Steve Jobs–iPhone is too pricey!
I would say I feel vindicated. I mean, after all I had been ranting that the iPhone was overpriced. But then, as you may recall, I blogged about “temporal price discrimination” and how dropping the price on the “Jesus phone” made sense. Take all the money away from those who are so readily willing to part with it (Scott Bourne, Leo Laporte, and gang) and then lower the price to draw in those who felt that $600 for an 8 gb iPhone was a bit much.
So today, Apple announces the advent of the much awaited “Jesus Phone 2.0” sporting 3G and GPS. And–the new iPhone is $199 for an 8 gb model. Quite the drop in price AND an improvement in feature sets. I like what the Wall Street Journal had to say about the new phone, relative to price
The moves are an acknowledgement by the Cupertino, Calif., company that the original iPhone was too pricey for the mass audience, especially in a weakening economy…Â Mr. Jobs told the audience that Apple surveyed people who hadn’t bought iPhones and more than half of them said their decision was based on the price of the device. “We need to make iPhone more affordable,” Mr. Jobs said.
So does this mean I am “negative” on the iPhone? Not at all. I have two in the family! My son and my wife both have iPhones, and love them. I get jealous when driving down the road, looking over and watching them surf the web, and commenting on blogs. Some day, I will have to get me some of that iPhone for myself.
And that day may just be soon.
But I am guessing that day will not be before July 11, 2008. 🙂
Actually, it’s effectively the same price, because the required data plan went up $10/month. But I don’t know that people think that way, and they will get faster data for that $10/month, so better value for the same out of pocket. More rationalizations here.
Your ‘temporal price discrimination’ link has an extra http.
You’ll have to start making your wife and son drive, then. 🙂