Will all these people quit crying. They need to include diapers and tissue for all the bullsh.. and crying going on. If you were an early adopter you need to look up the definition and get over it. Technology drops in price all the time, reguardless of the time frame. You rushed to get an iphone and you paid to get it first, you got it, now live with it. THAT is what you paid for.

Also they will make up for the price drop buy volume sales going into the holidays, so why would the shareholders be bitching and crying?

I bought my phone a month ago. I love it. When I heard about the price drop I called the Apple store where I bought my phone and asked about the price drop. They told me to come in with my receipt. I did the next day and there was a line at the register. I saw about 9 people, including myself receive full credit back to their credit card as long as they had their receipt. I got 400 and some change since I got two. I ended up buying an ipod classic for my son. I asked the guy as I was buying the ipod why they were giving people refunds on the difference in price. He just looked at me and said that everyone he had credited ended up buying something before they left the store. I would have been happy with the 100 in store credit. Apple didn't have to offer that. No other manufacturer has. I've never had any problem with the service at my local Apple store or with any Apple product.

Jobs has a killer product and he wants to get it in as many hands as possible. I think he knows what he's doing. Naysayers should back off and see how this plays out... or else get ready to eat crow.

I bought my phone a month ago. I love it. When I heard about the price drop I called the Apple store where I bought my phone and asked about the price drop. They told me to come in with my receipt. I did the next day and there was a line at the register. I saw about 9 people, including myself receive full credit back to their credit card as long as they had their receipt. I got 400 and some change since I got two. I ended up buying an ipod classic for my son. I asked the guy as I was buying the ipod why they were giving people refunds on the difference in price. He just looked at me and said that everyone he had credited ended up buying something before they left the store. I would have been happy with the 100 in store credit. Apple didn't have to offer that. No other manufacturer has. I've never had any problem with the service at my local Apple store or with any Apple product.

Price of Razr did drop. It's just people don't care. Did you care? I didn't.

Razr phone introduced $499 in early 2005. Six months later, $199 By end of year, the price was $99.

Again, people didn't care about Razr's price drop. In addition, there are very few general cell phone users that are as vocal as mac fans.

Wait for a few weeks for the 3G-16GB iPhone that is in the pipe. It is common for Apple to introduce a new model with better features and make the old top model the bargain. Apple is just trying to clear out as many 4GB and 8GB rev 1 iPhones.

My iPhone has been the best electronics device I have ever owned, and it has many features to come. Getting it on day 2 and paying the premium was worth it to me, if for no other reason, then to be the envy of all my Blackberry touting co-workers.

Putting aside hurt feelings from customers, I think the price drop is all about market share. Sure Apple could have held the price high through Christmas and probably pulled off higher short-term profits. However Apple is more focused on selling units and growing market share. Profits will come rolling in if they can establish the iPhone as a market leader.

requestresponse.blogspot.com/2007/09/iphone-price-drop-go-for-market-share.html

I'm a customer and a shareholder. As a customer, and early adopter, I know the risks on new products going in. It's a patience tax. Big deal. As a shareholder, I want Apple to do well in the long run. And that means sell units and raise market share. I don't own stock to see something happen next week.

I'm betting he doesn't have AAPL's past two years, and he's pissed. The recent volatility is likely people who did have AAPL the past 2-5 years and have hit their triggers.

Plus:

"Infact its the same with any product" -can't write.

"but I have a hunch the phone's not really selling great." - can't count: 1M units of a completely new item in two months.

"he wants the phone to fill more stockings this year. Thats totally unjustified." - can't think. Market share 101. - still can't write

"And he realized this just 2 months after the roduct release? Why didnt he think of it earlier?" - still can't write. - can't do homework: Apple has to pay the mortgage quickly on development, and they are legendary for having no long term debt.

"people who really want an iPhone badly do not care for the $100 price difference" - can't count - it's a $200 cut - can't think: at $599 it was a niche item. At $399 it's well on its way to consumer item and resulting market share. My dog knows this.

"and would have bought it anyway, like a million people have already." - can't remember that he can't count (see above)

"but for now, I am off to the Apple store to get my refund." - Translation: "Steve did a bad thing. Where's my share of that evil?"

Dear Apple Shareholders,

I hate to break the news, but Apple's primary responsibility is to make the best possible products for its CUSTOMERS, not to make greater and greater profits for its shareholders. If they do a good job with the former, the latter should follow along nicely; but only the most clueless investor would be cynical enough to imagine that Apple's primary purpose in life is to make money for investors. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

Cherukuri is probably selling AAPL short. I'm not inclined to check for disclosures, but how anyone can take the price drop as a hit to shareholders is beyond me. Shareholders should know exactly where and how AAPL derives its revenue stream, and if they do, they know that the new OS X, new iMacs, and iPod lines are what bring in the vast majority of revenue. iPhone doesn't become a major factor, especially w/ costs and revs deferred over 2 year contract term, until 2009--and then, they better have captured a decent chunk of the market. You don't do that in the cell phone business with a $600 "smart" phone that can't get a secure connection to Outlook. $400... maybe. Either way, shareholders should ignore the hype of this revolutionary product and focus on the revenue streams--else they will be surprised on the next call in October when AAPL blows the numbers to bits yet a gain. Seeking Alpha will be seeking cover.

I think "Prashanth Cherukuri" might be an Anagram for Microsoft Shareholder.

Yes it's unfair to shareholders. If people felt they were getting a bargain by paying $600 for an iPhone, why should Apple throw away business practices and give credit to customers? Is that profitable?

