When Apple dropped the iPhone price $200 last September, just two months after the iPhone’s release, some of you said you were okay with it because you willingly paid a premium to be an early adopter, while others of you were understandably frustrated because you would have delayed your iPhone purchase if you’d only known about the looming price reduction.
The latest rumor is that Apple will once again drop the iPhone price — this time by $100 — not long after releasing the 16GB iPhone just two weeks ago.
A tipster told 9to5Mac that news of the iPhone price reduction will come at a rumored Apple event in late February (where Apple may also release a software development kit for building native iPhone apps).
Word is that the 16GB iPhone will drop from $499 to $399, and the 8GB iPhone might be phased out altogether.
Why reduce the iPhone price?
Price drops such as these may help Apple meet its target of 10 million iPhone sales in 2008, while also making it possible to release a higher-priced 3G iPhone later this year.
But as we saw last September, they also run the risk of ticking off important customers. The last iPhone price drop was so controversial that Apple gave early adopters $100 Apple Store credits in an attempt to quell the outrage — but don’t count on another store credit the next time around.
So what do you think?
Would it upset you if Apple drops the iPhone price again soon? Do you think Apple would be blowing off its loyal customers with such a move, or are frequent price drops just a reality of the fast-moving technology industry?
Although I did pay $499 for a 16GB iPhone recently and I’ll be irked to see it drop in price so soon, I thought this 9to5Mac reader made a good point:
My VCR is worth $0 now. WHERE’S MY REBATE???
The only ones being screwed here are the stores which still have them unsold. Their profits are now squeezed but as always, the customers win.
I totally agree, no one should be complaining is apple does drop the price by a $100, hey if you smart its wise to sell you phone now and wait till next week when they hopefully drop the price which is what i did. i might be lucky or maybe not we will see.
This is the same thing as when people buy the first new model cars, they pay an extra charge just to be the first ones to own it. When the new corvette Z06 came out it was stickered at $70K, but the dealerships were selling them for $90K. Now we can piss and moan about the price, but if people are going to pay it then they will sell it to them. you could always wait a while…
as for apple this is simply just what happens when new technology comes out then over time it becomes cheaper to manufacture therefore can sell for cheaper.