Second Initial

Enough With The $200 Whines

Since most everyone else has said what they wanted to say about the iPhone price drop, here’s my answer. If you had a problem paying $599 for the thing, you shouldn’t have bought it. Nearly every person who bought an iPhone knew good and well it would eventually drop in price or get updated with a new version—yours truly included. Sure, the price drop came sooner than expected, but that’s not a crime. Apple can charge whatever they bloody-well want to charge. Regardless whether it was all part of the master plan, or if Steve truly did react to everyone’s bitching, the fact that Apple offered any kind of make-good at all is most generous, since they were obligated to offer none.

A friend of mine today made a good point. Are we all now to start pressuring airlines to make refunds when we find out the dude in the seat next to you paid $200 less for his ticket?

Well, okay, we have pressured the airlines to do that—but everyone knows it’s completely pointless. What I’m saying is, a company is free to charge however they want for their product, barring anticompetitive and gouging practices. If consumers don’t like the price, don’t buy the product.

No, I’m not thrilled that the price dropped $200 on the iPhones, but I will say that I’ve been quite enthralled about having use of it all this time prior to the price drop. Just because I express an “awww man!!!” response about the reduction doesn’t mean I’m upset.

And for those who are expecting American Express (or any other card, if this applies) to kick in their price guarantee on the phones—back off, will ya? I sincerely hope AmEx sticks to its guns. I don’t read that AmEx (at least AmEx Blue) has any kind of best price guarantee (they may have formerly offered that, but don’t now) for partial refunds. What they do offer, which I think a lot of people are misinterpreting, is they have a buyer assurance plan which is good for a complete return and refund. It’s only for when the seller won’t take it back, and it’s capped at $300 per item and a total of $1,000 per year. So that per-item cap completely takes the iPhone out of the running anyway. Besides, if AmEx ends up having to shell out thousands—maybe even tens of thousands—of dollars to pay off whiney iPhone buyers who want their $200 back, what’s to stop them from increasing the interest rate on Blue cards a little bit on everyone to offset that payoff?

So please, just sit back, hang on, know that you’ve enjoyed your iPhone up to two months longer than anyone who buys one now, and get on with your life.

Update: hehe, a great Joy of Tech today goes well with this entry.

» Posted by ALBj at 10:37 AM (ET)
Category: Mac, Rant

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