iPhone Price Cut By $200, Should Yesterday's Buyers Be Angry?

Filed in archive Buying Stuff on September 6, 2007

Apple just cut the price of an iPhone from $599 to $399, meaning that those who bought last week paid about 50% more for their phones than those who buy today. Everyone knows the price of technology goes down; you can buy a VCR for $1.50 these days, but that's a true price slash in a very short time. If you paid $599 and saw the price cut so dramatically, would you be angry?

I think Apple has made a mistake here. It's great that the price has come down, but the penalty for being an early adopter should not be that steep. (You could make the case that early adopters should get a bonus for buying unproven products first, but that's another discussion.) Sure, it's fair to raise or lower your prices any time you choose, but Apple risks a lot of bad PR on this one. If I had paid for an iPhone last week and then saw that massive price cut, I might agree that it's Apple's right to do it, but it still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth toward Apple, and it might even make me like my iPhone less, as it now becomes a symbol of how I got snookered and I get a reminder of that every time I use it.

How about you? Do you think it's simply a case of "buyer beware" or should Apple do something to assuage the hurt feelings of those who enthusiastically grabbed the iPhone at its launch?