Actually, I think the price drop is a good thing, and the outcry unexpected. I'm off to get an iPod touch now.

u are an early adopter. you will be burned. it is the proce u pay for being th e1st kid on the block to have teh coolest gadget. Stop whining. I would have bought one if it was available in Asia and would have groaned at the price drop but hey - I would still have my iphone.... grow up

u are an early adopter. you will be burned. it is the proce u pay for being th e1st kid on the block to have the coolest gadget. Stop whining. I would have bought one if it was available in Asia and would have groaned at the price drop but hey - I would still have my iphone.... grow up

Its only in our parallel Apple universe that people see a massive price drop as negative! That Apple can afford to drop the price that much should be taken as a very good and healthy sign pointing to good things to come.

Let's review the effect of this price drop on various groups, shall we...

Early Adopters: Neutral. Disappointed, but we knew what we were getting into. People are only whining because they see a chance to make $200.

Future Buyers: Positive. This means a lot of people will get to own an iPhone.

Stockholders: Positive. Any sensible AAPL holder (myself included) is thrilled by this price drop. It shows apple meant it when they talked about 1% global marketshare, and 10 million iPhones by 2008. It guarantees a killer holiday season, which will solidify Apple's lead in the market. My retirement is now a lot more secure.

Pundits: Positive. Columnists, bloggers, analysts etc. have a big win here. Something controversial happened, and they get to talk about it for a month or so. That's all were seeing here-- and remember, opinions are like a*******.

Has anyone ever heard the phrase "all publicity is good publicity" (or something to that effect)?

Yeah, we've heard it. I think PR people are the ones who say this (usually after a bad PR experience). But its only true with people, not companies. I don't see Mattell going "Man, I'm so glad we've had this big lead paint scare! Now we'll be in the headlines when XMas comes around and really boost sales!"

Companies work hard to earn their reputations. They also can compute this and include it on their balance sheet (its called good will, I believe). Bad press not only goes against a company (as people might be less likely to purchase products, and also less likely to praise the company. Most people (i.e. mac-fan-boys not withstanding) will remember the uproar over the iPhone's price drop. They aren't going to be saying "Ah, its tech, its supposed to go down in price." They're going to be saying "I don't know, something from Apple? Remember that uproar a couple of months ago from all those iPhone owners saying they were screwed? I don't remember the details, but...".

Hate to break the news... Dear Apple Shareholders,

I hate to break the news, but Apple's primary responsibility is to make the best possible products for its CUSTOMERS, not to make greater and greater profits for its shareholders.

I'm sorry, you are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. They have one primary responsibility, that is to make profit for the owners of the company, which are the shareholders. They are not there to make people feel good, or that computer users can have a good product. If that was the case, they should turn it into a non-profit organization and go from there.

If they do a good job with the former, the latter should follow along nicely; but only the most clueless investor would be cynical enough to imagine that Apple's primary purpose in life is to make money for investors. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

I'm sorry then, could you explain to me why I'm investing in a company if I'm not expecting to get a return on my investment? When I give money to a charity, I hope it will come to some greater good. But investing my money is all about getting a return, which requires the company to make a profit.

All decisions a company makes start with "How's this going to affect the company, and, in the short/long run, the bottom line". Apple may make good products (certain recent product lines not-withstanding), but they do that not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of a business strategy that word of a good product will spur more sales.

But if Apple's first responsibility was satisfying the customer, then they're doing a bad job of it. I don't see them pro-actively fixing problem issues with their computers. iBook G3s and G4s were/are notorious for their bad mobo's and video issues, but you can't get it replaced until it breaks (which, of course, always happens when you least want it to). Same with G5 power supplies, iMac bulging capacitors, etc, etc, etc.

But how many sales might have been lost from the uproar of the iPhone price drop debacle (and, yes, it was a debacle, poorly planned and thought out)? Just think how different the whole thing would have been treated, by the press and the iPhone owners, if Apple just came out with the "We're giving you a coupon to thank you for your belief in us!" line at the same time, as opposed to as a reaction to bad press, which makes it just look like Apple realizes they screwed their customers and was trying to 'fix' it.

But if you want to pretend Apple's business is all about you, and not about making money, feel free and delude yourself.

This is not at all unfair to shareholders. Apple doesn't pay dividends so your supposed "return on investment" doesn't come from Apple, it comes from how other investors value Apple's stock. Shareholders these days to not care about the long term viability of the company, they're in until the stock price is driven up, which these days is not for concrete sound financial regions. Then they move on to other stocks.

The short attention span of shareholders these days are not a positive influence to businesses - their vulture-like behaviour pressures businesses to make decisions based on short-term gains rather than long term success.

Yea, a real damper as it tripled iPhone sales. IDIOT!!!

pundit investor has removed all doubt.

I have not heard that iPhone sales have tripled. Where'd that story come from?

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster did some extensive surveys before the drop and added some date that came after the drop. Based on his data, Apple/AT&T were selling about 7,000 phones per day before; they're selling 21,000 now. Just google it; I think even MacNN had a story about it yesterday or so.

opinions are like a*******.

Sorry to go quoting you and all, but could you elaborate exactly how they are alike please?

Everybody has one.

It happens, if you're foolish enough to take a day off work to be THE FIRST to have a $600 phone, YOU DESERVED THE SLAP! Wake up, already.

For all those with a broken faith in Apple-- good bloody grief. How childish?? And the drop in price is bad?-- this anal-ist is so far off base as to be beneath ridicule.

Apple's sales are going to skyrocket. So many comments on here make you realize that we are so lucky none of these folks are in charge at Apple...