driven away many a potential customer (not just now, but in the future, who might go "Well, I could buy this iMac, but who knows if its going to be 33% cheaper next week. Ah, s**** it.")

Anyone who thinks Apple's not hurt by this fiasco is just kidding themselves. They could have easily made it win-win by just announcing the rebates up front (which would've made apple that much more of a god figure than he already is), but they dropped the ball and let their customers know that they're in business to help themselves, not their customers.

BTW, of course Jobs has a huge ego. If anyone walked around with people kissing his feet, fawning over every word he says, reading stories of how he has a RDF around him, they'd have a huge ego as well.

You got it in one testudo.

I think Cringely has got it all over the posters here in that he actually knows Jobs personally as opposed to those who only know him as part of a personality cult.

Love the anti-PBS diatribes!

Ahh to be informed by Fox News, having your prejudices coaxed and massaged by professional hair models.